Takutai Square is coming alive with piano tunes

These are the players who'll be performing in the Square. 

Charlotte Lamb completed her Honours year of a Bachelor of Music Degree in 2018, majoring in classical violin performance under the tutelage of Monique Lapins and Helene Pohl at the New Zealand School of Music – Te Koki. In addition to solo performance, Charlotte enjoys occasionally playing in orchestras such as St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra and Devonport Chamber Orchestra. A career highlight was playing as a violinist in the “An evening with Michael Bublé” concerts in Adelaide 2020 and in Auckland 2023. Originally from Timaru, Charlotte learnt the piano all through school and enjoyed singing in the school choirs. She completed her ATCL Piano Performance Diploma while at high school in 2013, achieving Distinction. 

Angela Liu is pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Piano Performance at the University of Waikato, studying under Flavio Villani. Last year, she was awarded the Taught Postgraduate Scholarship and was a 2023 University of Waikato Chamber Music Finalist. In addition to her studies, Angela works full-time as a Corporate Banking Relationship Associate in Auckland, balancing her dual interests in music and finance. 

Minrui Yang is a piano teacher based in Auckland. She has been teaching for over 7 years and has experience working with students across various levels and ages. She has worked at several music schools across the city and is currently a teacher at L’Accademia under the mentorship of the head of school Flavio Villani. She also plays the viola and is an active member of a few ensembles playing chamber music.

Jack Chen was born in Shanghai and began his piano studies at the age of three. He completed his Bachelor of Piano Performance at the University of Waikato in 2021 and is currently pursuing his Master's degree in Piano Performance. In 2022, Jack furthered his studies at the University of Auckland under the guidance of Katherine Austin. For his Master's degree, he has chosen to continue his artistic development at the University of Waikato under the supervision of Rae de Lisle and Justin Bird, while also taking private lessons with Flavio.

Tony Ping is a classical pianist who began learning piano as a hobby at the age of seven, but it was only during the second year of high school where he took piano more seriously and decided to study piano at University level and pursue it as a career. He is now currently in his honours year of study at the University of Waikato under the tutelage of Flavio Villani and Justin Bird.

Chloe Kang is 10 years old and a Year Six student at Pigeon Mountain Primary School in Bucklands Beach. She received her first piano lesson with Matteo Napoli at the age of five, and has since had Elizabeth Lau as a teacher. She passed ABRAM grade 4 and grade 8 with Distinction at age of 7 and 9 respectively. In 2022, her performance was recognised with the Irene Rhodes-Beck Memorial Award for most enjoyable solo piano performance in the Lewis Eady Junior Music Contest. Early this year she made her soloist debut with Wairua Sinfonietta orchestra playing Haydn Piano Concerto in D: Vivace in the Children for Children concert event. In her spare time, Chloe is a competitive swimmer and enjoys acrylic painting.

Chloe Wang is 10 years old and began playing piano five years ago under the guidance of teacher Matteo Napoli. She has already achieved top positions in several prestigious national competitions, including the overall championship at the South Auckland Piano Competition, first place at the Tauranga Piano Competition, gold awards at the North Shore Piano Competition and the Lewis Eady Piano Competition.

James Liu is 17 years old and studies piano under teacher Flavio Villaini. With over 12 years of piano experience, James passed his ABRSM Grade 8 Piano exam in 2020. Alongside his piano studies, he is an avid harpsichordist with an appreciation for Baroque music, particularly the works of J.S Bach. 

Matteo Napoli is an accomplished pianist and a Piano Performance honors graduate from Italy. He gained international recognition early in his career by winning first prize at the prestigious International Liszt Piano Competition in Lucca, Italy, in 1986. This victory set the stage for a distinguished career with a particular focus on the virtuoso repertoire and the works of Franz Liszt. Matteo has since been invited to perform across the globe. He has collaborated with esteemed orchestras, including the Orchestra da Camera di Firenze, Orchestra Giuseppe Verdi, the Brașov Philharmonic, the OFUNAM Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico City, the Tirana Opera House Orchestra, the Cyprus Chamber Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of Malaysia. In New Zealand, he has performed with the Manukau Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia. As a Naxos recording artist, Matteo Napoli has an extensive discography, with seven CDs to his name. His recordings have received critical acclaim and are celebrated for their technical precision and expressive depth.

Flavio Villani is an Italian-New Zealand pianist who moved to Auckland from Italy in 2008 to pursue his passion for music. He holds a Masters of Piano Performance from the University of Auckland, where he graduated with first-class honors under the guidance of Stephen De Pledge. Flavio’s journey to his first solo performance with an orchestra was captured in the internationally acclaimed documentary Crossing Rachmaninoff, which followed his preparation and performance of Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 in Calabria in 2015. Since then, he has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, New Plymouth Orchestra, and the Bay of Plenty Symphonia, showcasing works like Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1 and Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals. Flavio won the Northland Society Piano Competition and the Llewelyn Piano Competition. He has performed across Europe, the United States, and New Zealand. His passion for chamber music has led to collaborations with various renowned artists and ensembles. Flavio continues to explore the intersection of performance and creativity through his doctoral research on improvisation in Classical music, under the supervision of Katherine Austin at the University of Waikato.

Matthew Seinafo began learning piano only seven years ago; at the end of 2022 in year 12 he passed his ATCL piano diploma with Distinction. Matthew attended Christchurch's Burnside High School and participated in orchestras including the Canterbury Youth Orchestra and the NZ Secondary Schools orchestra (playing viola), as well as chamber music groups. He also made numerous solo piano performances. He has participated in the NZCT Chamber Music contest for each of his five years of secondary school, reaching the regional finals in his final three years playing the Schumann, Brahms and Elgar piano quintets. He is now majoring in piano at the University of Auckland, studying with Katherine Austin and Stephen De Pledge.

