JEFFREY GRICE
Pianist Jeffrey Grice was born in Christchurch. After studying at Waikato and Auckland Universities (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music), he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Arts Council grant and a French government bursary to study in France with Yvonne Loriod, the wife of Olivier Messiaen, and Germaine Mounier. He then studied in Israel with Enrique Barenboim, the father and teacher of Daniel Barenboim. Other formative influences in his training included American pianist Charles Rosen and the Argentine-born French pianist Florencia Raitzin.
A Laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, the Cziffra Foudation, and the Sophia-Antipolis Foundation, in 1999, Jeffrey Grice was made an “Officer of Arts and Letters” (Officier des Arts et des Lettres) by the French Government for services in the field of music.
Grice’s career has also had a stage and movie sideline. Some may remember the prize-winning French film A Heart in Winter by Claude Sautet, where he appears alongside Emmanuelle Béart and Daniel Auteuil.
Jeffrey Grice has recorded in Europe for the labels Calliope, Erato and Integral Classic and in Japan for Sony Classical, Cosmo Village and JVC.
In 1996, “Golden Performance”, a recording for Cosmo Village of his solo recital (Brahms, Berg and Bartok) in Nagoya’s prestigious Shirakawa Hall was chosen “Best Recording” by Stereo Magazine, Japan. In June of last year, Stereo Magazine similarly acclaimed his CD for Sony Classical with flautist Shigenori Kudo of 20th century French flute/piano repertoire (Poulenc, Dutilleux, Gallois-Montbrun). In 2002, his Liszt CD (Integral Classic) was chosen “Best Sound Recording” by the French magazine Repertoire. William Dart hailed his recent recording of the first seven Tone Clock Pieces of Jenny McLeod (The Te Waiata Collection of New Zealand Music) as “incandescent”.
Grice’s programmes are imaginative and attractive. His particular way of juxtaposing different works from the repertoire, creates a new kind of listening and has encouraged many contemporary composers to write for him.