Amir farid, piano

Fast Facts

• Winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award.

• Pianist of the Benaud Trio, Exponential Ensemble and Mostly Modern

• Pianist at the Vocal Arts department of the Juilliard School, New York’s Oratorio Society and rehearsal pianist with the New York Philharmonic.

Winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, US born Iranian-Australian 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”.

As one of the most versatile and loved musicians in Australia, Farid has performed concerti with major orchestras, collaborating with conductors such as Christopher Hogwood, Oleg Caetani, Johannes Fritzsch, Alexander Briger, Marko Letonja and Benjamin Northey. Highlights include Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in front of a 13,000-strong crowd at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Mozart’s concerto No.14 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and “The Mozart Dances” with the Mark Morris Dance Group and West Australian Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2015 Perth Festival.

Since graduating with distinction from the Royal College of Music London in 2009 with Andrew Ball, he has performed as a solo recitalist and collaborative artist in concert halls and festivals internationally, including Carnegie Hall New York, St. Martin in the Fields London, Mostly Mozart festival at Lincoln Center New York, Al-Hashemi-II Kuwait, MONA FOMA Festival Hobart, Coriole Festival SA, Huntington Festival NSW, as well as other venues in USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand and China.

Recital collaborations include tenor Ian Bostridge, saxophonist Claude Delangle, violinists Arabella Steinbacher and Nikki Chooi, violist Lise Berthaud, cellists Mats Lidström, Alexander Baillie and Martin Loveday, sopranos Greta Bradman and Siobhan Stagg, baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, flautist Michel Bellavance and clarinetist Philippe Cuper. As a chamber musician, Amir is pianist of the Benaud Trio, winning the Piano Trio prize at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition.

His numerous highly acclaimed recordings (primarily with Move Records) are heard frequently on radio stations throughout Australia and internationally, including a solo CD of works by Persian composer Javad Maroufi, multiple albums with cellist Zoe Knighton and soprano Siobhan Stagg, and numerous releases on ABC Classics and Melba Recordings with the Benaud Trio. Several of his albums have been nominated for an Australian Independent Music Award. Amir is also a recorded artist on the Steinway & Sons Spirio catalogue, as part of the piano manufacturer's revolutionary player-piano system.

Amir has studied under the guidance of Ronald Farren-Price, Geoffrey Tozer, Rita Reichman and Timothy Young while at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (MCM) and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). He continues to work with Farren-Price since beginning studies with him in the mid 90’s. As well as his concert career, Amir has worked as a collaborative pianist at MCM, ANAM, the Australian Children’s Choir, and the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust. He was the Melba Trust’s inaugural répétiteur scholar in 2013, working under the guidance of Sharolyn Kimmorley. ​Between 2017-2020, Amir was a staff pianist at the Vocal Arts department of the Juilliard School, New York City, and worked as a rehearsal pianist with the New York Philharmonic.