Christine Jeon is a cellist based in Christchurch and a first-year student at the University of Auckland under the tutelage of James Tennant. As part of the piano trio Vich Perfect, she won the Judith Clark National First Place award at the 2021 NZCT chamber contest. In 2022, she was named the National Finalist of the National String Competition, gaining the 3rd prize and the People’s Choice Award. Subsequently, she gained the First Prize in the International Melbourne Strings Festival Competition. In 2023, Christine received the Second Prize at the American Virtuoso International Music Competition and made her orchestral debut as a concerto soloist playing the Elgar cello concerto with the NZSO. Additionally, Christine gained the First Prize at the National Young Performer Awards. She has been selected as an Emerging Artist to participate in the World's Edge Festival in Queenstown in October. Currently, she plays on the Hewitt cello through a generous loan from the Michael Hill Foundation for Art and Music.

Katherine Austin has been Head of Piano Studies at the University of Waikato for 20 years, and now also teaches at the University of Auckland. She regularly performs around New Zealand and overseas, tours for Chamber Music New Zealand, and is broadcast often on Radio New Zealand Concert. A founding member of the Ogen Trio and the Kandinsky Ensemble, Katherine has performed regularly with leading New Zealand/USA cellist James Tennant as the Tennant-Austin Duo throughout New Zealand and in Europe and the USA. She has given master classes at institutions including the Yong Siew Toh Academy of Music (Singapore), the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Yehudi Menuhin School (UK), Interlochen Arts Academy (USA), and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). She was the winner of both the NZ Young Performer of the Year (PACANZ) and the TVNZ/NZSO New Zealand Young Musician of the Year in 1982, and has performed Romantic piano concerto repertoire with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as being a guest concerto soloist with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra and Opus Orchestra, specialising in the concertos of Mozart and Beethoven.  Katherine trained at Auckland University School of Music with Janetta McStay and Bryan Sayer, and in London with British pianist Susan McGaw and on scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Joan Havill, and at the Royal College of Music with Russian pianist Irina Zaritskaya. 

Loris Zigon is an Auckland based jazz pianist, composer/arranger and music tutor. He is originally from Slovenija. A freelance musician, Loris performs across a range of formats from solo piano to large ensemble. He currently leads The Tiny Tickets and various other duo and trio projects, and is part of Big Ticket, which has held an eight-year residency at The Lula Inn in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour. Loris draws his repertoire from the Great American Songbook, playing jazz/latin standards as well as popular covers and original compositions.

Erin Fagan was born and raised in West Auckland and is a freelance composer, music educator, arranger and pianist. A post-graduate student of Auckland University, Erin achieved First-Class Honours in Composition in 2015 and has since been working as a composer for theatre, musicals, short films, chamber groups, orchestras and more, and has had works performed by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, Manukau Symphony Orchestra and Wairua Sinfonietta, for which he is the current inaugural Composer-in-Residence. Recently Erin was awarded first prize in the composition round of Poland’s ‘World’s Best Musician’ competition for his Piano Trio, “In Glory Undimmed”.

Maria Mo has performed in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and across Europe as recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Waikato, a Master of Arts from the Vienna Conservatory and an Diploma in Piano Performance from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. A keen educator and proponent of classical music, Maria enjoys teaching students of all ages and levels. Since July 2024 she has been the host of RNZ Concert Days on Saturdays and Sundays, sharing her love of classical music across the motu and beyond.

David Li is a third-year student at the University of Auckland, where he is pursuing a dual major in Classical Piano Performance and Information Systems. David has studied piano under the tutelage of Stephen De Pledge and Rae de Lisle. He was awarded the Swedlund Music Bursary Scholarship Award from the University of Auckland in 2021 and also achieved 1st prize in the Institute of Registered Music Teachers of New Zealand Scholarship Competitions in the DD O’Connor Instrumental and Piano Scholarship in 2021. In 2023, he was awarded 2nd prize in the Institute of Registered Music Teachers of New Zealand Scholarship Competitions – Margaret Doone Sonata Competition.

Lawrence Wong was born in Hong Kong and raised in New Zealand, and has an Artist Diploma in Solo Piano Performance from Indiana University Bloomington Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with with Professor Émile Naoumoff. He previously completed a Bachelor of Music (in Piano Performance) and Bachelor of Science (in Medicinal Chemistry) conjoint degree at the University of Auckland under the tutelage of Yong Qu and Bryan Sayer, a Master of Music with a Graduate Distinction Award at Lee University with with Associate Professor Cahill Smith, and a Postgraduate Performer Diploma degree in Solo Piano Performance at Jacobs School of Music. Lawrence has represented New Zealand in several Australasian and international competitions, and is the recipient of the Lewis Eady Emerging Artists Award in 2014. 

Madeleine Xiao is in her third year of a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Auckland under the tutelage of Rae de Lisle, Bryan Sayer and Katherine Austin. She has achieved numerous top awards and scholarships internationally and has performed around New Zealand and in Australia, Italy, Germany and the U.K. In 2024, Madeleine reached the semifinals of the international Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition and was awarded the best NZ Pianist Award. Madeleine has played with several orchestras and became the youngest ever winner of the University of Auckland Concerto Competition. She also won the Auckland Youth Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition and worked with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Benjamin Northey for the finale of the National Concerto Competition. As a chamber musician, Madeleine has collaborated with highly acclaimed musicians from all across the world. Madeleine is also a Haydn Staples Auckland Philharmonia Piano Scholar for 2023/2024 and her chamber group, Kaha Trio, is an Auckland Philharmonia ‘Aspiring Musicians’ Ensemble.