TGIF: Liam Furey (piano)

Liam Furey performs piano music by JS Bach, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Saariaho and Gillian Whitehead. Entry by donation.

Furey discovered their passion for classical music at the age of eleven, and since then, their journey has been nothing short of remarkable. Furey started lessons with Gillian Bibby in 2011, learning piano and composition. Furey ran with the foundations provided by Bibby, proving to be fruitful as they garnered numerous accolades. Furey triumphed at local IRMT piano competitions, was honoured with the prestigious Senior Composition Prize for Chamber Music NZ's Secondary School Contest, and achieved the distinguished LTCL (Distinction) and LMusNZ Piano Diplomas in 2017.

Furey’s study at the New Zealand School of Music from 2018 had them learn piano under Jian Liu and composition under Michael Norris, and was exposed to numerous internationally-acclaimed pianists in masterclasses, including Denes Varjon, Lars Vogt and Deirdre Irons. During this time, Furey competed and placed in many of the school’s competitions for composition and New Zealand music and co-founded the Sounds of Te Kōkī concert series, premiering works by emerging composers from the New Zealand School of Music. In 2022, Furey graduated with a Bachelor of Music with First-class Honours.