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From the President

We are already very well prepared for the 2008 Competition. So many fine young pianists want to audition for the Competition because we provide airline tickets to and from Sydney, hotel accommodation and a daily living allowance. In addition, there is a free buffet, provided by the Friends for the competitors in the “Green Room” from 7.00am until 10.00pm each day. This buffet has a wide variety of different styles of food and fresh fruit.

It is not surprising then, to know that our competitors are always very happy as there is an incredibly warm and supportive atmosphere backstage.

The Friends of the Competition offer great support in many other ways not only during the Competition but in billeting them after the Competition.

We have a wonderful Artistic Director, Professor Warren Thomson, who assures that everything is well organised.

We keep being told we are the Top Competition. As our Prize Winners are of such a high standard, we already have approaching fifty Recitals that have been confirmed for immediately after the Competition in 2008. The Prize Winners will be travelling to all states, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Overseas engagements are also being arranged at the present time. The First Prize Winner will have two recording contracts – one with ABC Classics and another with Naxos.

We all are looking forward eagerly to 2008.

Claire Dan
AM, OBE

What they are doing now

Since the 2004 Competition, Viktoriya Yermolyeva has won the following prizes in International Competitions: 1st Prize Trani October 2004, 1st Prize Marsala December 2004, 1st Prize Vincenzo Bellini December 2004, 3rd Prize Alexander Scriabin March 2006 and 1st Prize Filippo Trevisan April 2006.
She has also given many recitals in Germany (Stadtlohn, Weimar, Jena and Leipzig), Ukraine (Mykolayiv), Netherlands (Rotterdam and Amsterdam) and Italy (Sorrento, Milan, Bari, Caserta, Florence and Barletta).

It is some time since we had news of Chai Chou – he holds the position of Professor for Chamber Music at the University on Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria. He has given many concerts since winning the 1st Prize in the 2nd Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia. His concerts have taken him in Belgium, Holland, Italy, Poland, New Zealand, Australia, the People’s Republic of China and Canada. He has performed recitals in London, Paris, Vienna, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Toronto, Montreal and Helsinki and has appeared with many orchestras including the Montreal Symphony, Stuttgart Chamber, Zurich Chamber, Belgium National, Cologne Philharmonic and the Radio Symphony Stuttgart. Conductors with whom he has performed include: Charles Dutoit, James Conlon, Karl Münchinger and Edmond de Stoutz.

In 1984, he gave his American debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing two concerts before 17,000 people in the Hollywood Bowl, which resulted being invited by Rudolph Serkin to participate at the Marlboro Music Festival.

Since 1990, he has been a member of the Trio Parnassus, which was awarded the prestigious “Echo Classic” Award 2001 in Germany for “Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year”. In 2006, the Trio was awarded the German Music Critics’ Award for their recording of the Complete Piano Quartets of Robert Schumann.

The members of the Trio are: Yamei Yu (violin), Michael Gross (cello) and Chai Chou (piano). In 1996, they performed in the Great Performers Series at the Lincoln Center (New York) and the Master Series at the London Wigmore Hall (London) and in 1999 at the National Gallery’s Chamber Music Series in Washington.

Their recordings have received critical acclaim and they have rediscovered many piano trios from the past. They have recorded all of the Piano Trios of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann as well as trios by another eleven composers from Haydn to Hense.

Alexei Volodin has continued with a very busy recital and concerto appearances in many countries in 2006. These include: Poland (Warsaw), Switzerland (Zurich, Baden, Sursee, Solothurn and Fribourg), Spain (Barcelona, El Venderell, San Feliu, Salamanca, Zaragoza and Vallodolid), Russia (Moscow, Tcherepovets and Surgut), Budapest, Vienna, Padua, Toulouse, Paris, La Roque d’Anthéron and Montpellier, China (Qingdao, Beijing, Tianjin, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shaoxing and Hangzhou). There was a tour in Spain with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev with the 3rd Rachmaninov Concerto in Girona, Pamplona, Bilbao and Madrid. In Leipzig, Germany with the Gewandhausorchester conducted by Riccardo Chailly, he performed Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 1. In Moscow, Piano Concerto KV 365 by Mozart.

Future concerts in 2007 include recitals in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Russia, France, Germany, England and Lithuania. Concerto appearances will be in Hungary with the Hungarian National Orchestra conducted by Zoltán Kocsis – Beethoven No 3, Spain Tour with the Polish Chamber Orchestra performing all five Beethoven Concerti. Also in Spain, with the Orchestra de Castilla y León – Beethoven No 4, tour in Spain with the Weimar Staatskapelle conducted by Leopold Hager - Beethoven Choral Fantasy and with the Spanish Young National Orchestra – Liszt Totentanz and also Oviedo – Orquesta Sinfónica – Rachmaninov No 2. In Russia – Mariinski Concert Hall – Beethoven No 4 and also Beethoven No 2. In Lithuania with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra – Mozart KV482. In Paris, France with the National Orchestra of France – Beethoven No 3.

