Fresh from the Chelsea Music Festival in New York in July, Andrea Lam was the featured soloist in three concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s Winter Festival in Wellington and Immerse Festival in Auckland, with conductor André de Ridder. Playing the Mozart ‘Elvira Madigan’ concerto and the Ravel piano concerto in G major to the almost sold-out Auckland Town Hall and Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre, the concerts were recorded for broadcast on the orchestra’s streaming channel, NZSO+ and for Radio New Zealand.
Here are some reviews:
- “The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra was rewarded with a large and responsive audience for the first two of its 2024 Immerse concerts. … In the Mozart concerto, the assured artistry of soloist Andrea Lam contrasted sparkling allegro passagework with graceful nuance with regard to the andante’s familiar melody. …On Saturday… Lam penetrated the very soul of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, luxuriating in the composer’s sly Gallic jazz as the orchestra alternatively jived and sighed around her.”
– William Dart, New Zealand Herald, August 2024 (“New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Auckland Town Hall” – full review here) - “…the concert’s standout work, Mozart’s glorious Piano Concerto No. 21. Under de Ridder’s baton, the orchestra’s playing was crisp and taut, a touch spikier than usual with Mozart. This was well-matched by the soloist, Australian pianist Andrea Lam, whose calm, elegant style was flexible enough to allow moments of unusual syncopation.
The famously glowing second movement continued in the same vein, the playing delicate and restrained… Lam, meanwhile, brought nobility, taste and stillness to this most meditative and heartfelt of movements. … this was a performance of simultaneous warmth and clarity. Lam’s gentle encore – a Chopin Nocturne in C# minor – perfectly caught the mood.”
– Max Rashbrooke, The Post (NZ), August 2024 (“NZSO playing crisp and taut in Mozart standout”- full review here) - “Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major was the absolute highlight of the evening. Andrea Lam played brilliantly. Her interpretation and sensitivity to Mozart’s work was impeccable. … Lam’s command of the music, coupled with de Ridder’s direction, added the special X factor. … It made for almost effortless listening. Lam treated us to a beautiful Chopin encore, which proved her talent beyond doubt.”
– Tamsin Evans, Regional News: Eyes on Wellington (NZ), August 2024 (“Mozart: the Great” – full review here)
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