• Where: Church of St George & St John, Domain Road
• When: Saturday, July 26 at 7.30pm
• Tickets: Adults $35, u-18 $5. Book online at www.trybooking.com/nz/XYG; in person (cash only) from The Good Life, 160 The Strand; or door sales ($5 surcharge per ticket) – cash preferred.

Music Whakatāne, in partnership with Chamber Music New Zealand, presents internationally acclaimed New Zealand pianist John Chen in a captivating evening of French piano masterpieces.

Winner of the prestigious 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition, Chen returns home to perform a beautifully curated programme of works by Francis Poulenc, Henri Duparc, César Franck, Gabriel Fauré, and Camille Saint-Saëns. The concert, which runs approximately 100 minutes including a 20-minute interval, promises an elegant and expressive journey through the French classical tradition.

Chen’s career took flight following his Sydney competition win, where he also earned accolades for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, chamber music, and concerto performance. Since then, he has performed across five continents, appearing at major festivals including Klavierfestival Ruhr and the Singapore International Piano Festival.

He has played concertos with leading orchestras such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, and Hong Kong Philharmonic, and is a frequent soloist with top ensembles in Australia and New Zealand.

Chen has collaborated with many esteemed conductors, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jeffrey Kahane, Janos Furst, Christopher Seaman, Christoph Poppen, and Oleg Caetani.

A dedicated interpreter of French repertoire, Chen recorded the complete solo piano works of Henri Dutilleux for Naxos, as well as selections by Debussy and Ravel for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Born in Auckland, Chen began piano lessons at the age of three. He holds a Master of Music from the University of Auckland, an Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, and furthered his studies at the University of Southern California and in Hamburg with Volker Banfield.

He now resides in Kampala, Uganda, where he serves as school chaplain at Acacia International School.

This performance marks a rare opportunity to hear one of New Zealand’s most celebrated pianists, delivering a programme of poetic, powerful French piano works.

Ticket giveaway

• The Beacon is giving away a double pass to Romantic Masterpieces: John Chen, piano, on at Church of St George & St John on the night of Saturday, July 26. Email entries to [email protected] with John Chen concert in the message field. The winner will be notified by email. Entries close Tuesday, July 15 at noon.