Hailed as a "born communicator" (The Australian), a "brilliant young musician" (Otago Times), and a “soloist of superb virtuosic skill and musicality” (Limelight), Australian pianist Alex Raineri (b. 1993) is active Internationally and throughout Australia as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, harpsichordist, writer, producer and educator.
International performances include tours throughout America, Southeast Asia, United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany and Austria.
Within Australia, Alex has been engaged as a feature artist in many major festivals and venues. As a concerto soloist he has appeared with the Queensland, Tasmanian, Darwin and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Q, Southern Cross Soloists, Orchestra Victoria, Four Winds Festival Orchestra, Bangalow Festival Orchestra, Queensland Youth Symphony and the Queensland Pops Orchestra. He has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio NZ, California Capital Public Radio, ABC Classic FM and all of the Australian MBS Networks.
Alex is the Artistic Director of the annual Brisbane Music Festival. Praised for its "diverse programming" (Limelight), the BMF celebrates its fifth year of operations in 2022, embracing eclectic and diverse approaches to programming - a cross-cultivation of offerings from the old and familiar to the exploratory and new.
Additionally to his full-time performance calendar, Alex is a radio-presenter on 4MBS Classic FM and holds associate artist positions at both the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University + University of Queensland. Within his role at Brisbane Music Festival, he embodies many creative and managerial positions including Artistic Director, producer, marketing + social media manager, grant writing + philanthropy, and coordination + delivery of an impactful young artist mentorship program. As a writer, his work has been disseminated by various publications and forums including The Music Trust’s Loudmouth, Limelight, Australian Music Centre's Resonate, Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference + extensive program notes for Brisbane Music Festival, Southern Cross Soloists + Opera Queensland.
He is a passionate exponent and commissioner of contemporary music, having given 109 World Premieres + 147 Australian Premieres to date. Discography includes How Strange the Change + I'll Walk Beside You (ABC Classics), Liquid Crystal (MOVE Records), Transfiguration, Inventions + braneworlds (self-produced).
Major awards include the Kerikeri International Piano Competition and Australian National Piano Award. He was the recipient of the Queensland Luminary Award in the 2021 APRA/AMCOS Art Music Awards and received a Kranichsteiner Musikpries at the International Summer Courses for New Music (Darmstadt, Germany). Alex has been a prizewinner and/or finalist in the Sydney International Piano Competition, Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Mietta Song Competition, ANAM Concerto Competition (winner), ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer Awards and the Freedman Classical Music Fellowship.
Ongoing collaborative partnerships include Tabatha McFadyen, Alexandra Flood, Jessica Aszodi, Katie Stenzel, Jenna Robertson + Laura Raineri (singers), Lina Andonovska + Jonathan Henderson (flute), Luke Carbon (clarinet), Courtenay Cleary + Brendan Joyce (violin), Trish Dean, Oliver Scott + David Freisberg (cello), Angus Wilson (percussion), Laurence Matheson (piano) + Katina Olsen (dancer/choreographer). Alex was a core member of Southern Cross Soloists (2015-21) and was a founding member + pianist with Kupka's Piano (2012-18).
Notable musical collaborations with International artists include Andreas Ottensamer, TwoSet Violin, eighth blackbird, ELISION, Sara Macliver, Natalie Clein, Natsuko Yoshimoto, Karin Schaupp, Greta Bradman, Amy Lehpamer, Li Wei Qin, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Jack Liebeck, Kathryn Stott, Slava Grigoryan, Brett Dean, William Barton, Jane Sheldon, Lisa Moore, Ensemble Offspring, Orava Quartet, Camerata, ensemble interface, Miroslav Petkov, Wilma Smith, James Crabb, Andrew Goodwin, Eva Kong, Amalia Hall, Ensemble Nikel, Speak Percussion, Kroumata Percussion, Arcadia Quintet, Michael Houston, Andrew Pelletier, Richard Haynes, Carl Rosman, Bethany Simons, and many others.
An artist of extreme versatility, the focal point of Alex's professional practice is within the realms of Western Art Music though often extends to the realms of jazz, musical theatre, pop, rock, and folk genres (the latter imbued with deep cross-cultural narratives). Alex has curated or partaken in many innovative cross-genre and multi-artform projects traversing the realms of theatre, film, contemporary dance, ballet, visual art, contemporary performance art + fashion. This includes collaborations with Australasian Dance Collective, Kaldor Public Arts Projects, Queensland Theatre, Makeshift Dance Collective, Victorian Theatre Company, Paul Kildea + Peter Bassett (writers), Helen Morse, Damien Beaumont, Jason Klarwein, Matthew Connell, Helen Howard + Michael Futcher (actors), Jak Scanlon (filmmaker), Joel Dunkley (designer) + Eljo Agenbach (visual artist). As a repetiteur, Alex has worked on productions of Puccini's Tosca + John Adams' A Flowering Tree (Opera Queensland) and Puccini's Il Trittico (Cuskelly Summer School).
Significant appearances in festivals and major concert series include Brisbane Music Festival, Australian Digital Concert Hall, Utzon Music Series, Musica Viva Concert Series, Bangalow Music Festival, Bendigo Festival of Exploratory Music, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Four Winds Festival, Ten Days on the Island, Canberra International Music Festival, Queensland Music Festival, Medici Series, Music by the Sea Festival, Castlemaine Festival, Recitals Australia, Sunshine Coast Chamber Music Festival, Bleach Festival, 3MBS Marathons, Australian Piano Duo Festival, Brisbane Baroque Festival, QSOCurrent, Canberra Symphony Orchestra Recital Series, Queensland Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series, 4MBS Festival of Classics, Contra Concerts, Nova Muse Festival, Home of the Arts - William Robinson Exhibit, Crossbows Festival, IMPULS Academy (Austria) and the International Summer Courses for New Music (Darmstadt, Germany).
Alex's particular interest in contemporary art music has resulted in collaborative partnerships with many Australian and international composers, culminating in the commissioning and premiere of many new works - over 60 commissions, 109 world premieres and 147 Australian premieres to date. Many of these Australian premieres have been of works by the major compositional figures of 20th + 21st Century composition including Messiaen, Lachenmann, Feldman/Beckett, Reich, Cage, Luther-Adams, Birtwistle, Furrer, Kurtag, Saunders, Fure, Henze, Murail, Hurel + Aperghis. Alex has worked with and/or commissioned works from many of Australia's leading composers including Brett Dean, Liza Lim, Chris Dench, Elliott Gyger, James Ledger, Kate Moore, Lachlan Skipworth, Gerard Brophy, Paul Dean, and many others.
Alex's mentors have included Leah Horwitz OAM, Timothy Young, Stephen Emmerson, Huguette Brassine and Genevieve Lacey. After completing undergraduate studies with Class I Honours and a University Medal, he is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. Alex is an alumni and fellow of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and holds a Licentiate Diploma from the Australian Music Examinations Board and a Licentiate Diploma with Distinction from Trinity College London.
