Photo by Laura Manarati
WSP SOLOISTS
WSP is proud to have Amalia Hall and Konstantin Shamray as our soloists
Amalia Hall
Noted by The Strad for her “blazing insight and dazzling virtuosity”, New Zealand violinist Amalia Hall displays natural and dynamic versatility as a frequent soloist, as Concertmaster of Orchestra Wellington, and as the violinist of NZTrio, which has been described as “New Zealand’s most indispensable ensemble”. In 2024 she appeared as Guest Concertmaster of Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, alongside soloist Martha Argerich.
In 2025, engagements include the Mendelssohn concerto in Teatro Colón with conductor James Judd and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Bartok’s 2nd concerto with conductor Gábor Káli and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Beethoven concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba.
Born and raised in New Zealand, her numerous competition successes include laureate prizes at the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover, the International Violin Competition ‘Premio R. Lipizer’, the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, and the Kloster Schöntal International Violin Competition. She won the top prize at the Tunbridge Wells, Jeunesses Dinu Lipatti, Leos Janacek, Postacchini, and Gisborne International Competitions.
Since making her solo debut at the age of 9 with the Auckland Philharmonia, Amalia has been a regular soloist with all of the major orchestras in New Zealand. She performed the world premiere of violin concertos by Claire Cowan and Michael Norris with Orchestra Wellington, under the baton of Marc Taddei.
Hall has been a soloist with orchestras including I Virtuosi Italiani, NDR Radiophilharmonie, National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan, United Strings of Europe, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba, Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, Filarmónica de Querétaro, Filarmónica de Acapulco, Filarmonica Marchigiana, Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Vallejo Symphony and Brno Philharmonic Orchestra.
As soloist she has worked with conductors including James Judd, Christoph Altstaedt, Douglas Boyd, Benjamin Northey, Tobias Ringborg, Tianyi Lu, Holly Mathieson, Eckehard Stier and Christopher Dragon.
Amalia was the first New Zealand classical musician to perform in Uzbekistan, when she made her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan. On her second visit to Tashkent, she performed all 5 Mozart Violin Concertos in one concert.
In 2025, Amalia begins an appointment as Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster of the Macao Orchestra.
A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Amalia studied under the tutelage of renowned violinists Pamela Frank and Joseph Silverstein.
Amalia currently plays on the c. 1700 Vincenzo Rugeri ‘Baron Knoop’ violin, generously on loan from a private benefactor.
Konstantin Shamray
Konstantin Shamray is a pianist of great intelligence matched by tremendous power. He is more than a match for the full orchestra when he chooses to unleash that power. ~ Adelaide Advertiser
Described as an exhilarating performer with faultless technique and fearless command of the piano, Australian based pianist Konstantin Shamray enjoys performing on an international level with the world’s leading orchestras and concert presenters.
In 2008, Konstantin burst onto the concert scene when he won First Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition. He is the first and only competitor to date in the 40 years of the competition to win both First and People’s Choice Prizes, in addition to six other prizes. He then went on to win First Prize at the 2011 Klavier Olympiade in Bad Kissingen, Germany, and, he was awarded the festival’s coveted Luitpold Prize for “outstanding musical achievements”.
Since then, Konstantin performs extensively throughout the world. In Australia recent and future highlights include engagements with the Sydney Symphony (with Umberto Clerici) Australian Chamber Orchestra, West Australia Symphony (with Dmitri Matvienko) Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (with Andrew Litton) Tasmania Symphony (with Otto Tausk) Queensland Symphony (with Benjamin Northey) and the Dunedin Symphony (with Umberto Clerici).
Konstantin has also enjoyed highly successful consecutive season national tours with Musica Viva with players of ANAM directed by Sophie Rowell, and most recently with Avi Avital. Outside of Australia he has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Orchestre National de Lyon, Prague Philharmonia, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic.
Chamber music plays a strong role in Konstantin’s musical career and collaborations include engagements with the Australian String Quartet, Richard Tognetti, Satu Vanska, Li-Wei Qin, Kristian Winther, Daniel Muller-Schott, Jeroens Berwaerts, Kristof Barati and Andreas Brantelid to name a few. He is a firm favourite at the Ukaria Cultural Centre appearing frequently each season. Konstantin is also a regular guest artist at the Adelaide Festival, the International Piano Series, the Melbourne Recital Centre and Medici Concert Series. He performs frequently for Piano+ and was appointed their Artistic Director of the most recent OutWest Festival.
Konstantin was recently appointed Senior Lecturer in Piano at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne.