“The repertoire of the piano is the most enduring in the realm of music. A Steinway piano is the ideal means for performers and audience to have the richness of that repertoire realized in the perfection of sound. The relationship between instrument and performer is perfectly balanced in Steinway pianos. In these instruments there is no distinction between craftsmanship and art: they are one.”
Ian Holtham
Ian Holtham is one of the most distinguished and highly regarded pianists and pedagogues in Australia and his performances of the great Classical and Romantic repertoire have played to packed houses and rave reviews for many years. He has led the Keyboard area at the University of Melbourne, where he is Professor of Music, since 1998.
Professor Holtham studied with Peter Feuchtwanger and Geza Anda, as well as with Geoffrey Parsons and Enrique Barenboim in Europe for over five years during the 1970s. He also studied Composition and Conducting at the Guildhall School of Music. He has performed throughout Europe, Asia and Australia and has broadcast regularly with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since the late seventies appearing as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as well as with various orchestras and conductors over many years. He is one of Australia’s most senior pianists and has performed and given Masterclasses throughout Australia, Europe and Asia over the last four decades.
Ian Holtham is a Steinway artist and he has selected every Steinway D concert grand currently in the University of Melbourne since that time. His recording output is particularly distinguished. His first CD, Etudes, released in 1995 contained the complete Etudes of Chopin, Opus 10 and Opus 25. This and his subsequent CDs which cover an enormous range of repertoire have all been received with wide critical acclaim. His recorded output includes the complete Chopin Etudes, Preludes, Ballades, Scherzi and Impromptus, providing a discography unique in Australian pianism. He retains a strong commitment to Australian music and two of his CDs, Inspirations and Giants in the Land contain new piano compositions written specifically for him by no fewer than thirteen Australian composers. In 2016 he released the complete Well Tempered Clavier, recorded by key rather than chronological volume to international critical acclaim. In 2018 he was awarded the Honorary Fellowship in Music Australia for his distinguished and lengthy service to Music in Australia.