Som Howie was born in Somerset, England and moved to Australia with his family in 1992. He began clarinet lessons at the age of 11 under Mark Walton and obtained his Associate Diploma in clarinet at 17. This year he completed a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he studied [...]
Young Kwon Choi began playing the piano at the age of four, and won his first national piano competition in South Korea two years later. After moving to Australia, his first orchestral appearance was at age 11 with the Mosman Symphony Orchestra, followed by performances with the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic and the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra. He [...]
Lillian So began lessons in violin and piano at the age of six, later achieving distinctions for her AMusA and LMusA diplomas at the ages of 12 and 14 respectively. She is currently completing undergraduate studies at the Sydney Conservatorium as a student of Alice Waten. Lillian won the National Youth Concerto Competition, performing the [...]
2011 ABC Symphony Australia YPA winner Originally from Wollongong, Nick has performed in various settings in Australia and abroad. After initial studies at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music, Nick undertook the Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he graduated with First Class Honours. As a student of Sydney Conservatorium, Nick [...]
Stage III finalist 2011 & 2010 At the age of 15, percussionist Andrew Wiering was awarded a scholarship to the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide. His subsequent first prize at the 1999 Australian National Marimba Competition resulted in an invitation to attend the Anton Bruckner University in Austria, where he studied under Leonhard [...]
Stage III finalist 2011 Born into a musical family in Wollongong, 13-year-old York Yu began playing piano at the age of four, before becoming the youngest student of Catherine Burgess at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music. At the age of six he performed at Wollongong Town Hall for the Senior Citizens Festival and won his [...]
Stage III Finalist 2011, Grand Finalist of the 2008 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards and winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship Melbourne-born Rebecca Chan has been performing for many years in various chamber music, solo and orchestral settings around Australia and occasionally overseas. She has been a core member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra [...]
Keyboard finalist in the 2011, 2009 and 2007 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards Nicholas Young is a third-year student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying towards a Bachelor of Music (Performance). He began piano studies at the age of six with Alison Salkeld and has continued with Daniel Herscovitch. He has been awarded [...]
Stage III Finalist 2011 Matthew Hinchliffe began his study of the saxophone in 2006 at Perth Modern School in Western Australia under the tutelage of Amanda Johnson. Three years later, after graduating with an award for the Top Instrumental Music Student, he relocated to Melbourne to study at the Faculty of the Victorian College of [...]
Stage III Finalist 2011 Eighteen-year-old Alex Raineri is currently studying towards a Bachelor of Music in Advanced Performance at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University with Leah Horwitz. He has performed in California, Taiwan, Germany and England, and in Australia he has been broadcast on ABC Radio National, 2MBS, 3MBS and 4MBS. He has [...]
String Finalist in the 2011 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards Emily Sun began playing the violin at the age of five under the tutelage of her late father, Australian composer Daniel Yi Sun. She attained her AMusA in piano at the age of 13 and LMusA in violin at 14. She was awarded a [...]
Stage III Finalist 2011 Desmond Tan began his piano studies at the age of nine and since 2006, he has been under the tutelage of Neta Maughan. He has also studied with Ruth Richardson and Nikolai Sokolov. In 2007 he attained his AMusA and LMusA with distinction, and was invited to perform at the annual [...]
Stage III Finalist 2011 David Rowden studied clarinet with Francesco Celata from the age of 11. He played in the Sydney Sinfonia and Sydney Youth Orchestra before being awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he won the Geoffrey Hawkes Prize for clarinet performance in his final year. His teachers in [...]
Stage III Finalist 2011 Anna Da Silva Chen is a 14-year-old, Year 9 student at Sydney Distance Education High School and a full scholarship student in the Open Academy Rising Stars program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying under Robin Wilson. She has attained her Associate and Licentiate diplomas, both with distinction. In 2010 [...]
Winner, Other instruments category 2010 Ashley William Smith firmly believes in the power for music to positively affect individuals and humanity for the greater good. His performances have been critically reviewed as “incandescent… a masterly display of skill and insight.” The Age music critic Clive O’Connell has claimed “as an apologist for contemporary music-making, you [...]
Young Performer of the Year, 2010 and Winner, Keyboard Category 2005 Oliver started playing the piano at the age of 4. He has performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the St Lucia Orchestra in Brisbane. Other performances include recitals at the Tyalgum Festival of Classical Music, Brisbane City Hall, Byron [...]
Stage III Finalist 2010 Richard Pollett was born in Adelaide in 1986 and began his violin studies at the age of five. In 2007 he undertook a Masters diploma with Italian violinist Massimo Quarta in Lugano, Switzerland at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, completing it in January this year with highest honours. Richard currently studies [...]
Stage III Finalist 2010 Jennen Ngiau-Keng studied at the Australian National Academy of Music from 2002 to 2005 and completed a Master of Music degree at the University of Tasmania in 2008. He won the Geelong Advertiser Music Competition in 2009, the Kendall National Violin Competition in 2006 and the Gisborne International Music Competition (New [...]
Stage III Finalist 2010 Joanne Kang began studying the piano at the age of five, and at 13 attained her LMusA with distinction. Two years later she attained the FMusA in Piano Performance, the youngest-ever recipient of this diploma. Highlights have included performing at Sydney Town Hall in 2002, and at the AMEB Awards presentation [...]
Young Performer of the Year 2009 Ji Won Kim has won awards in various international and national competitions in Europe and Australia. Her musical studies began at the age of four. She attended the Arts school in Seoul and Melbourne before continuing her studies in Europe and obtaining a Bachelor of Music with high distinction [...]
