4:30pm AEST (Brisbane)
JMC Academy
Online via Zoom
Registrations for this event are now closed.
“Why does the world need a Piano Day? For many reasons. But mostly, because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers and most important, the listener.” – Nils Frahm
Piano Day, an annual worldwide event founded by a group of like-minded people, takes place on the 88th day of the year – in 2021 it’s the 29th March – because of the number of keys on the instrument being celebrated. The aim of the day is to create a platform for piano related projects in order to promote the development of musical dimensions and to continue sharing the centuries-old joy of playing piano. Piano Day welcomes all kinds of piano lovers — young and old, amateur and professional, of any musical direction – to join in. It is intended to be the most joyful of all holidays!
This concert will be live-streamed direct from the studio at JMC Academy in Brisbane in addition to the live studio audience, with the performers playing the wonderful Kawai GL-40 grand piano.
Featuring the award-winning Head of Music Sean Foran, acclaimed Brisbane pianists Peta Wilson and George Lignos, and JMC graduates Kailan O'Dell and Rachel Morais.
Read more about JMC's Piano Day performers here:
With a Master of Music Degree (QUT), Peta Wilson has worked as a session musician for local acts and recording engineers throughout Brisbane for the past 20 years.
Peta has toured on behalf of the QLD Arts Council and performed at a number of music festivals, including the Woodford Folk Festival, Splendour in the Grass, the International Brisbane Jazz Festival and Melbourne Jazz Festival and many more.
She has also featured in support acts for Dion Warwick, Vince Jones and Hiatus Kaiyote.
Peta has acted as Musical Director on various shows at the QLD Cabaret and Comedy Festivals, notably with Carol Lloyd and Jenny Wynter. She also featured in the ‘Women in Voice’ house band for the last 2 seasons.
Currently, Peta works on a recording project, ‘Coco Hue’, which collaborates with various well-known local vocalists. You can also catch her performing with ‘Laik’ and with the ‘Fish Lane Trio’ on a regular basis.
Sean Foran is a pianist/composer/bandleader from Brisbane. Most known for his work with the contemporary jazz trios TRICHOTOMY & BERARDI/FORAN/KARLEN he has received the prestigious Brisbane City Council's Lord Mayors Emerging Artist Fellowship, AMC/APRA Award for Excellence in Jazz, APRA Professional Development Award for Jazz and the QLD Music Award multiple times. His performance experience is extensive, with performances at the Tokyo Jazz Festival, Jazzahead Bremen, Manchester Jazz Festival and tours in the UK, China, Europe, Canada, South America and Korea. His recorded music features on labels internationally in the UK, Holland and Japan, and he has been commissioned to write for the QLD Theatre Company, Expressions Dance Company, Bangalow Chamber Music Festival, Declassified Music Festival and the Brisbane International Jazz Festival.
He is currently Head of Music at JMC Academy Brisbane, an associate artist of the Australian Music Centre, Jazz Councillor for Music Australia and Doctoral candidate at the QLD Conservatorium.
Kailan O’Dell is an experienced contemporary pianist, performer and educator. As a multi-instrumentalist, he has worked across many genres and he brings this broad range of influences to bear on all the projects he takes part in. He is alumni of the JMC Academy music program in Brisbane.
Malaysian raised and Australia based, Rachel derives her musical identity from a life saturated with melodies picked by ear and a rigorous training in classical music to exploring newer genres and soundscapes. Her love and passion for music is one of a pure and simple nature to which she hopes to inflect in her neoclassical inspired creations.
In recent times, she has felt a shift in how she views herself from a classical pianist to a composer and now, an observer of both these identities continuously evolve and overlap.
Rachel has since released a debut modern classical EP, ‘Order In Chaos’ and has worked on several artistic projects such as ‘Soliloquy: A Dance Film’ and ‘hujan’, an emotive solo piano piece to be released on the 26th of March 2021.