Justine Cormack (violin) and Sarah Watkins (piano)

Justine Cormack and Sarah Watkins, two of this country’s most beloved and respected musicians, have developed strong and successful careers both
independently and together over the past 30 years. Raised in, nurtured, and inspired by Aotearoa New Zealand, these two kindred musical spirits have played together through high school and university in Christchurch, and were founding members of the ground-breaking NZTrio.

Join these award-winning artists for a performance of stunning violin and piano duos by Lilburn, Prokofiev and Debussy.

About Justine Cormack

Violinist Justine Cormack is AWE Festival Director and Concertmaster of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. A staunch advocate for creativity within Aotearoa New Zealand’s arts community, Justine actively supports and promotes creative communities both internationally and closer to home. Justine also collaborates broadly as a soloist, chamber musician and guest concertmaster.

Through her creative performance coaching business, ListenFeelPlay, Justine supports musicians worldwide, encouraging them to maximise their performance success and optimise their musical enjoyment through insightful mind and body awareness.

From 2002 to mid-2017, as a founding member and violinist of NZTrio, Justine performed throughout New Zealand, Australia, Asia, South America, the USA, Europe and Scandinavia. During this time, the group’s commitment and passion for promoting New Zealand music saw the commissioning and performing of close to 40 works from New Zealand composers, proudly showcasing these compositions within the trio’s diverse programmes on the national and global stage.

Other career highlights include her role as concertmaster with the Auckland Philharmonia from 2000-2004, and as lecturer in violin at The University of Auckland following the completion of her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Stony Brook University, NY, in 2001.

An active recording artist, Justine has soloed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and released duo recordings with pianists Michael Houstoun and Sarah Watkins, in addition to a varied catalogue of award-winning releases with NZTrio.

Justine plays an 1868 J.B.Vuillaume violin.

About Sarah Watkins

Dr Sarah Watkins has enjoyed an impressive and busy career as a collaborative pianist. She performed across Australia, Asia, the USA and Europe as a founding member of NZTrio from 2002-2018, and now enjoys a wide variety of collaborations with musicians throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.

In addition to NZTrio, she 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 Orchestra, 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 program 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.

This concert is part of the Great Hall Lunchtime Concert Series 2026.

Discover a collection of musical gems - bite-size lunchtime concerts in the magnificent Great Hall, featuring renowned local, national and international musicians from classical, jazz, and popular traditions. View the full programme.