Born in East Texas, Paige made her orchestral debut at the age of thirteen at Baylor University, performing Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto. Since then, she has been soloist with Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, East Texas Symphony, Rice University Orchestra, Jupiter Symphony, Flagstaff Festival Orchestra, Leopoldina Orchestre in Poland, among others. Paige has performed frequently in NYC at Bargemusic, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall and Miller Theatre. She was Artist-in-Residence at NYC’s Lotus Club. Recital appearances include Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ottawa, Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh, Prague and Paris. Paige has participated in many music festivals such as Marlboro, Tanglewood, Aspen, Santa Barbara, Grand Canyon, European Mozart Academy and Mecklenberg, Germany. Paige has collaborated in chamber music concerts with Augustin Hadelich, James Ehnes, Karen Gomyo, Toby Hoffman, Cynthia Phelps, Clive Greensmith, Sterling Elliot and David Sawyer, to name a few. In 1999, Paige had the distinct honor of playing Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Hammerklavier Sonata for Twyla Tharp’s ballet, which premiered in Palermo, Italy and subsequent performances in the U.S.A.

Paige has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance from The Juilliard School. Her beloved teachers were Peter Serkin, Leon Fleisher, Maurizio Pollini, Abbey Simon and Mary Norris. Since 2016, she has had the privilege to perform at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and is currently a faculty member of the SCMS Academy for Chamber Music. In November 2023, Paige made her Seattle Town Hall debut performing Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Philharmonia Northwest.

Paige also teaches privately in Seattle, and otherwise enjoys skiing, hiking, biking and being a mom to two college-attending daughters plus a few kitties.

Sarah has been an official pianist for the Michael Hill International Violin Competition since its inception in 2001 and the Gisborne International Music Competition from 2008-2021, and has performed as a freelance player in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia, and the Auckland Chamber Orchestra. Sarah has also appeared as concerto soloist with St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra, ACO, and the APO, and in 2014 recorded Chris Watson’s “sing songs self” for solo piano and orchestra with the NZSO, a composition which was awarded the prestigious 2015 SOUNZ Contemporary Award.

An award-winning recording artist, she was named Classical Artist of the Year with violist Robert Ashworth at the 2022 Aotearoa Music Awards for their CD ‘Moonstone’, and in 2020 with violinist Andrew Beer for their CD ‘11 Frames’. ‘Sway’ (NZTrio, 2017) and ‘Gung-ho’ (2009, with NZSO principal trombonist David Bremner) were both previous winners of the Vodafone NZ Music Award for best Classical album.

Sarah is a graduate of the University of Canterbury (NZ) and the Juilliard School in New York City, where she earned both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in collaborative piano. While living in the US, Sarah worked as a staff pianist at Juilliard, Yale University, and the Aspen Music Festival.  She also served as coordinator of the collaborative piano programme at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, and spent several years on the music faculty of Purchase College, New York. During the period 2004-2009 NZTrio was ensemble in residence at the University of Auckland, where Sarah taught collaborative piano and chamber music; she returned there in 2019 as an artist teacher and chamber music coach, and in 2023 was appointed Senior Lecturer in piano.

Photo credit: Lydia Sewell

Highly acclaimed for his intensity, spontaneity, precision and musicianship, Alan’s success brings him regular invitations to guest conduct at the highest level. Highlights of his 24/25 season included engagements with the Tasmanian Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Nuremburg Symphony, and the Enescu Violin Competition. In 2025/26, Alan will appear with the Orquesta Clasica Santa Cecilia in Madrid, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in Auckland, Auckland Philharmonia, Tasmanian Symphony and Queensland Symphony.

Alan has also conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Gallen Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra and Deutsche Symphony Orchester in Berlin, the Oslo Philharmonic, NDR Hamburg, Tonkünstler Orchestra, BBC Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Düsseldorf, City of Birmingham and Gothenburg Symphony orchestras, London and Dresden Philharmonic orchestras, as well as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. He maintains a strong name in Japan having conducted most of the country’s major orchestras, including NHK Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra.

Alan began his career as Chief Conductor of Astana Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Meiningen Theatre, where he gained extensive operatic experience. Recent operatic guest engagements include Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with the Finnish National Opera and Slovenian National Opera, and Prokofiev’s War and Peace and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov with the Hungarian State Opera.

