Chen (Tony) Lin

Chinese New Zealand pianist Tony Chen Lin regularly performs in New Zealand, Asia and Europe, notably at the Semaine Internationale Piano & Musique de Chambre festival in Switzerland. His 2018 debut album Digressions on Rattle Records received critical acclaim and reached No.1 on the New Zealand Classical Chart.

Tony started with keyboard lessons at the age of 12, advanced to piano the following year and made his concert debut aged 14 after winning the Christchurch Junior Concerto Competition. He won the 40th New Zealand National Concerto Competition, 2nd prize and the Best Classical Sonata Performance Award in the 2008 Kerikeri International Piano Competition, 2nd in the 2011 Lepthien Piano Competition in Germany. He is a multiple recipient of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence Award.

After Tony completed his Bachelor of Music in piano and composition with Péter Nagy and Gao Ping at Canterbury University in 2009, he moved to Europe where he completed his Master of Music and Konzertexamen (Soloist Diploma) with Distinction at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany. He also received mentoring from Balázs Szokolay and András Kemenes at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and has benefited immensely from the mentorship of pianist Edith Fischer.

Tony received glowing reviews for his recent 14-concert solo tour in New Zealand, where he also premiered Gao Ping’s piano suite “Daydreams”, composed for him. He was a soloist with the Stuttgart State Orchestra in the “Rising Stars!” Festival and performed with Michael Houstoun and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra at the post-earthquake re-opening of the Christchurch Town Hall. He served as an adjudicator at the Royal Over-Seas League ARTS Chamber Music Competition.

A passionate chamber musician, Tony won first prize with duo partner Sebastian Wyss in the 2019 Weiner Leó National Chamber Music Competition in Budapest. He has performed with the renowned Quatuor Sine Nomine and recently formed the Tasman Ensemble with Australian violinist Christina Lieberwirth-Morris.

Tony participated in masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Ferenc Rados, Leon Fleisher, Andrzej Jasiński, Jorge Pepi-Alos, Dmitri Bashkirov, Robert Levin, Lilya Zilberstein and Jean-Marc Luisada.

Tony currently resides in Budapest.