Diedre IronsPianist
Diedre Irons was born in Winnipeg, Canada. She made her first solo appearance with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at the age of 12 playing the Schumann Piano concerto. She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and was subsequently invited by her teacher, Rudolf Serkin, to join the faculty of that prestigious conservatory; she taught there for the next seven years. During those years she toured Canada and the United States as a soloist and as a chamber music player. She avoided the international competition circuit, seeing the aims of competing to conflict with those of music.
She moved to New Zealand in 1977 and has since performed regularly with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia and the Christchurch Symphony, toured many times under the auspices of Chamber Music New Zealand, and recorded extensively for Radio New Zealand. With the Christchurch Symphony and conductor Marc Taddei she has recorded the complete Beethoven Piano Concerti on the Trust label.
She continues to travel internationally having presented concerts in 25 countries. In 1989 she was awarded an MBE for services to music and in 2007 received the degree Doctor of Music (honoris causa) from Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada.
She taught at the University of Canterbury from 1992-2003 and is currently Senior Lecturer in Piano at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington.
The Michael Hill International Violin Competition 2008 Winner’s Tour is made possible through the exceptional collegiality with partners, Chamber Music New Zealand, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to the generosity shown by our sponsors, we wish to thank the following companies for their support of the 2008 Winner's Tour: Jucy Rentals, Party Plus, The Quadrant Hotel Auckland & Touch of Spice.