Alan Buribayev was born in 1979 to a family of musicians; his father is a cellist and conductor, and his mother is a pianist.  He graduated with honours from the Kazakh State Conservatory as both a violinist and conductor, before continuing his conducting studies at the University of Music in Vienna with Professor Uros Lajovic.  His victory at the Lovro von Matačić Conducting Competition in Zagreb brought him to international attention and this success led to invitations from several European orchestras.  In 2001, he reached the final of the Malko Conducting Competition in Copenhagen in which, where no first prize was awarded, he was awarded a Special Prize, which recognized his “outstanding talent and promise”. Alan Buribayev went on to win First Prize in the Antonio Pedrotti Competition in 2001.

Robert has been guest-​principal viola for many Australian orchestras such as the Sydney Symphony, Mel­bourne Sym­phony, and the Aus­tralian Opera and Bal­let Orches­tra, as well as New Zealand Sym­phony Orches­tra, and assistant-​principal for the Cal­gary Phil­har­monic Orches­tra. He also loves the musical adventures that come from playing with the Australian World Orchestra.

In 2022, Robert was awarded a NZ music award for Best Classical Artist for his album Moonstone with collaborative pianist Sarah Watkins, and is a twice recip­i­ent of the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts Award for Emerg­ing Artists. He has per­formed with var­i­ous groups at inter­na­tional cham­ber music fes­ti­vals in Europe, North Amer­ica, India, and Japan. He has had the hon­our to study with vio­lists Thomas Riebl and Veronika Hagen at the Uni­ver­si­taet Mozar­teum in Salzburg, Aus­tria, and with Ger­ald Stan­ick at the Uni­ver­sity of British Colum­bia in Van­cou­ver, Canada.

Robert plays a Canadian “cut-away” viola made in 1995 by John Newton.

He has won prestigious competitions, including the Accordi Musicali International Cello Competition, 69th ROSL Annual Music Competition, Sieghardt-Rometsch Concerto Competition, and New Zealand National Concerto Competition (2014, 2017). He has performed with leading orchestras such as the NZSO, CSO, Sinfonietta Köln, and St. Matthews Chamber Orchestra, and collaborated with conductors including Guy Noble, Benjamin Northey, and Rüdiger Bohn. Balzat has appeared at major festivals like Aspen Music Festival, Classiche Forme, and Edinburgh Fringe.

He has worked with renowned musicians, including Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, and Wolfgang Schmidt. Matthias holds a prestigious Konzertexamen and Master’s degree at the Robert Schumann Hochschule under Pieter Wispelwey, as well as a Bachelor’s from Waikato University, which he began at the age of 14.

Since her debut with the Auckland Philharmonia at age 9, her solo appearances include I Virtuosi Italiani, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, United Strings of Europe, National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan and Mexico State Symphony Orchestra.

Amalia has performed as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in Europe, United Kingdom, North and South America, Asia, South Africa and Australia, and recorded for BIS, Bridge, Rattle and Atoll Records.

Internationally renowned as an orchestra of high-calibre performance, innovation, passion and versatility, the orchestra presents more than 60 performances annually, showcasing many of the world’s finest classical musicians as well as exciting collaborations with New Zealand’s most inventive contemporary artists.

We are proud to support both the Royal New Zealand Ballet and New Zealand Opera in their Auckland performances. We also work in partnership with Auckland Arts Festival, Auckland Live, Synthony and the University of Auckland among other organisations. In 2026 we are thrilled to be partnering again with the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.

Through our Learn & Participate programme we offer numerous opportunities for over 20,000 young people and adults to get involved with the orchestra, in schools and communities throughout Tāmaki Makaurau.

More than 250,000 people experience the orchestra live each year, in the concert hall and through recordings, livestreams and other media offered to audiences across the globe.

As a registered charitable trust, we are grateful for the ongoing support of our core funders Auckland Council, Creative New Zealand and Foundation North and many other organisations and individuals, who help us to continue enriching our wonderful city and its people through music.

Chief Executive
Diana Weir

Auckland Philharmonia Board Chair
Geraint A. Martin

Patrons
Dame Jenny Gibbs DNZM
Barbara Glaser
Dame Rosanne Meo DNZM, OBE
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa DBE, ONZ