“Bernice brings finesse and grace to the piano” - Canberra CityNEWS
“Bernice brings finesse and grace to the piano” - Canberra CityNEWS
About
22-year-old Australian pianist BERNICE CHUA is an international multi-prize competition winner. In 2015, she was named the Australian Capital Territory Young Virtuoso of the Year and was a finalist in the National Young Virtuoso of the Year Award (Australia). A prize-winner in the Australian National, Sydney and Wollongong Eisteddfods, Bernice also won 5th place in the WPTA International Piano Competition Spain – Young Artists Category in 2022. A previous Wesley Music Centre scholar (2018 – 2021), the 2018 recipient of the Canberra Girls Grammar School Vivian Gogh Memorial Scholarship and a recipient of the Head of the ANU School of Music Scholarship (2012), Bernice became an Ian Potter Emerging Artist Grant recipient and the recipient of the Australian Music Foundation Nora Goodridge Young Artist Award in 2024.
Photo by Yanan Wang
Photo by Yanan Wang
Bernice first started her musical training under Marie Cull in Canberra, Australia, and later studied under the tutelage of Dr. Bernadette Harvey. At the age of 15, she was accepted into the pre-college program at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, Austria under Professor Andreas Weber. The following year, Bernice was admitted into the bachelor’s program, in which she graduated in June 2023 at the age of 20. She is currently studying in two master’s programs – Piano Solo Training and Piano Chamber music and Song accompaniment, under Professors Jacques Rouvier, Connie Shih, and Donald Sulzen. She also studies chamber music regularly under Professors Cibrán Sierra Vásquez (Cuarteto Quiroga) and Leonhard Roczek (Minetti Quartet). Bernice has participated in several masterclasses over the years with teachers including Amandine Savary, Eva Pobłocka, Edward Neeman, Stephanie Neeman, Michael Kieran Harvey, Michał Białk, Óscar Martín, Benedicte Palko, Daniel de Borah, Réka Szilvay, Matthias Bartolomey, Kirsten Williams and Sophie Rowell.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Bernice took part in the 2015 Canberra International Music Festival as part of the Beethoven series, as well as the 2022 Nacht Der Komponist*innen “Amor Y Muerte“ contemporary music festival hosted at the Mozarteum University. In November 2024, Bernice was invited to perform in the Mozarteum University’s Fauré Festival, where she performed Fauré’s first cello sonata and his piano trio. She has performed across Australia, as well as in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland in venues such as the Llewellyn Hall (Australia), Australian Parliament House, Austrian Embassy (Australia), Hungarian Embassy (Australia), Italian Embassy (Australia), the Mozarteum University Solitär concert hall (Austria) and the Mozarteum University Wiener Saal (Austria). She has also made several radio appearances, including ArtSound FM (Australia), ABC Classic FM (Australia), 2MBS Fine Music Sydney (Australia) and ORF (Austria).
Photo by Peter Hislop
The Alpenrose Trio, Photo by Peter Hislop
An avid chamber musician, Bernice regularly performs with instrumentalists and singers. Her piano trio, the Alpenrose Trio, alongside fellow Australian violinist Fiona Qiu, and Polish Cellist Jan Łomozik, recently embarked on their first concert tour in Australia in August 2024. Together they performed in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane over 7 concerts at venues including the Residence of the Austrian Embassy in which special guests including the Austrian, Swiss, Belgian, and EU Ambassadors were in attendance, and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. She also frequently performs and premieres contemporary classical music including works by Simone Fontanelli and Sebatian Nagl. She has also worked with composer Klemens Vereno, recording his Sonatine for Cello and Piano with cellist Lenz Defregger.
Bernice also teaches students from her piano studio in Canberra, Australia . She is also a cellist.
