Piano Man

Television (Full Length) – 2006

Concert pianist Michael Houstoun is a prodigious talent whose career led him back home to New Zealand. This 70-minute documentary tells his life story, from growing up on a Timaru farm to playing prestigious international venues and accomplishing the feat of performing and recording Ludvig van Beethoven's full Sonata cycle. In 1999 he developed a potentially career-ending condition: focal hand dystonia. After five years recuperation he returned to the stage. Piano Man includes footage of Houstoun and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra debuting composer John Psathas' 2006 work View from Olympus.

Michael's got something that I can't explain. It must be God given. He's just got some kind of magic, and when he's doing a slow movement often I'm moved to tears.
– Sister Mary Eulalie on Michael Houstoun's musical gifts, early in this documentary