Tony Lee from Sydney won the 2016 Australian National Piano Award. Coming a close second was Peter de Jager from Melbourne and an exceptional third place was Oliver She from Brisbane.
CONGRATULATIONS ALL OF YOU - and we also congratulate and appreciate the efforts and the beautiful music played by all the pianists who came here for week. You delivered your craft, your passion and shared your music, we salute you all. Well done. Please see the rest of the prizes awarded below:
Prizes – 2016 Australian National Piano Award
Tony Lee (Sydney) won FIRST PRIZE - Total Value $25,000
$20,000 - The City of Greater Shepparton Prize
The winner will be awarded also a bursary of $5,000 for further music career development – The Daphne and Ross Turnbull Bursary
Peter de Jager (Melbourne) won SECOND PRIZE - Total Value $13,000 –
$10,000 - The Gaye and John Gaylard Prize. The winner will be awarded also a bursary of $3,000 for further music career development – The Daphne and Ross Turnbull Bursary
Oliver She (Brisbane) won THIRD PRIZE Total Value - $7,000
$5,000 - The Beleura, John Tallis Prize. The winner will be awarded also a bursary of $2,000 for further music career development – The Daphne and Ross Turnbull Bursary
NOTE All other finalists selected to play, who are not awarded first, second or third prize and who perform in all their required recital sessions, will receive $500 courtesy of GV Hearing Clinic
Special Prizes
Peter de Jager won the best performance of the music of Bach - The Shepparton News Prize - $1,000
Peter de Jager won the best performance of the music of Haydn or Mozart or BeethovenThe Leona and Bruce Sterling Prize - $1,000
Michael Li won for the best performance of the music of Chopin The Pam Wells Prize $1,000
Tony Lee wonthe best performance of music from the Romantic era (excluding Chopin) or for the first half of the 20th century The Horton Family Prize - $1,000
Oliver She won the Andreadis Family Australian Composition Prize - $5,000 - For the best performance of music written in or after 1951. The winner will receive $5,000 to commission a work by an Australian composer, with the intention that the work be performed by the recipient.
Joshua Hooke (Melbourne) won The Lorna Speechley Memorial Prize for the People’s Choice - $5,000 (donated by Dr. Ron Speechley)
The Lorna Speechley Memorial Prize for the People’s Choice is donated by Dr. Ron Speechley in memory of his wonderful wife Lorna nee Ducat who is proud to be the daughter of the family who established the Airlie Dairy and has been a graduate of the School of Nursing at the Mooroopna Base Hospital.
ABC Classic FM recorded the grand-final recitals and highlights will be aired nationally from 2pm onwards through their radio network on Sunday September 11. Winning this internationally recognised Award boosts careers and reputations locally and overseas. Six recitals were performed every afternoon and night, in a magnificent concert hall and to a paying audience, over the days Monday September 5 to Saturday September 10.
The Award is funded by the City of Greater Shepparton and other valued sponsors. It is also supported by philanthropic organisations, private donors, business and the community at large - 2016 marks the 13th biennial presentation of the Australian National Piano Award, held in Victoria’s regional and culturally diverse town of Shepparton. The contestants stayed with local host families for the week.
All pianists performed tworecitals, then five pianists were selected for the semi-final, demonstrating their understanding and range of skills; technical mastery, style, emotional and intellectual interpretations of the following musical styles: From Baroque music up to and including J.S. Bach, Classic music after J.S. Bach, including the music of Beethoven or Schubert, French Impressionistic music and all music of the 20th Century up to 1950 to Contemporary music composed after 1950. Plus, entrants had to include one Australian work in their first or second recital. A limited edition CD recording of highlights will be produced in the near future.
PAST WINNERS (holding the ‘winner’ title for two years)
2014 Alex Raineri, Queensland
2012 Daniel de Borah, Victoria
2010 Jocelyn Ho, New South Wales
2008 Jayson Gilham, Queensland
2006 Amir Farid, Victoria
2004 Matthew Kam, Victoria
2002 Anna Carson, Queensland & Richard Jackson, Victoria
2000 Kristian Chong, Victoria & Kenji Fujimura, Victoria
1998 Edit Goldner, Victoria
1996 Lance Coburn, Queensland & Mark Kruger, Queensland 1994 Clemens Leske Jnr, South Australia
1992 Catherine Davis, New South Wales & Mark McGee, Victoria