When we first started giving concerts together in 2015, we immediately agreed upon the importance of featuring NZ music, as this country is spectacularly overflowing with gifted and creative composers. We wanted to record duos that weren’t as well-known as we thought they should be, so this album is our way of elevating eleven extraordinary New Zealand composers. We love all of these pieces, and hope this will be the first of many times we can share the rich and diverse music of New Zealand with you.

Andrew and Sarah, May 2019

ANDREW BEER

Acclaimed as a “virtuoso soloist” (San Francisco Classical Voice) possessing a “glorious string tone” (Strad Magazine) and as a “musical gift” (New York Times), Andrew is certainly one of the most gifted violinists in NZ. His intense commitment to the work at hand, his energy, drive, and deep-focused concentration are immediately evident when one hears him play, but his tone, his musical instincts, his passion, and his impressive feeling for nuance bring a richness to his music-making that is the hallmark of exceptional artistry.

He has performed extensively throughout the world with Grammy-winning chamber ensembles and orchestras. Contemporary music plays a significant role in his musical life, and he has worked closely with leading composers of our time on their solo and chamber works, including Kurtag, Boulez, Davidovsky and Reich. He teaches at the University of Auckland and has been a guest teacher at Harvard and McGill Universities.

He frequently serves as a judge for competitions and scholarship funds throughout New Zealand, and enjoys composing and gardening in his spare time. Andrew has been Concertmaster of the APO since 2014, and has guest-led the Symphony Orchestras of Birmingham, Melbourne, Adelaide and Vancouver.

Andrew performs on a J.B. Vuillaume violin from 1845, and a J.J. Martin bow from 1880.

SARAH WATKINS

Sarah was a founding member of NZTrio from 2003 to 2018, a group widely recognized as one of New Zealand’s most dynamic and indispensable music ensembles that brought bold and eclectic performances to audiences at home and abroad. Her lifelong passion for accompanying and chamber music led to an impressive career in the US and New Zealand, where she is highly sought-after as a collaborative pianist, recording artist and ensemble musician.

A graduate of the University of Canterbury (NZ) and the Juilliard School in New York City, where she earned both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in collaborative piano, Sarah is, by any standard, one of the finest pianists working in Australasia today, an artist with extraordinary musical insight, concentration and dexterity. Her enthusiasm for contemporary music coupled with her considerable skill and perception makes her one of the first-call musicians for composers, performers and record producers alike.