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Arrangements are well in hand for bringing the 36 selected pianists to Sydney for what I am sure will be our finest Competition yet. There is a great range of talent amongst the people from many countries. It looks as if 34 years of hard work is now being paid back. Despite having no telephone, fax or email for one month due to workmen cutting all our lines whilst undertaking roadworks outside our office everything went ahead as usual and just as fast. We are very lucky that all Australians love music and our best public are the farmers, the doctors and the lawyers but it is farmers who are the very best and they always come at least to the Finals. Every year time seems to go faster and by the time you read this Newsletter it will only be 45 days until the start of the Competition with the Opening Concert to be given by John Chen, the 2004 Competition Winner at the Seymour Centre on Wednesday, 16th July at 8.00pm. Do hurry to get your tickets as they are selling fast and this is without a lot of expensive advertising. Claire Dan AM, OBE |
John Chen has recently performed the Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 ‘Emperor’ with the Jena Orchestra in Germany. The Orchestra was conducted by Chief Conductor, Nicholas Milton. He has also given solo recitals in Bochum, Coswig in Sachsen and at Unna. These recitals were part of his First Prize in the 2004 Competition. John Chen’s recording of works by Debussy and Ravel will be released on the ABC Classics label on 5th July.
Alexei Volodin continues with a very busy schedule of recitals and concerto performances. Coming events are in Switzerland, Denmark, England, Russia, Spain, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands. Orchestras he will be performing with include: National Symphonic (Greece), Karlsruhe, Münster, Philharmonie (Luxembourg), Mariinsky (Russia), Orchestre National du Lorraine, London Symphony, National Philharmonic of Ukraine, Konzerthaus (Berlin). His programs will include the following concertos: Tchaikovsky No 1, Beethoven No 4, Mendelssohn G minor, Ravel G major, Rachmaninov No 3 & 4, Prokofiev No 3 and No 4 and Schumann. The conductors include: Valery Gergiev (in major tours in England, USA and Japan), Mykola Dyadyuna, Vladimir Fedoseyev. 
Alexey Yemtsov continues with a number of important engagements including concerts at the Art Gallery of NSW, Tyalgum Festival, Roseville Music Club, at the live broadcast of the launch by the General Manager of the ABC, Mr Mark Scott, of the ‘Grab the Goanna’ Competition at the Goossens Auditorium. He participated in Melbourne (Hamer Hall) and in Sydney (Concert Hall in the Sydney Opera House) in the Steinway Celebrations with 8 pianos and grand organ. Later in the year, he will be performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2 with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Lazarev, former chief conductor of the Bolshoi in Moscow. 
Spencer Myer has recently had his third return tour to South Africa since winning the First Prize in the 10th UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria. He has also made appearances this year with the Indianopolis, Santa Fe and Phoenix Symphonies. During the summer, he will appear as guest artist at the Meadowlark, Cape Cod and Kent/Blossom Chamber Music Festivals. In the coming season, he has debuts with the Tucson, Knoxville, Richmond and Wyoming Symphonies. His debut solo CD released in November 2007 on Harmonia Mundi USA, has been described as a “compelling and artful disc by a rising talent” in the Gramophone Magazine May issue. 
Gareth Owen has continued to work extensively as a soloist and chamber musician since his performances in the 2004 Competition. His recitals have included venues in the Caribbean, Scandinavia, Switzerland and throughout the United Kingdom. In the past three years, he has been developing as a performer of Mozart and Schubert. He has appeared in the Buxted Festival and St. James’s Piccadilly in London performing Mozart Concertos KV 488 in A Major and KV 482 in E Flat Major. In the coming summer, he will appear in the Chelsea Schubert Festival in London.
Chu-Fang Huang continues to have a very busy schedule of recital and concerto engagements. She has recently given recitals in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Forth Worth and Palm Beach. In Europe, she has been re-engaged three times with the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and twice at the Klavier Festival in Germany. She has performed in the Beijing Zhong-shang Concert Hall and Liao-ning Grand Opera House in China.
Alice Demske, since competing in the 2004 Competition, has completed a Doctorate of Arts Degree at the University of Missouri - Kansas City where she studied with Dr. Robert Weirich. She has undertaken a concert tour of Wales and in 2007, she won the Artist Presentation Society Competition which is held in Missouri. She plans to continue both performing and teaching.
On the evening of Wednesday 23rd April (just 84 days before the Opening Recital of the 2008 Competition) the General Manager of the ABC, Mr. Mark Scott, launched the 2008 Grab the Goanna Competition in the Eugene Goossens Hall at the ABC Centre, Ultimo. The launch was broadcast live by ABC Classic FM. The Competition is open to all schools throughout Australia. More detailed information is available at 
Recent highlights have been his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in UK for a tour of six concerts including London’s Royal Festival Hall, MDR Leipzig, Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur (Zurich) and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Further ahead, he will work SWR-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden/Freiburg, Luzerner Sinfonie Orchester, Seoul Philharmonic. In 2010 he will make his North American debut with the Minnesota Orchestra.
