*Nominated for a 2025 ARIA Fine Arts Award for ‘Best Classical Album’*
Fresh from the hit ABC TV series ‘The Piano’, co-hosted with Harry Connick Jr, and moving performances in the sellout Classic 100 in Concert presented by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in conjunction with the ABC (including a solo performance of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata here), star Australian pianist Andrea Lam‘s Piano Diary album for ABC Classic has enjoyed weeks at no.1 on both the ARIA Core Classical and Classical/Crossover charts.
The album earned 5 STARS in Limelight magazine:
“a beautifully performed gem with something for every lover of the instrument. The 16 diverse tracks span a generous 80 minutes of pieces new and old important to Lam throughout her life. Some are explosive and fun – Earl Wild’s Etude No. 6 based on Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm or contemporary New Yorker Aaron Jay Kernis’s Superstar Etude #2, for instance. Others are superb readings of favourites – Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 and Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Schubert’s Impromptu No. 3 and a brace of Schumann delights by Robert and Clara. … Cream and cherry on the cake? Bill Evans’ wonderful jazz classic Peace Piece and JS Bach’s Aria from the Goldberg Variations.”
In MusicWeb International (5 November, 2025):
“Kernis’ second Superstar étude is boisterous from the get go and its dizzying mix of note clusters, keyboard-leaping chords and high-wire virtuosity is coupled with a rhythmic energy that is intoxicating … and the joy and utter command on display is stunning.
Amongst all these soundworlds, romantic, exotic, tranquil, passionate or disturbing Lam places the simple elegance of the aria from Bach’s Goldberg variations, a work she learned during lockdown, a period of time that ironically connected us while keeping us separate; a point in humanity’s diary that we all empathise with.
I really enjoyed this recital. Lam evidently has imagination and a flair for the dramatic and she couples this with a cast iron technique, easy communicative style and a silken tone all recorded in a warm, natural sound.”
And from Fine Music FM:
“Anyone who watched the fabulous ABC TV show The Piano will know two things about Australian pianist Andrea Lam, firstly that she is a ‘gun pianist’ … and secondly that she is a sentimentalist. … We know that Andrea can play the most complex music with astonishing speed and precision, but this Diary presents her in more of a reflective mood… Andrea’s favourites are most of ours as well… If you can’t play them yourself and want a way of dealing with your emotions at any particular time you can do no better than put on Andrea’s Piano Diary and let her play for you.”
Album available on CD and across digital platforms | ABCL0114 – listen now
Across centuries, continents, and genres from classical to jazz to sculpture in sound, the piano speaks to us and becomes part of our lives. In Piano Diary, says Andrea, ‘some pieces are lifelong friends, others are new loves, but all are indelibly etched.’ The richness and joy of that personal connection resonates in every track of this uplifting, comforting and utterly ravishing album.
Track list and more information here: MR Andrea Lam – Piano Diary
Single from Andrea Lam’s Piano Diary out now: Bill Evans Peace Piece
Catch Andrea live in concert next, at the Grand Teton Music Festival (USA) where she performs Brahms, and Mozart as soloist with Sir Donald Runnicles’ Festival Orchestra (in a thrilling programme including the world premiere of a work by Australian composer Alex Turley).