Santiago Cañón Valencia & Katherine Austin - Diable vert (2019) [Hi-Res]

Currently Head of Piano at the Conservatorium of Music, University of Waikato, in Hamilton, Katherine Austin was the winner of the inaugural New Zealand Young Musician of the Year competition and the New Zealand National Piano Award, both in 1982. Her principal mentors included Janetta McStay, Bryan Sayer and Irina Zaritskaya. She has performed as soloist in New Zealand with all the major orchestras including the NZSO and Auckland Philharmonia, and performs regularly in Europe, Australasia, China and the Americas as the pianist of the New Zealand Chamber Soloists and the Tennant-Austin Duo. Between 2008 and 2016 Katherine and Santiago have performed in over 100 concerts together.

"The 14 tracks on Diable Vert offer lighter fare: 70 minutes of potential encores, from Saint-Saens' graceful swan to Rimsky-Korsakov's busy bumblebee, particularly agile here, taking just longer than a minute to accomplish its flying mission. Valencia's unforced and sweetly lyrical tone serves him well in a moving Prayer by Bloch…An energetic account of a Schumann Adagio and Allegro are among the more serious delights. English cellist Steven Isserlis described this as being "as romantic as romantic can be", a judgement totally vindicated by the incandescent performance in this recording." (William Dart, NZ Herald)

Santiago Canon Valencia, cello
Katherine Austin, piano