Xing Liu was busy at the end of 2006 and in the beginning of 2007. In December 2006, he went to Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo for a concert tour. He is now studying in Shanghai with Xiang-Dong Kong. In January 2007, he went to Paris and Enghien to give five concerts. He is also preparing to participate in the 14th Tchaikovsky International Piano Competiton in Moscow.

Brenda Jones moved to Sydney in 2005 and in 2006, was the Staff Pianist for the Sydney International Flute Festival and the AUSTA National String Conference in Brisbane. In December of the same year, she performed in an ACO Soloists Concert. She has also formed the Whiteley Trio with violinist, Sun Yi and cellist, Patrick Murphy. The Trio is named after the great Australian artist, Brett Whiteley and is supported by the Whiteley Foundation. The Whitely Trio has a busy inaugural season in 2007 with concerts at the Art Gallery of NSW (March 11), Bangalow Chamber Music Festival (August 17-19) and in Tasmania with clarinettist, Paul Dean. They will also be performing at various venues in Sydney.

Chu-Fang Huang continues to have a very busy schedule of recital and concerto engagements. In November 2006, she performed with Idaho Falls Symphony (Beethoven No 2), Wichita Falls Youth Orchestra (Grieg) and recitals in New York, Jamestown, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Tulsa and a tour in China (Nov 21-Dec 20).

In 2007, the concerto engagements with Symphony Orchestras in South Carolina (Beethoven No 5), Champaign (Beethoven No 2), Bozman (Mozart No 21), Sacramento, (Beethoven No 5), Glens Falls (Beethoven No 5), Cobb (Grieg), Lincoln Center (Grieg), Florida West (Beethoven No 2) and Knoxville (Brahms No 2). Recitals will be given in Washington, Sanibel, Cannes, Caldwell, Louisville, Gainesville, Charleston, Portsmouth, Erie, Nashville, New York, Phoenix, Hightstown, Kennedy Center, Virginia Arts Festival, Livermore, Oregon, Coral Gables, Ross, Garrett Lakes Arts Festival, Amadeus Piano Festival, Chopin Festival (Duszniki, Poland), Boston and Waleska.

Daniel de Borah’s engagements over the last year have included debut concerts at the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Fairfield Halls and St. George’s Bristol, and appearances with the Canberra Symphony and Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestras. Future plans include a return visit to Wigmore Hall, a tour of Australia in September 2007 and a concerto appearance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Daniel is grateful for support from the Australian Music Foundation, Ars Musica Australis, the Countess of Münster Trust, Myra Hess Trust, Hattori Foundation and the Tait Memorial Trust.

Kirill Karabits - Conductor

Kirill Karabits will conduct the 19th/20th Century Concertos with the Sydney Symphony for the 2008 Competition.
In 2005, he was called upon, at short notice, to replace a scheduled conductor for the Sydney Symphony, and his performances received critical acclaim.

Kirill – the son of a highly regarded Ukranian composer, is now in his second season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra as well as being Principal Guest Conductor of the National Opera of Ukraine. He studied at the Lysenko Music School and the National Tchaikovsky Music Academy in Kiev. In 1995, he undertook further studies at the Vienna Musikhochschule and briefly at the International Bach Academy at Stuttgart. He was Assistant Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1998 for two seasons and worked closely with Iván Fischer and a number of guest conductors.

From 2002 to 2005, he was Associate Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. In 2006, he made his debut with L’Opéra National du Rhin with Eugene Onegin. At the same time, he is working on a Doctorate in Vienna researching unperformed or forgotten works from the Berliner Singakademie. Forthcoming highlights include return visits to Orchestre National de Lyon, Luxembourg Philharmonic and return visits with Deutsches Symphonie - Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (Spain) and Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de São Paulo (Brazil).

Photos from 2006 Friends' Christmas Party

At the Friends’ Christmas Party - L to R: Ara Vartoukian, Robbin Reza, John Blanch, Nanako Reza and Caroline Lee

Warren Thomson and Nanako Reza, drawing the raffle

Robbin and Nanako Reza, who performed at the 2006 Friends’ Christmas Party

Competition News

We are very sorry to advise of the passing of several people with connections with the Competition.

