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Jason Bae

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“Powerhouse performances of Rachmaninov and Ravel”
— The New Zealand Herald

[NEWS] Celebration of the keys

July 5, 2014

By William Dart, 5 July 2014 - ©The New Zealand Herald

Jason Bae was the winner of the inaugural Wallace Piano Competition last year.

Jason Bae was the winner of the inaugural Wallace Piano Competition last year.

Last July, 21-year-old Jason Bae won the inaugural Wallace National Piano Competition with powerhouse performances of Rachmaninov and Ravel. At the end of that concert, Sir James Wallace announced the event would be held on an annual basis and, next week, Aucklanders can enjoy this year's Wallace National Piano Festival.

The core of the four-day celebration will be another competition in which 15 pianists under the age of 18 display their talents before adjudicators Christopher Elton and Read Gainsford.

This is not the only music on offer. Elton and Chenyin Li take a series of masterclasses that promise to be as entertaining as they are revelatory. One pianist well worth catching is Andrew Leathwick, a 2011 semi-finalist in Brisbane's Lev Vlassenko Competition and winner of our National Piano Concerto Competition last year.

Next Sunday afternoon Stephen De Pledge marshals 18 pianists in Lewis Eady's Great South Rd premises to show just what wonders 36 hands, en masse, can draw from an array of keyboards.

Best of all, there will be three solo recitals, launched by Chenyin Li on Thursday, playing Brahms' massive Handel Variations.

Read Gainsford offers a set of Rachmaninov's Etudes-tableaux on Friday, while Jason Bae rounds off the festival with a programme that runs from Bach to Leonie Holmes.

Bae, fresh from his impressive Beethoven Fourth Concerto with the Manukau Symphony Orchestra last weekend, almost bristles with excitement at the mention of a challenge. "As a teenager I never thought I would be able to play that concerto. Now, having worked at it, I feel a much closer connection with Beethoven as a composer."

He smiles when I mention his incisive Stravinsky Concerto with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in 2010. "I took a personal stand in memorising it," he explains. "I knew the risk and it turned out be absolutely nerve-wracking, but it helped me gain confidence in handling new music."

If the ultimate challenge of classical music is to attract audiences, then Bae is more focused in his demands; we need to draw in a younger generation. "It's important for classical music itself. It could so easily die in a world so dominated by pop music."

He is adamant, too, that these new audiences must be given "really good, high quality classical music. When young people listen to music on that level, they really get it".

Bae is studying at London's Royal Academy with Christopher Elton and Joanna MacGregor. His English teachers have given him a new perspective on the Bach Partita that opens his Sunday recital.

"In New Zealand I was encouraged to think about the original 18th-century instruments when I played Bach. That has all changed since studying in London.

"Joanna MacGregor, who has made a wonderful recording of the Goldberg Variations, has strong ideas about Bach being played in a much more romantic manner, a stand that I really can appreciate."

Two other works on Bae's programme fulfil the dreams of his not-too-distant youth. He learned the fourth of Rachmaninov's Moments Musicaux when he was 12 and is "looking forward to playing all six of them on Sunday", while Chopin's B minor Sonata is another piece he has been "desperate to add to my repertoire".

There does not seem to be much New Zealand music in the festival, but Bae has included a Nocturne by Auckland composer Leonie Holmes. He warms to the style of this piece that is "very reminiscent of Ravel. I've been a little scared of contemporary music since I played the Stravinsky, but this has helped so much with my confidence."

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/ne...
In MEDIA, Interview, CONCERT, LEWIS EADY Tags The New Zealand Herald, Wallace Piano Festival
← Jason Bae Debut Piano Recital - Jakarta, Indonesia.[PODCAST] Radio New Zealand Concert - Jason Bae Interview →

After just 4 years since YSA, Jason became 'Steinway Artist' since 2016.

Young Steinway Artist

Jason is the first New Zealander to become the 'Young Steinway Artist' since 2012.

Lewis Eady Charitable Trust

Jason is a proud beneficiary of ‘Lewis Eady Charitable Trust’ since 2004.

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Jason became the Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society awarded by the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust in 2015.

Jason is supported by 'Bentley Auckland' with transportation during his New Zealand concert tour in 2018.

