ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer Award Finalists Announced.

 This year, the ABC Symphony Australia  Young Performer of the Year Award celebrates 70 years of discovering some of Australia’s finest talents. The final rounds of the competition will be held in Adelaide with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra over 10 days in August. Taking the form of a ‘mini-festival’ the competition includes 7 public concerts in 10 days over 3 rounds – recital, chamber music and concerto.

Past winners include pianist Roger Woodward (1964), Brett Dean, viola (1981), Diana Doherty, oboe (1985), mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby (1996), pianist Simon Tedeschi (1998), violinist Ji Won Kim (2009) and pianist Oliver She (2010). 

“Winning the Young Performer of the Year split my life in two – before and after! Before YPA, I was a competitor,” says pianist Simon Tedeschi. “After YPA, I was a performer and musician.”
 
The 12 finalists will vie for the grand prize of $25,000, three performance opportunities with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the ABC Sir Charles Moses Young Performer’s Trophy, a professional CD recording, media training and photo shoot and a feature interview in Limelight magazine. 

Additional prizes include four prizes of $5000 each – People’s Choice Award, Best Recital Performance, Best Chamber Music Performance, Best Performance of an Australian Work as well as two Concerto Finalist Prizes of $7500 for each of the runners-up.
 
The 12 finalists for 2014 range in age between 15 and 27 years, and will play a range of instruments which will include the violin ,piano, oboe and flute. They include 4 Finalists from the 2013 awards who are returning to compete. 

The stages of the competition:

Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 August: Six finalists will be selected during the 4 concerts of the Recital Round that takes place in Studio 520 at the ABC Centre in Collinswood.

Friday 22 August: The six finalists proceed to the Chamber Music Round in the ABC Centre.  Three will be chosen for the grand final.

Thursday 28 August: The finalists proceed to the grand final – the Concerto Round in which they will perform a concerto of their choice with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Seaman in the Adelaide Town Hall.

All concerts in each stage of the Finals are open to the public and broadcast live on ABC Classic FM.

2014 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards
Finalists:
Andrew Kawai, 15 (Oboe – VIC)/Anna Da Silva Chen, 17  (Violin – NSW)/Anne-Marie Johnson, 23  (Violin – VIC)/Catherine Gregory, 27 (Flute – QLD)/David Soo, 21 (Piano – VIC)/Glenn Christensen, 24 (Violin – QLD)/Grace Clifford, 15 (Violin – NSW)/James Jae-Won Moon, 27 (Piano – NSW)/Kiran Phatak, 24 (Flute – WA)/Michael Li, 20 (Piano – VIC)/Sujin Park, 25 (Violin – NSW)/Zoe Freisberg, 21 (Violin – QLD)
 
Live concerts and broadcasts:
Tuesday 19 August, 1pm, ABC Adelaide, Studio 520  – Recital Round concert 1
Tuesday 19 August, 7pm ABC Adelaide, Studio 520  – Recital Round concert 2
Wednesday 20 August, 1pm, ABC Adelaide, Studio 520  – Recital Round concert 3
Wednesday 20 August, 7pm, ABC Adelaide, Studio 520  – Recital Round Concert 4
Friday 22 August, 1pm, ABC Adelaide, Studio 520  – Chamber Music Round concert 1
Friday 22 August, 7pm, ABC Adelaide, Studio 520  – Chamber Music Round concert 2
Thursday 28 August, 7pm, Adelaide Town Hall – Grand Final and Concerto Round concert

Prizes 
Young Performer of the Year   $25,000
Concerto Finalist Prize x 2 (runners-up)   $7,500
Best Recital,  Best Chamber Music, Performance People’s Choice Prize and Best Performance of an Australian Work $5000 each.

A professional CD recording, media training and photo shoot and a feature interview in Limelight magazine. 

 ABC Sir Charles Moses Trophy: This perpetual trophy is presented to the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year by the ABC in honour of Sir Charles Moses, Managing Director of the ABC, 1935-1965.