Ian Hanger AM QC, Chairman

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Australia's leading national Piano Competition and Festival!  This is our seventh biennial compeittion and we are honoured to have a very distinguished panel of jurors headed by Hiroko Nakamura.  We are delighted that Prof Nakamura will play with the Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra in our opening concert ,once again furthering one of the purposes of the competition which is to promote classical music to young people.  The opportunity for the students at the Conservatorium to perform with a soloist of this calibre will doubtless be an experience that they will remember for many years after graduation. 

There were more than 60 entrants auditioned for the competition and 20 of those have come to Brisbane not only to compete but to share the great love that is music with their fellow competitors.

I hope to see many of you at some or all of what will be wonderful performances over a period of two weeks. 

Ian Hanger AM QC