AKO PUORO – Presenters

Michael Endres

German Pianist Michael Endres performs worldwide as soloist and chamber music partner. He gained a Master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York under Jacob Lateiner and studied with Peter Feuchtwanger in London. He has won prizes such as the Concours Geza Anda (Zurich) and First & Special Prizes at the International Schubert Competition (Germany) among others.

His extensive prizewinning discography of 29 CD’s includes the prestigious Diapason d’or (France) which he was recently awarded for the third time and the Choc du Musique which he has won twice. His solo recordings include cycles of the complete sonatas by Mozart, Schubert, Weber and the rarely heard English composer Arnold Bax, the complete works of Ravel and Gershwin as well as works by Schumann.ed for the third time and the Choc du Musique which he has won twice. His solo recordings include cycles of the complete sonatas by Mozart, Schubert, Weber and the rarely heard English composer Arnold Bax, the complete works of Ravel and Gershwin as well as works by Schumann.

Endres covers a wide repertoire including seldom played composers like Leopold Godowsky, Gabriel Faure, Charles Ives and Eduard Tubin. Leading US critic Richard Dyer from the Boston Globe called him ”one of the most interesting pianists recording today”, the New York Times wrote: ”the performances with pianist Michael Endres were revelatory” and the Gramophone Magazine stated: ”he is an outstanding Schubert interpreter”.

Michael Endres plays at festivals in Europe, America and Asia including Newport (USA), Beethoven Fest Bonn and Salzburg Festival, and has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, Musikverein Vienna and Suntory Hall Tokyo, to name a few . He accompanied legendary Baritone Hermann Prey for many years and partnered the Berlin Philharmonic soloists, the Artemis and Fine Arts String Quartets.

He has a distinguished teaching career as Professor of Piano at the Cologne, the ”Hanns Eisler Hochschule” in Berlin, University of Canterbury, New Zealand and the “Barrat Due” Institute in Norway. He is now living in New Zealand.

www.michaelendres.com

Christopher Lawrence

Christopher Lawrence’s career in music and media spans more than four decades as radio and television presenter, writer, recording producer, artistic director and public speaker. He has been awarded an International Emmy for Performing Arts, three ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Awards for Best Classical Recording, a Churchill Fellowship and the Editors’ Choice Award at the Cannes Classical Awards in France. Christopher worked extensively in the studio with Stuart Challender and the Sydney Symphony on a series of breakthrough recordings of Australian music. He also accompanied them on their historic Bicentennial Tour of the United States in 1988, producing recordings with Dame Joan Sutherland in the Kennedy Center and the United Nations General Assembly Hall. While presenting for ABC Classic, the three Swoon collection CDs that evolved out of his breakfast program during the 1990s broke sales records in the Australian classical music industry, each achieving Platinum status. He also presented for the ABC’s RN, Local Radio, and BBC Television in London.

In 1999 Christopher was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Communications by the University of Central Queensland for his achievements in broadcasting. Christopher has written Swooning – a classical music guide to life, love, lust and other follies, Swing Symphony, and Symphony of Seduction. His books are published by Black Inc in Australia and are also available in the US, UK, Hungary and China.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            A former Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia, Christopher is currently President of the Baroque ensemble Van Diemen’s Band, S+Artistic Director of Sydney Youth Orchestras and a Noard Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             August 2019            

Julia Fredersdorff               

Melbourne-born violinist Julia Fredersdorff studied baroque violin with Lucinda Moon at the Victorian College of the Arts, before travelling to the Netherlands to study with Enrico Gatti at The Royal Conservatorium in The Hague. Based in Paris for almost ten years, Julia freelanced with some of the finest European ensembles, such as Les Talens Lyriques, Les Folies Françoises, Le Concert d’Astrée, Le Parlement de Musique, Ensemble Matheus, Les Paladins, Il Complesso Barocco, New Dutch Academy, Ensemble Aurora and Bach Concentus.Now resident again in Australia, Julia performs regularly as concertmaster for the Orchestra of the Antipodes and is the Artistic Director of the Tasmanian baroque ensemble, Van Diemen’s Band. She is a founding member of period string quartet Ironwood, and the twice ARIA-nominated baroque trio, Latitude 37 and a core-member of Ludovico’s Band.

Julia has participated in CD recordings for Virgin Classics, Deutsche Grammaphon, Accent, Accord, Naïve, Erato, Passacaille, Ambronay, ABC Classics, Vexations840 and Tall Poppies.

She teaches baroque violin at the conservatoriums of Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne. 

John Drummond

John Drummond was Blair Professor of Music at the University of Otago for over thirty years and is a composer and musicologist. He has also been a long-term member of the Cultural Diversity in Music Education Network and has given presentations on this theme at many conferences and seminars.
He is currently the government nominee on the IRMTNZ Council and is leading a project exploring how the Institute can better recognize musical and cultural diversity.