Winner, Other Instruments Category, 2009 David Papp learned piano and oboe as a child and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School, attaining the LMusA in both instruments in 2001 at the age of 17. After completing his HSC in 2002, he decided to focus on the oboe and make it his principal [...]
Winner, Keyboard Category 2009 Bo An Lu is 15 years old and currently in Year 12 at Christ Church Grammar School in Perth. He has been playing the piano from the age of seven and also plays violin. Recent appearances include performances at Government House (WA) Ballroom and St George’s Cathedral, and in 2007 he [...]
Young Performer of the Year 2008 Max Foster began music lessons as a young child and at the age of eight entered the Queensland Young Conservatorium of Music where he studied under Jenni Flemming. He has won many prizes including the award for the best performer in the Redland Bay Eisteddfod (2005), winner of the [...]
Winner, Other Instruments Category 2008 Jessica Foot began playing oboe at the age of 10, under the tutorage of Sue Taylor. She continued her studies with Anne Gilby, and with Eve Newsome whilst completing a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2004. During this time Jessica was awarded the [...]
Winner String Category 2008 Rebecca Chan has performed in many different chamber music, solo and orchestral settings around Australia and overseas. She has been a soloist with many major orchestras around Australia, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra with [...]
Young Performer of the Year 2007 Shaun Lee-Chen is currently a member of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Shaun completed his Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the University of Western Australia in 2000 with first class Honours, studying under Paul Wright and Pal Eder. He was the most outstanding graduate for music at the University of [...]
Winner Keyboard Category 2007 Pianist Benjamin Kopp has performed as soloist with the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria, Ensemble Contrechamps and Ensemble Namascae, and has collaborated with conductors such as Vladimir Verbitsky, Brett Kelly, Marco Zuccarini, Nicholas Braithwaite and James Judd. Benjamin has just completed 3 years of study with [...]
Winner Other Instruments Category 2007 Tristram Williams maintains a busy international career as a leading young soloist, ensemble musician, improvisor and educator. He has appeared as a soloist in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Britain, USA, Japan, China and many times around Australia, with orchestras such as the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Het Brabants Orkest, the Queensland [...]
Winner, Other Instruments category 2006 Shefali Pryor currently holds the position of Associate Principal Oboe with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Shefali grew up in Sydney where she graduated with first class honours from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. During her studies she participated in numerous programs with the Australian Youth Orchestra and was a member of [...]
Winner, Keyboard category 2006 Australian pianist Brieley Cutting has been described as “a pianist who has at her disposal a myriad of different colours and who knows how to take the time to let the music speak” (Scoop Independent News, New Zealand), as having “technical expertise” (The Age, Melbourne, Australia), and as being “a concert [...]
Young Performer of the Year 2006 Cameron is a Melbourne-based violinist who performs regularly as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. In 2006 he graduated from the University of Melbourne studying with William Hennessy (1999-2005), completing the Bachelor of Music with Honours and topping the year. More recently he has completed three years at the [...]
Winner, Other Instruments category 2005 Four years after taking up the bassoon at the age of 18, Mark Gaydon graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium with a Bachelor of Music degree with first class honours and the University Medal. In the same year, he performed Elgar’s Romance for bassoon as soloist with the Queensland Pops Orchestra, [...]
Winner, String category 2004 and Nelly Apt Scholarship Chen Gu was born in Shanghai and began playing the violin at the age of four. In 1986, he won the first prize in the junior section of the Shanghai Music Competition, afterwards giving his first public performance. In 1993 he was a prize winner at the [...]
2004 Young Performer of the Year Saxophonist Amy Dickson began lessons at the age of six and made her concerto debut ten years later. Recognized widely for her remarkable and distinctive tone and exceptional musicality, she has performed in Europe, Africa and Australasia, in venues such as the Wigmore Hall and the Sydney Opera House. [...]
Winner, Keyboard category 2003 Australian pianist Olivia Sham is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Olivia completed a Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (The University of Sydney) on a scholarship of Outstanding Academic Achievement/Merit, where she studied with Elizabeth Powell, and graduated with First Class Honours and [...]
Winner, String category 2003 and Nelly Apt Scholarship Nicole Vasilakis commenced her studies at the Elder Conservatorium at the age of 12 with Beryl Kimber and went on to win the Elder Conservatorium Concerto Competition and the Adelaide Eisteddfod Senior and Junior concerto competitions at the age of 15. She has performed violin concertos with various orchestras [...]
Young Performer of the Year 2003 Richard Haynes is a performer/composer completing the third year of Intensive Cross-Studies at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music under the guidance of Brian Catchlove (clarinet) and Diana Tolmie (bass clarinet). He is Principal Bass Clarinet of the Queensland Youth Symphony and has been a member of the organisation for [...]
Winner, Keyboard category 2003 and David Paul Landa Scholarship The Australian-American pianist Edward Neeman is a fresh new voice on the contemporary piano scene. He has won first prizes in the Rodrigo International Piano Competition, the Carlet International Piano Competition, and the Kawai Australasian Concerto Competition among others, and was the piano finalist in the [...]
Katerina Nazarova
Born in Tasmania, Katerina Nazarova began playing the violin and piano at a very early age, first learning from her mother and then from Barbara Jane Gilby. Her solo debut at age 11 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra was broadcast nationally on ABC Television. She has attended chamber music courses at the Australian National Academy [...]