Lewis Eady Charitable Trust

INTRODUCING ADJUDICATOR TERENCE DENNIS

Terence Dennis was born in Christchurch, is a graduate of the University of Otago and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Cologne, Germany, and currently Blair Professor and Head of Classical Performance studies at the University of Otago.

Acclaimed both overseas and in New Zealand for his performances and teaching, Terence has regularly partnered with many distinguished visiting international artists and leading resident artists. Particularly notable is his
extensive recital partnership with Dame Kiri te Kanawa, with whom he has given around fifty concerts across the world, including two Royal Recitals, for both Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Frogmore House, Windsor and for the State Visit of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Of special note was their recital at a World Heritage 9th century temple in Nara, Japan, filmed for Japanese television. Their 2016 recital tour in NZ and Australia was dubbed by one prominent critic as "a sublime partnership". Other noted international collaborations include recital tours with bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, tenor Simon O'Neill, soprano Margaret Marshall, mezzos Kathleen Kuhlmann and Sarah Walker, recitals with bass-baritone Sir Donald McIntyre, and, amongst many instrumentalists, the German prizewinning cellist Maria Kliegel.

Terence has been the official pianist for seven international string competitions, official pianist for the finals of the Mobil and Lexus Song Quests since 1991, more recently the 2018 Lexus Semifinal and Grand Final, and guest adjudicator for the regional finals of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Auditions Contest in the USA. He has been adjudicator of the Lev Vlassenko International Piano Competition in Australia, and on several occasions, adjudicator National Piano Concerto Competition, most recently for the 2019-20 contest.

His CD of Piano Works of Wagner & Liszt was issued in 2007, and his recital CD, 'Distant Beloved', featuring German song-cycles by Beethoven, Wagner and Strauss with tenor Simon O'Neill was released internationally by DECCA recordings in 2019. It was the winner in the 2019 NZ Music Awards, Classical, and has been featured both at the Vienna State Opera and at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival as 'CD of the Week'. In 2019, the duo gave the Gala Titus Recital for the Dallas Grand Opera in the United States.

Terence is a Trustee of the Kiri te Kanawa Foundation, Trustee of the NZ Wagner Foundation, and National President of the NZ Wagner Society. He was appointed to the NZ Order of Merit in 2004 and is a Fellow both of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the NZ Academy of Humanities.