Jason is supported by 'Bentley Auckland' with transportation during his New Zealand concert tour in 2018.

Jason is supported by 'Talent Unlimited' registered charity in London since 2014-17.

Jason is proud to be supported by the Wallace Foundation during 2015-16.

Jason has been appointed as the youngest School of Music Visiting Fellow in 2016. 

Jason's debut album 'Marylebone' with Austrian Gramophone | Paladino Music Vienna was released on September 2015.


  • Jason Bae
    Dvorak Piano Quintet No.2 Op.81 - Ratusz Staromiejski, Gdańsk, Poland 🇵🇱 (17 February 2019) https://t.co/J7O22oQ4am
    about 14 hours ago
  • Jason Bae
    Dvorak Piano Quintet No.2 Op.81 - Ratusz Staromiejski, Gdańsk, Poland 🇵🇱 (17 February 2019) https://t.co/OWUxo8Wbez
    about 14 hours ago
  • Jason Bae
    Grieg Ballade Op.24 - Ratusz Staromiejski, Gdańsk, Poland 🇵🇱 (17 February 2019) https://t.co/NDfjqj6t1S
    about 14 hours ago
  • Jason Bae
    Dvorak Piano Quintet No.2 Op.81 - Ratusz Staromiejski, Gdańsk, Poland 🇵🇱 (17 February 2019) https://t.co/O920fk2wvR
    about 14 hours ago
  • Jason Bae
    Dvorak Piano Quintet No.2 Op.81 - Oranżeria Krasickiego, Lidzbark Warminski, Poland 🇵🇱 (16 February 2019) https://t.co/nB7ExyOIYp
    about 15 hours ago
  • Jason Bae
    Greetings from Gdańsk, Poland 🇵🇱. Dvorak Piano Quintet No.2 Op. 81 with my dear Polish friends on 4pm 17. 2. 2019 a… https://t.co/AmafRvqXYF
    about a week ago
  • Jason Bae
    Photo: Teo Keipi (2018) https://t.co/ILQQYoVddj
    about a month ago
  • Jason Bae
    Rachmaninov 2 complete suites; No.1 Op.5 “Fantasy” & No.2 Op.17. Garam Cho, piano, Jason Bae, piano. - Cosmos Conce… https://t.co/XqatWMuALk
    about a month ago
  • Jason Bae
    새해 복 많이받으세요/Happy New Year 2019 everyone ☺️ https://t.co/nN8MvNmYd7
    about a month ago
  • Jason Bae
    Merry Christmas and happy new year everyone 🇫🇮🎅🏻☺️ https://t.co/qc97OFKSxE
    about a month ago
  • Jason Bae
    🥶🎅🏻⛄️🇫🇮☺️ https://t.co/fEeRX720Oj
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    Full house 😍❄️🎅🏻Adam Gordon Herd, you are genius👏🏻 Thank you for inviting me in Helsinki 🇫🇮 (20 December 2018) https://t.co/hCgz1DNbo8
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    Rehearsals have begun, snowing outside and absolute joy to perform these brilliant arrangements by Adam Gordon Herd… https://t.co/l2uhbRlC3T
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    RT @UoACreatives: "Music was a part of me so I had no choice but to progress.” Pianist, Steinway artist at @SteinwayAndSons and Bache… https://t.co/JnFcBO5Xn1
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    Last concert of 2018 in Helsinki and Espoo, Finland with pianist Adam Herd. https://t.co/2N8gSzdU4o
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    Final concert of year 2018 in Santa Claus’ motherland. https://t.co/IWgmZwofFK
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    “Congratulations  @Cosmosmusic_Kr for the newly renovated Steinway Gallery in Seoul 🇰🇷” https://t.co/6oVznK5nXo
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    Two complete Rachmaninov Suites for two pianos with pianist CHO Garam at Cosmos Concert Hall, Seoul🇰🇷 (14 December… https://t.co/ydkhDorMdQ
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    Two complete Rachmaninov Suites for two pianos with a dear colleague of mine from Berlin, pianist CHO Garam/조가람. 14… https://t.co/TqDzcvkzpF
    about 2 months ago
  • Jason Bae
    Thank you very much for all your kindest birthday wishes ☺️ https://t.co/U1WurqeDZX
    about 3 months ago