Biography
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Jun Bouterey-Ishido began playing piano at the age of 5 under the tutelage of Veronica Van der Knaap then Diedre Irons. Since completing his Bachelor of Music (Hons) at Canterbury University in 2008, his studies have taken him to the Liszt Academy in Budapest and to Stuttgart, where he completed a Master in Piano in 2011 and graduated with Distinction from the Konzertexamen (Concert Artist) programme in February 2014, studying under Péter Nagy and Kirill Gerstein. He has continued to receive invaluable mentoring from Rita Wagner and Edith Fischer since then.
Since giving his first overseas recital at the Port Fairy Music Festival in Australia in 2002, Jun has been invited to give solo recitals at numerous festivals in Europe including in Cyprus, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, as well as in Chile and Japan.
He has received masterclasses from renowned pianists in New Zealand and overseas, including Michael Houstoun, Piers Lane, Peter Frankl, Alfred Brendel, and Thomas Ades. More recent masterclasses include those with Rita Wagner and Ference Rados at Prussia Cove International Musicians’ Seminar (England), at the Académie internationale Gyorgy Sebök (France) with Edith Fischer and at Semaine Internationale Piano et Musique de Chambre (Switzerland) with Edith Fischer and Jorge Pepi-Alos.
Jun has also been involved in recording projects with composer Gao Ping including a work for two pianos "The Mountain" for Naxos in 2010, and in August 2012, a recording as violinist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra of "Questioning the Mountains" played at the 2013 Melbourne and Christchurch Art festivals.
In addition to his solo activities, Jun takes a keen interest in chamber music. As a founding member of the Calvino Trio, he recently completed a Masters in Chamber Music at the Academy of Music, Basel, where the Trio's mentors were Anton Kernjak and Rainer Schmidt. In December 2014, the Calvino Trio was awarded 1st Prize at the competition Jeunesses Musicales Suisse (Neuchatel, Switzerland), and, in 2015, received 1st Prize at the “Orpheus” Swiss Chamber Music Competition.
Jun has received numerous awards including 2nd Prize at the 2017 Maj Lind International Piano Competition, Finland, 1st Prize at the 2008 Kerikeri International Piano Competition, winner of the PACANZ National Young Performer of the Year Award in 2004 for pianoforte (and in 2005 for violin), 2nd Prize 2004/5 New Zealand National Concerto Competitions. He is a multiple recipient of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence awards and has been greatly supported in his overseas studies by the Anne Reid Memorial Trust, Kiwi Music, Keith Laugesen, and Tytheridge scholarships.