Benefit concert to support young artist
Dunedin pianist and composer Abhinath Berry will perform at Arrowtown’s Aspiring Lifestyle Village this Sunday. Midway through a scholarship in London, it’s a show not to be missed.
Arrowtown Creative Arts Society (ACAS) are bringing the artist here, and are suggesting that you trust the experts with huge claims being made for the 24-year-old, who is briefly back in the country and midway through a prized scholarship with London’s Guildhall School of Music. This scholarship is one of the top awards offered by the 145-year-old institution, which is one of the world’s top three music schools.
“It is a huge opportunity, and at first I was worried that I didn’t belong at the Guildhall,” Berry says. “Now I’m feeling valued as both a person and a musician.”
Back in New Zealand, Berry graduated from the University of Otago’s School of Performing Arts, having attained a Bachelor of Music with first-class Honours in Performance and Composition.
“I’m particularly close, I feel, to the composer Franz Liszt and I play a lot of his music. I’ve done concerts for the Wagner Society of New Zealand and Liszt’s music is very much in that kind of realm. Liszt often transcribed many overtures from Wagner’s operas – it’s fascinating because you’re bringing the scale of opera down to a piano and Liszt did this so he could promote the operatic works of the young composers of the time. In a way, it was through him that they were able to have an outlet, and it was his generosity that enabled them to become successful composers.”
Born in New Zealand into a literary family, Berry began self-study of the piano at the age of 15, before commencing his formal studies with Otago University Piano Professor Terence Dennis at 18. From an early age he taught himself music theory and would often write his own music. Now 24, he has the largest part of a recording and concert career ahead of him.
“I was inspired to start playing when I was about 15 – just from seeing piano a lot in popular culture and seeing the repertoire we could explore as pianists. I’d say out of all the instruments that it has the largest and most diverse repertoire available, and there’s something for every potential artists, so that really hooked me and I felt the need to explore all of the repertoire. In a way, that was my motivation to start playing, and being 15 as a precocious teenager, you tend to play far beyond your paygrade.”
Abhinath is also a composer and has recently returned to composition after a brief hiatus. His Sonata-Fantasie (2022) and String Quartet No. 2 (2021) received the Lilburn Prize, and his orchestral work Prologue from Metamorphoses was selected for the Todd Corporation Young Composers’ Award and performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He is a dedicated music educator and currently teaches piano privately in London.
Abhinath has performed around here in the past, working with the Central Otago Regional Choir. He’s really looking forward to returning and performing. For Arrowtown, Abhinath has chosen a popular program which includes Lizst, Ravel, and three beautiful Gershwin arrangements made by the American Earl Wild, who’s been dubbed ‘the last great Romantic pianist.’
“I was really pleased to see how much the audience seemed to appreciate the music, and how attentive and enthusiastic they are in that part of New Zealand. I feel like they’re greatly appreciative, and it always makes the performer happy to see others responding to their music.”
Abhinath will perform at The Lodge, Aspiring Lifestyle Village at 3pm on Sunday, 27 July. Afternoon tea is available and you can find tickets on Eventfinda – with limited door sales on the day.
Tickets are $39, or $29 for ACAS members /ALV residents.