• Pnina Salzman – the famous Israeli pianist, who was a Jury Member in 1996 and 2000.
• Janos Frst – the well-known Hungarian conductor, who conducted the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for the 19th and 20th Century Concertos in the 2004 Competition.
• James Agapitos - who, with Ray Wilson, hosted a number of the Friends Piano Recitals at their beautiful home in Bellevue Hill. James was a great supporter of the Friends and the audiences at their home were able to view the great collection of surrealist paintings.
• Joan Chissell – a member of the Jury in 1988 and 1992 and assisted with the Auditions in 1992,1996 and 2000 in London. Joan was a writer, journalist and music critic for The Times for over 30 years. She was also an authority on Schumann.

New Prizes
Since the printing of the Application/Audition Booklet in August 2006, there have been several new Special Prizes.

• A donation of $6,000 from Paspaley Pearling Company Pty Ltd for the appearances of Nicholas Milton who will conduct the Mozart Concertos in the 2008 Competition.
• A donation of $5,000 from Mrs Joan Levy in memory of Mr Wal Levy “in support of the appearances of Kirill Karabits, who will conduct the 19th/20th Century Concertos with the Sydney Symphony for the 2008 Competition.”
• Prize of $ 5,000 for the Best Performance of a Study by Liszt in Stage I donated by Mr David Burns.
• Awards of $ 750 to each of the six semi-finalists not selected for the finals – donated by Mrs Wendy Weight OAM.
• Prize of $ 1,500 for the Youngest Finalists donated by Ars Musica Australis.

CORRECTION

The correct date for the 2007 Friends’ Christmas Party is Thursday 13th December, 2007.

Chamber Music Artists for 2008 Competition

There will be two groups of musicians – Helen Ayres and Timothy Nankervis, and Dimity Hall and Julian Smiles. Helen and Timothy performed for the Chamber Music Section of the 2004 Competition to critical acclaim.

Helen Ayers is a Doctoral candidate at Melbourne University, where she is completing research in a special study on the Romanian violinist and composer George Enescu. At the same time, she has a full-time position with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and has teaching positions at Melbourne University and Queen’s College where she is Director of Music. In 2006, Helen was also Deputy Concert Master with Orchestra Victoria. As a member of the Seraphim Trio, she has performed at various festivals including Vienna, New Caledonia, Townsville, Mildura, Castlemaine, Port Fairy, the Barossa Valley and the Mornington Peninsula. Helen has many performances and broadcasts with ABC Classic FM, 2MBS FM, 3MBS FM and as soloist with the Melbourne University Orchestra.
Timothy Nankervis is a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 2004. Prior he was studying music performance as a Doctoral candidate at Melbourne University. He graduated from Melbourne University with a Master’s Degree holding a Melbourne Research Scholarship. On a BBM Ltd Scholarship, he studied in London with William Pleeth and Raphael Wallfisch and also the Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kiev with Vadim Chervov. Tim has one numerous awards for cello performance and chamber music and is a member of the Seraphim Trio. In 2000, Tim attended the Australian National Academy of Music and was one of two to perform with Orchestra Victoria. He has given regular broadcasts for the ABC and 2MBS-FM and is also a member of the Linden String Trio and the Sydney Soloists, performing regularly as a soloist and chamber musician.
Dimity Hall is well known to audiences as a member of both the Australia Ensemble, and of the Goldner String Quartet. In 2002, Dimity made her solo debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, performing Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, which was released on CD. After overseas study in the Netherlands, she returned to Australia in 1989 as Principal Second Violin with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and has been that orchestra’s Guest Concertmaster and soloist on several occasions. As a member of the Goldner String Quartet, she has undertaken many special projects. including the complete Beethoven Quartet Cycle for Musica Viva in 2004 , a national tour with didgeridoo artist William Barton in 2005, and several apperances at prestigious UK and European Festivals. Dimity was a member of the jury for the 2003 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.
Julian Smiles enjoys the rare privilege of a full time chamber music career. Since 1991 he has been cellist of the Australia Ensemble, the University of New South Wales’ highly acclaimed resident chamber group, performing and recording with them extensively, both within Australia and overseas. He is also founding cellist of the Goldner String Quartet. As a student with Nelson Cooke at the Canberra School of Music Julian rapidly established a position of prominence, with successes in various major competitions and concerto appearances with youth and symphony orchestras around Australia. In 1989 Julian was appointed principal cellist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and in 1991, received an invitation to join the Australia Ensemble. Since its launch in 1995 the Goldner String Quartet has consistently shown itself to be a Quartet of international standing, with acclaimed performances in the UK, France, Finland, Italy, and the U.S.A. Its major projects in Australia include a retrospective of the 20th Century, in which the Quartet performed 33 works over two weeks in 2000. The Quartet has collaborated with and regularly performs music by many of Australia’s finest composers.