JUSTIN BIRD was born in Auckland, New Zealand, where he began learning the piano at the age of four years. His teacher, Rae de Lisle, was his first major mentor and helped him succeed in many local music competitions as a young pianist. He has been a soloist with the Auckland Philarmonia on many occassions as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and three major youth orchestras in New Zealand. While still a teenager, he made two appearances with the Auckland Philarmonia at the "Symphony under the Stars" and "Starlight Symphony" concerts, both in front of over 250,00 people. In 1999 he represented New Zealand in the Kowhai Australasian Piano Concerto Competition Finals, playing with the Western Australian Youth Orchestra. In 2000, he was awarded the "Young Performer of the Year" for pianoforte and in 2002 appeared as a finalist in the prestigious "Young Musician of the year Competition." In the same year he also won the inaugural Kapiti Coast Competition, for which one of the prizes was a recital in the Temple Square Series in Salt Lake City. In 2006 he reached the final of the MTNA Young Artist Competition and later that year performed Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with the Florida State University Philarmonia. In 2004 he earned his Bachelor of Music at Auckland University studying under Bryan Sayer and he is currently in his second year of a Masters of Music at Florida State University studying under Read Gainsford, also a fellow New Zealander. He is also an enthusiastic chamber musician and has been involved with award-winning groups twice in the National Schools Chamber Music Contest in New Zealand. He has also played violin and viola since the age of five and has spent several years playing with New Zealand's leading youth orchestras. He is currently pursuing the DMA degree in piano at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.