Amir Farid - Patron of Choir Victoria
Winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, pianist Amir Farid has been described as "a highly creative musician - a pianist of great intelligence and integrity. He brings strong musical substance to all that he does, imbuing it with his own particular experience and understanding", and who "in a well-populated field... distinguishes himself for all the right reasons.
In 2004 Amir completed his B.Mus (Hon) at the University of Melbourne under the guidance of Ronald Farren-Price, and later attended the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), studying with Rita Reichman, Geoffrey Tozer and Timothy Young. In 2009, he graduated with distinction as a Scholar supported by the Gordon Calway Stone Memorial Award at the Royal College of Music London, studying with Andrew Ball.
Throughout his studies, Amir has participated in masterclasses and lessons with Michele Campanella, Aquiles Delle Vigne, Nikolai Demidenko, Christopher Elton, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, Cord Garben, Mark Gasser, Angela Hewitt, Ian Holtham, Leslie Howard, Julian Jacobson, Geoffrey Lancaster, Stephen McIntyre, Malcolm Martineau, Dominique Merlet, Hamish Milne, Lisa Moore, Ian Munro, Ruth Nye, Adrian Oetiker, Max Olding, Bart van Oort, Christina Ortiz, John Perry, Geoffrey Saba, Natasha Vlassenko, Frank Wibaut, Gerard Willems, Oxana Yablonskaya and John York.
He has performed concerti with the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Youth and ANAM Orchestras, including Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with the Melbourne Symphony in front of a capacity 13,000 strong crowd. Collaborations with conductors include Graham Abbott, Peter Bandy, Alexander Briger, Oleg Caetani, Brett Dean, Marko Letonja and Benjamin Northey.
Other solo competition successes include winning the 2005 Hephzibah Menuhin and 3MBS Performer of the Year awards, and category finalist in the 2008 Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London, where he was awarded an Australian Music Scholarship. In 2008 he was one of 2 musicians selected to represent Australia in the European Broadcasting Union's New Talent Competition.
As a chamber musician, Amir is pianist of the acclaimed Benaud Trio (www.benaudtrio.com), winning the Piano Trio prize at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition, and with whom he undertook a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. They are currently musicians-in-residence at 3MBS FM.
As an accompanist, he was winner of the prize for best pianist at the 2006 Mietta Song Recital award, and the 2007 Geoffrey Parsons Award. Collaborations as an associate artist have included cellists Alexander Baillie, Mats Lidstrom and Martin Loveday, saxophonist Claude Delangle, clarinetist Dong Jun-Mo, contralto Liane Keegan, pianist Max Olding, soprano Merlyn Quaife, the Tin Alley String Quartet and mezzo-soprano Pamela Turner.
Source: amirfarid.com
Throughout Amir's time as accompanist with Choir Victoria, he was always everyone's friend. He enjoyed accompanying the Boys Cadenza Choir and the choristers were inspired by him. Amir worked with Choir Victoria until August 2008, shortly before his departure for London to commence studies at the Royal College of Music. Amir remains close to the heart of all at Choir Victoria, and we are delighted to have him as our Patron.