Teresa Yang Wins NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition
Violinist Teresa Yang from Strathfield has won this year’s NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition in a thrilling final in front of a large, enthusiastic audience at the Concourse Concert Hall, Chatswood.
The 17-year-old student of Meriden Girls’ School in Strathfield played the Bela Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 accompanied by the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra in front of adjudicators and celebrated musicians Madeleine Easton and Simon Tedeschi.
Yang’s prize as overall winner of the 40th annual iteration of this prestigious annual competition is $5000 cash and a concert engagement with the orchestra in 2025. In addition, Teresa picked up the $500 2024 KPO Players’ prize – awarded by the orchestra for best performance in rehearsal.
In a special announcement – Teresa also won the Emily Sun Violin Prize, the loan of Professor Sun’s highly valued 1946 A. E. Smith violin for a period of up to 3 years.
Sydney-born Emily Sun who adjudicated the competition last year, is a prize-winning musician, currently violin professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her famous Australia-made violin is modelled on the 1718 ‘Maurin’ Stradivarius.
The $1000 2024 Barbara Cran (junior section) Award was given to 13-year-old oboist Cloris Xu of St Ives Chase from MLC Burwood for her performance of JW Kalliwoda’s Concertino opus 110.
The $1000 2024 Barbara Robinson (senior section) Award was given to 17-year-old euphonium player Sebastian Rowe of Gunnedah from Carinya Christian School, Tamworth, playing Phillip Wilby’s Concerto.
Other finalists were 12-year-old pianist Jiashan Wang of Burwood and PLC, Croydon; 17-year-old violinist Lara Dowdeswell of St Ives and Ravenswood School, Wahroonga; and 16-year-old cellist Jamie Wallace of Davidson and Sydney Grammar School. All the finalists receive a $250 cash prize.
