NEW CD, "FIRE AND LIGHT," OUT NOW!! SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS...
Virtuoso New Zealand violinist Fiona Pears has spent the last few years performing at prestigious venues around the world. She already has a large fan base in New Zealand following the release of her four CDs and two DVDs which feature her own unique compositions.
Fiona’s early career as a musician saw her perform concertos with the New Zealand Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Christchurch Youth Orchestra, winning two national secondary school music competitions, one in piano and the other in violin.
She has opened for artists such as Tony Bennett, Ottmar Liebert and the late Victor Bourge. Fiona has also recorded for many artists around NZ including Hayley Westenra and Bic Runga.
Fiona has been based in the UK since mid 2004 and has already performed at most of the major concert halls there with various international artists. She has also been busy recording with classical artists such as, Hayley Westenra, Aled Jones, Libera, The Choirboys and All Angels for the Universal and EMI labels, alongside recording her own rendition of the theme from, “Schindler’s List,” for BBC1s “Songs of Praise.”
In September 2005 Fiona performed her compositions at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire receiving an overwhelming audience reaction. She also co-arranged three of her pieces for full orchestra and performed them with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in November of that year.
Fiona returned to New Zealand in December 2005 to several sell-out concerts around the South Island, which culminated in headlining the Nelson Jazz festival during Jan 2006, playing to an audience of over 5,000 people. Following this she supported and accompanied Hayley Westenra on her nationwide tour of NZ to rave reviews.
When Fiona returned to London in 2006 she joined Heather Nova on her European tour, performing her own pieces as well as joining Heather on stage, this time filling the role of lead guitarist on the violin! This tour gave Fiona the opportunity to reach an entirely new audience. The response she received from her part of the shows has been incredible, not only did she sell out of CDs and DVDs during the tour, she has subsequently acquired a large and dedicated fan base throughout Europe.
Following this tour, Fiona returned to the UK to complete her third album, “Memories of Home,” working alongside UK producer Ian Tilley, (known for his work with artists on the Universal and EMI labels). This album contains fourteen tracks and features ten new compositions, which Fiona describes as her, “most exciting, enjoyable and captivating work to date.”
On the 16th July 2006, Fiona staged a UK CD release concert in London playing to a capacity audience.
July/August 06 saw Fiona on a tour of UK castles with Hayley Westenra and Il Divo, performing to an audience of several thousand each night.
Fiona returned to the UK at the start of 2007 following a nationwide tour of New Zealand. She performed sell out shows and had standing ovations throughout the tour. The reviews have been outstanding. Her final show at the ChristChurch Cathedral was a sell out performance with over 700 people queuing across the Cathedral Square to get into the concert. The Christchurch press commented, “It left performers and audience breathless and will be remembered by all as a truly splendid night.” During the tour Fiona was also a regular performer on New Zealand national TV and radio.
When Fiona returned to the UK, she performed at festivals during the summer. She also did a tour of Asia with, “Libera,” and performed in Bermuda in June with Heather Nova.
The end of 2007 saw the release of her second DVD, “Live at the ChristChurch Cathedral."
Before heading back to the UK once again, Fiona toured some of New Zealand’s beautiful vineyards with fellow Kiwi artists, Dave Dobbyn and Hayley Westenra. Following this, Fiona toured the US, Ireland and Jersey. She also performed at festivals and concert halls around England, Scotland and Wales. A personal highlight was a performance at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club in London’s Soho district.
2008 has also seen Fiona going back into the studio to record her forth CD, “Fire and Light,” which features the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra as well as her phenomenal New Zealand band. This CD showcases Fiona’s most beautiful, energetic and captivating compositions to date alongside her own interpretations of well-known pieces such as Khachaturian's, “Sabre Dance.” Fiona also made her first appearance on the silver screen as she was asked to perform one of the tracks from the new album in a UK independent feature film, which is due for release in 2009.
At the time of writing, Fiona is half way through her 'Fire and Light' New Zealand tour which has already received rave reviews (see press page on main site for more). The tour continues in February/March 2009.
2009 sees Fiona performing at more international festivals. She will also be concentrating on completing new compositions, which are already in the pipeline...
Fiona, Thank you for adding my new author page. I will have a few songs from the soundtrack on the player soon, but will link my music page for more songs. My fiction novel with a CD soundtrack is due out in a few weeks. It will be at CD Baby, Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc. Keep in touch. Wishing you a great musical week. Hope all your projects are on track.
Peace and respect, Joy Miller www.myspace.com/joymillermusic
Fiona, Thank you for adding me to your list of friends. I really appreciate it. My current project is a fiction novel with CD soundtrack due out in a few weeks. Wishing you continued success and a wonderful musical creative week.
Peace and respect,
Joy Miller My author profile page at myspace coming soon. I hope you will join me there too.
Hope you're having a great weekend and saw the following quote ☺ "There is a point in life when you get tired of chasing everyone and trying to fix everything, but it's not giving up. It's realizing that you don't need certain people and their crap." ☺ ☺ ☺
They don't follow the fashion Latest trend, no reaction State of the world's affairs Seem indifferent, but really care Self-reliance what its all about Don't need it, you do without In the balance of the universe Doesn't matter could be worse ....."Exceptionally Cool".....
Thanks a lot Fiona for let me be here in your circle of friends, love your music, want to listen more, really loved Whisper Waltz amazing. Send you my best Christian
Thank you for adding me. And of course thank you for your music. I will come on this page sometimes to hear you playing. And maybe in live session, when you will come to Paris in future.
Hey! Thank you for supporting my music. Check out my web site at www.vanessathompson.net and my music videos at www.youtube.com. One of my youtube videos is below for you to hear. If you like it, feel free to put it on your page and share it with your friends. There are also some banners on my page if you want to use them on your page. If you have Facebook, please add me. Some are putting me in their top friends. The support is really appreciated. Hope you liked the cover on Hollywood Celebrity Magazine. If you like my music, please add it to your play list for others to hear. Thank you :)
My new music video to my song "Heartbreakin Game" should be coming out in the near future. There is also a fanpop page for me that has been set up. If you get a chance visit it at http://lnk.ms/0zvbC . You can also sign up to follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/vanessathompson :)
Online Now!
