3. James He

James He, originally from Tasmania, has graduated his Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree with First Class Honours at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music under Ronald Farren-Price. He has also worked extensively with Alexandre Dossin and with Kristian Chong for chamber music and participated in many masterclasses with pianists including Igor Machlak, Graham Johnson, Thomas Linde, Jerry Wong, Anna Goldsworthy, Janine Sowden, and Glenn Riddle among others.

Learning previously from Annette Stilwell, he achieved his A.Mus.A in 2014, L.Mus.A in 2016 and has been successful in competitions during his time in both Tasmania and Melbourne, including 3 major awards in the 2016 Hobart Eisteddfods, 2nd prize in the Boroondara Concerto Competition 2020 and numerous other prizes in Melbourne. James was also awarded the 2019 Florence Menk Meyer Prize, the 2019 John Gaitskell Memorial Mensa Prize and the 2020 Rosemarie Kenny Prize for his remarkable undergraduate recital performance.

Most recently, James participated in the 2020 isaDigital Music Festival held by the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and had the opportunity of being mentored by renowned pianists such as Boris Berman, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Jan Jiracek von Armin, Gottlieb Wallisch and the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo. James was also a finalist in the Great Romantics Competition held at the Melbourne Recital Centre (MRC) in 2018 and also performed in a fundraising event in 2019 held by the MRC with his teacher Ronald Farren-Price. He had his concerto debut in 2016 playing Grieg’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Derwent Symphony Orchestra and has performed live on radio for 3MBS Talent in 2018.

He is particularly drawn to the works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninoff and hopes to express their individual narratives to the audience. James plans to further his studies with a masters degree overseas in the future when it is safer to do so.