Matthias Balzat and Modi Deng come together with a vibrant programme of classical music featuring Poulenc's Cello Sonata, Martinů Variations on a Theme of Rossini, and Manuel de Falla's Suite Populaire Espagnole.

Matthias Balzat

Although New Zealand remains the place of birth and childhood to him, Matthias is a well traveled cellist, and a frequent conspirator of musical shenanigans since the spritely age of three. After over two decades of assimilating the four-stringed beast, his passion for the cello has only grown, and his odyssey to bring what approximates the sound of music to the stage, ever prolonged. His relationship to music was a natural affair, growing up in a household with six bundles of musical talent older than he, and with of course the two remarkable facilitators of it all. The nine of them together played and toured the globe, entertaining the worlds of Folk, Celtic and beyond, before separately pursuing varying paths of profession and livelihood.

Sally-Anne Brown was the first of the legends to ignite the wick and guide him through the madness of the classical music world. Next came James Tennant, the fierce and fluffy, who never settled for good, rather pushed the boundaries beyond their limits. It was with him that Matthias graduated at the University of Waikato with his Bachelor degree at the age of seventeen. World renowned Pieter Wispelwey, the untameable, was the next culprit for feeding the fire at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf, where Matthias completed his Masters and prestigious Konzertexamen degrees.

Modi Deng

Modi Deng is a pianist and writer from New Zealand. As a soloist and as a chamber musician, she has performed at UK venues including Wigmore Hall and Edinburgh Festival Fringe and concerti with several of New Zealand's leading orchestras.

Modi was a Sir Elton John Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Professor Joanna MacGregor and winner of the NZ National Concerto Competition and ROSL / Pettman Scholarship. Her teachers include Rae de Lisle, Stephen De Pledge and Tom McGrath. Passionate about collaborations and works by female composers, Modi has worked with dancer Matthew Rawcliffe and premiered a new work by Yuka Takechi. Her performance of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Auckland Philharmonia was broadcast on BBC Radio 3, ABC Classic and RNZ Concert. As a writer, Modi’s first poetry collection is part of AUP New Poets 8 (2021).