Born in Melbourne, Australia, Ian Munro completed his early studies in that city under the guidance of Roy Shepherd, a pupil of Alfred Cortot. Furthering his studies in Vienna, London and Italy with Noretta Conci, Guido Agosti and Michele Campanella, he was subsequently awarded important prizes in international piano competitions in Spain, Italy, Portugal and the UK, where his second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1987 established him as a musician of significance.
His career since then has taken him to over thirty countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia. In the UK alone he has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and has made a number of broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and 2. Elsewhere, he has performed with the Gulbenkian, Czech Radio Symphony, Polish Radio Symphony, Christchurch Symphony (NZ), Auckland Philharmonic Orchestras and all the major orchestras in Australia in over 40 piano concerti. As a chamber musician he has worked with artists such as Ruggiero Ricci, Erich Gruenberg, Oleh Krysa, Krszysztof Smietana, Leslie Howard, Karina Georgian, Jane Manning, Gerald English, Daniil Shafran, David Pereira and the Medici and Goldner String Quartets.
Ian has recorded CDs for Hyperion, Naxos, ABC Classics, Tall Poppies, Cala and the new UK label Warehouse. Recent discs include Arthur Benjamin's solo and chamber works, Peter Sculthorpe's Piano Concerto and The Keating Tangos, an irreverent musical tribute to the great orator.
Ian Munro's solo repertoire embraces rare and unusual works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and displays a special flair for new music. Premieres and commissions to his credit include works by Australian composers Peter Sculthorpe, Carl Vine, Elena Kats-Chernin, Roger Smalley, Andrew Ford and Gordon Kerry. As a contribution to millenial hysteria, Ian devised and played a series of four recitals in 1999 comprising one work from each year of the Twentieth Century.
During 1998 Ian joined the Australia Ensemble for their subscription series and for tours of Vietnam and New Zealand. In addition he played Rachmaninov's third Piano Concerto with the Sydney SO and was invited back to play the second Piano Concerto, one of twelve concerto engagements last year. In December he joined David Porcelijn and the Tasmanian SO to record the second in a set of CDs for ABC Classics featuring rare concertante works for piano and orchestra. In 2000 he became a core member of the Australia Ensemble in Sydney. For Musica Viva he toured again as part of the Bach Celebration after a tour last year with Hector McDonald and John Harding in which Elena Kats-Chernin's horn trio Velvet Revolution was premiered. A further collaboration with Elena is planned in the form of a Piano Concerto commission from the Sydney SO, to be premiered during the Vale of Glamorgan Festival UK in September 2001. In May 2001 Ian will perform Hans Werner Henze's epic piano concerto Requiem with the Melbourne SO directed by Markus Stenz.
Ian Munro has taught masterclasses in the UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia. Last year he was invited for the eleventh consecutive year to give masterclasses and concerts at the prestigious Dartington International Summer Festival in the UK. This year he continues his association with the Australia National Academy in Melbourne as a master teacher. From August he is appointed to a professorship at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
To be released:
- Mendelssohn Concerti for Two Pianos (Hyperion CDA66567)
- (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra cond. Jerzy Maksymiuk. Stephen Coombs)
- A Patchwork of Shadows (Tall Poppies TP058)
- solo piano works by Williamson, Sculthorpe, Humble, Kerry, Parker, Smalley
- Arensky Suites for Two Pianos (Hyperion CDA66755)
- Suites 1-4
(Stephen Coombs, second piano)
- Mere Bagatelles (Tall Poppies TP080)
- solo piano works by Sculthorpe, Vine, Munro, Gyger, Bright, Lumsdaine, Baker, Humble, Ghandar, Butterley, Wesley-Smith, Woolrich
- Schubert's Unfinished vol 1 (Tall Poppies TP079)
- Unfinished pieces and sonatas for solo piano. Completions by IM
- A Garden of Earthly Delights (Tall Poppies TP113)
- Peter Sculthorpe: Piano Concerto
(Australian Youth Orchestra cond. Diego Masson)
- Horn Trios (Tall Poppies TP114)
- Works by Brahms, Berkeley, Banks
(John Harding, violin; Hector McDonald, french horn)
- Martinu Cello sonatas (Warehouse)
- (Karina Georgian, cello)
- Arthur Benjamin solo piano music (Tall Poppies TP105)
- Arthur Benjamin chamber music I (Tall Poppies TP134)
- (John Harding, violin; Esther van Stralen, viola;
Peter Jenkin, clarinet; David Pereira, cello)
- Tall Poppies Ensemble (Tall Poppies)
- (Works by Lumsdaine, Edwards, Currie, Plush, Glanville-Hicks)
Tall Poppies Ensemble
- Concerti Symphoniques I (ABC Classics)
- Works by Beethoven, Chopin, Litolff, Mozart, Saint-Sa‘ns, Stojowski
(Tasmanian SO cond. David Porcelijn)
- Concerti Symphoniques II (ABC Classics)
- Works by Albeniz, Benjamin, Franck, Gershwin, Lancen, Liszt
(Tasmanian SO cond. David Porcelijn)
- Arthur Benjamin (Tall Poppies)
- Vocal & Choral works
Chamber Music II
Chamber Music III
- Sonates oubliŽes (Tall Poppies)
- (NicodŽ, Jensen, Heller, Pachulski)
E-mail Ian Munro