2012 ABC Symphony Australia

2012 ABC Symphony Australia

Young Performers Awards

STRINGS FINAL

Saturday 2 June, 7pm

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marc Taddei

Elder Hall, Adelaide

2011 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards Grand Finalists:

Nicholas Young, Emily Sun, Nicholas Russoniello (winner)

MEDIA KIT

MEDIA: For interviews & images please contact Vim & Zest Communications,

02 6685 6762, Trudy Johnston, 0402 485 902, .

20 May 2012

MEDIA RELEASE

Creative tension mounts as the Stage 3 STRINGS FINAL approaches in the 2012 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards. Eleven performers will compete in one of three categories to secure a $5000 cash prize and a place in the Grand Final.

The ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards has encouraged rising talent since it began in 1944. The competition provides inspiration and valuable exposure for gifted young people embarking on a classical music career.

On Saturday 2 June at Adelaide’s Elder Hall, three impressive young violinists will compete in the Stage 3 STRINGS Final. The winner will then join the winners of the keyboard and Other Instruments categories to perform in the Grand Final in Perth with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra on 4 October 2012.

A student of the Australian National Academy of Music, Shane Chen (VIC), 26, will perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D. Accomplished international performer Katerina Mitchell (TAS), 24, will perform the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor. Stage III finalist in 2011 and the youngest competitor in the Finals, Anna Da Silva Chen (NSW), 15, will offer the Elgar Violin Concerto in B minor.

As a rich reward at the end of a highly competitive round of auditions, the finalists will have an opportunity to perform with Australia’s esteemed symphony orchestras. The 11 young musicians will play in one of three categories: Strings, Keyboard and Other Instruments. The performances of these emerging talents will be broadcast nationally on ABC Classic FM.

“These ambitious young artists are afforded a unique opportunity to perform with Australia’s premier orchestras in pursuit of the title of ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year,” says Kate Lidbetter, CEO of Symphony Australia.

“Many of Australia’s renowned classical musicians have launched careers on the platform of the Young Performer Awards. Simon Tedeschi, Diana Doherty, Claire Edwardes and Roger Woodward are among those who have risen to prominence by means of this extraordinary opportunity.”

The competition’s winner will be named the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year and will also be awarded $20,000 cash, multiple copies of a CD of their winning performance and opportunities for further performances with Australia’s major symphony orchestras.

STRINGS FINAL.

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marc Taddei will host the Strings category at 7:00pm on Saturday 2 June in the Elder Hall, Adelaide

This concert will be broadcast live on ABC Classic FM (at 7:30pm on Saturday 2 June).

Tickets: $10 Bookings: ASO reception, 91 Hindley Street Adelaide (no phone bookings will be taken)

The Grand Final will be held in Perth on Thursday 4 October, with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Verbitsky.

MEDIA: for interviews and images please contact Trudy Johnston: 02 6685 6762, 02 8904 0822, 0402 485 902, ,

Shane Chen, Violin

Shane Chen was born in Hangzhou, and early studies with his father led to lessons with Jiayang Wang and Peter Zhang Shi Xiang. He made his debut at the age of nine as a soloist with the Hong Kong Medical Association Orchestra under conductor Yip Wing-sie at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Shortly after, he recorded a recital for Hong Kong Classical Radio Channel 4. He subsequently toured China as a regular soloist with the Shenzhen Youth Chamber Orchestra.

He moved to Melbourne in 2001, and since then has completed a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. In 2010 he resumed his music studies at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium with Roy Theaker. In addition to his studies, he was active as a chamber and orchestral musician, and has performed under conductors Andrew Litton, Roy Goodman and Roy Theaker. He now studies at the Australian National Academy of Music under William Hennessy.

Shane has participated in chamber music projects with Pekka Kuusisto and Dale Barltrop. He has recorded for ABC Classic FM and 3MBS, and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in various concert series and festivals including Australian Voices, Quartetthaus at the Melbourne Festival, and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Festival. He is a founding member of the Te Deum Ensemble, which specialises in Christian music and improvisation, and has toured the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and China.

Anna Da Silva Chen, Violin

Anna Da Silva Chen is a Year 10 student at Sydney Distance Education High School, and holds a full scholarship in the Open Academy Rising Stars program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying under Robin Wilson. She holds her Associate and Licentiate diplomas.

Performance highlights include solo recitals at Wollongong’s Viva La Gong festival as a ten-year-old, at the Art Gallery of NSW, and in the presence of NSW Governor Marie Bashir and General Peter Cosgrove at Parliament House. She made her solo orchestral debut with The Beecroft Orchestra in 2009.

Anna was a semi-finalist in the 2012 Menuhin Competition in Beijing, and other awards in recent years include the 2011 Kendall National Violin Competition, 2011 National MBS Young Performers Award and the 2010 National Youth Concerto Competition. She has also won the Junior section of the NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition, first prize in the Alf & Pearl Pollard Memorial Awards for Performance Excellence, and first prize in the Open Age section at the Sydney Eisteddfod.

Anna was a Stage 3 finalist in the 2011 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards.

Katerina Nazarova, Violin

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 of Music and has also participated in the Australian Youth Orchestra Young Symphonists program. She studied with Berent Korfker at the Royal College of Music in London, where she won the RCM Concerto Competition and participated in the Rising Stars series, and has taken master classes and lessons with Glenn Dicterow, Pierre Amoyal, Victor Danchenko, György Pauk and Tibor Varga, among others.

Katerina performs regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and leads various other orchestras and ensembles including the Cosima Piano Quintet. She has given recitals at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, LSO St Luke’s, and in Italy, Germany and the US, where she has appeared at the Kennedy Center and worked with Lorin Maazel on Britten’s Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw. Forthcoming projects include recitals in Portugal as violinist and pianist with cellist Tim Hugh.

She performs on a violin on loan from Florian Leonhard.