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Finalists
Liam Viney - Winner, People's Choice Prize, Best Australian Work, Best Classical Sonata
Andrea Lam - Second Prize
John Fisher - Third Prize
Grace Kim - Fourth Prize, Best Virtuoso Study
Semi-Finalists
Brieley Cutting
Leigh Harrold
Gregory Kinda - Encouragement Award
Lachlan Redd
Angela Turner
Misa Yamamoto - Best Prelude and Fugue
Contestants
Jung-Eun Byun
Ivy I-An Chien
Yeh Chin
Dong-Jun Ha
Vicky Hong
Tahu Matheson
Martin Strauss
David Tong (withdrawn Round 1)
Elina Yasumoto
Jung-Eun Byun was born in Korea and began piano studies at the age of 5. She won many prizes and was accepted into the leading music school in Seoul (Sun-hwa Art high school) with a Young Artist Scholarship. At 16, Jung-Eun was accepted into the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University to study with Leah Horowitz, and had lessons with Lev Vlassenko, later continuing with Natasha Vlassenko. She graduated with her Bachelor of Music Performance (Hons) in 1996 and her Master of Music Performance in 1998.Jung-Eun has performed in many concerts and competitions, including a recital at the Sydney Opera House in 1997 and in the same year, she received the Owen Fletcher Scholarship from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. In 2000, she performed in a masterclass with Professor Andrezj Jasinski in the International Sommerakademic University of Mozarteum, and received a performance diploma. Since 1999, Jung-Eun has been teaching piano at the Young Conservatorium (QCGU).
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 | Ivy I-An Chien, now aged 22, came to Australia in 1991 and attended the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. At 15 she was the inaugural winner in the junior section of the Yamaha National Australia Youth Piano Competition.
In 1995, Ivy gained her L Mus A with distinction and continued studies at Presbyterian Ladies’ College with a music scholarship; she was awarded Music Colours in June 1996. At the University of Melbourne Ivy was awarded both the Entrance Exhibition and the T Allan McKay Pianoforte Scholarship. In 1998, Ivy participated in the Australian National Academy of Music’s Sonata Program, Piano Program and masterclasses. She has just completed her fourth year in performance study under Professor Stephen McIntyre. Previous teachers include Professor Ronald Farren-Price, Mrs En-Pei Lin and Michael Kieran Harvey.
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Yeh Chin was born in Taiwan in 1978. She finished high school in 1996, majoring in composition, and started composing at 15. In 1997 she moved with her family to Auckland and, after this move, Yeh changed her major to piano performance.
She is now a Masters student at the University of Auckland under Professor Tamas Vesmas.Yeh has been competing since 1990. She gained second prize in the Taiwan International Lions Club Junior High School Piano Competition in 1993 and third prize in the Taiwan Region Teenager Composition Competition in 1995. She has also competed in New Zealand.
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 | Brieley Cutting, aged 18, is currently completing her Bachelor of Music Honours in Performance (Intensive Major) at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University with Oleg Stepanov. She was originally accepted at 13 and was awarded her AmusA at 11. She has studied previously with Pamela Page. Brieley has won various competitions and scholarships, including the Queensland Piano competition, the Ruby C Cooling Prize, and the Queensland Foundation Scholarship, and she has been a state finalist in the Yamaha Australia Youth Piano Competition in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2000. Recently she was chosen to participate in the Advanced Performance Program of the Australian National Academy of Music. Brieley’s upcoming engagements include the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Queensland Conservatorium Orchestra.
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John Fisher was born in Brisbane in 1984. He began piano lessons at the age of 4. When John was 9, he gave his first performance and won his first competition. In 1997, John began studying at the Young Conservatorium (QCGU) with John Winther.
Since 1998, John has been a pupil of Natasha Vlassenko. At present, he is completing year 12 at Saint Joseph’s College as well as his final year at the Young Conservatorium. John has won a number of competitions, including the Queensland Piano Competition and the Nora Baird Bursary. In 2000, he was the Queensland finalist in the ABC Young Performers Awards. He is a national finalist in this year’s Yamaha Youth Piano Competition. John has taken lessons from such pianists as Professors Yonty Solomon and Mikhail Voskressensky.
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 | Dong-Jun Ha commenced studies at the age of 6. Since 1994 he has been studying with Alexandra Vinokurov at the Sydney Conservatorium. Others who have given him lessons and masterclasses include Mikhail Voskressensky, Ronald Farren-Price, Natalia Sheludiakova, Monique Duphil, Frank Wibaut, Michael Kieran Harvey, Paul Rickard-Ford, Daniel Herscovich, Vivienne Spy-Petkovic and the Vienna Piano Trio. In 1997, Dong-Jun came fourth in NSW for HSC 3-Unit Music. He has received numerous scholarships including the Gwen Wheeler, Frank Hutchence Memorial, Harvey Lowe Memorial, and James Richard Ewart Chapple. Dong-Jun is a member of the Golden Key National Honour Society for his scholastic achievements.
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Leigh Harrold is a first-class honours graduate of the Elder Conservatorium, where he is currently a postgraduate award recipient studying for a Masters Degree in Piano Performance under Gil Sullivan. His awards include the Patrick Cecil Greenland Scholarship for Piano, the Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Award for Associate Artists and first prize in the Elder Conservatorium Classical Music Awards. He is the recipient of a university medal for Music. In 1999, Leigh was a finalist in the ABC Young Performer of the Year Awards, which led to a performance as concerto soloist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, with whom he is now a casual member. He has performed and studied with conductor Lorraine Vaillancourt, composer Peter Maxwell Davies and pianist Lisa Moore. Leigh performs regularly in Adelaide as both soloist and chamber musician, records for ABC-FM and is a well-respected teacher and accompanist.
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 | Vicky Hong completed her Bachelor of Music (Hons) in Piano Performance at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University with Mr Stephen Savage in 1996, then her Master of Music Performance with Prof. Ronald Farren-Price in 1998 in Melbourne, where she is currently studying with Dr Michle Solovey.
Vicky has won several awards: the Queensland Foundation Prize, the Yamaha Prize and the Minnie May Bussey Prize. In 1993 she was awarded the Westpac Scholarship as the best music student at the Queensland Conservatorium. Vicky was a national finalist in the ABC Young Performers Awards, and a finalist in the Queensland and City of Sydney Piano Competitions. She has participated in the Australian National Academy of Music programs three times and was selected for the Melbourne International Piano Festival. Currently, Vicky is running a piano studio in Melbourne. To Top of Page |
Grace Kim is the National Keyboard Winner of the 2000 Symphony Australia Young Performers Award and holds the 2000 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Award. In 1993 at 16, Grace won second prize at the ‘Citta di Marsala’ International Piano Competition. In 1997, she was the only person in Australia to be awarded the FmusA. She was the winner of the 1999 Newcastle Piano Competition and received fourth prize in the inaugural Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition. Grace has performed with the ASO, QSO and WASO and she has recorded for the Powerhouse Museum, ABC-FM, 2MBS-FM and SBS Radio. Grace has participated in the Australian National Academy of Music programs for the past four years. Grace has completed her Diploma of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Paul Rickard-Ford. She has been awarded four scholarships towards her studies. To Top of Page |  |
 | Gregory Kinda was born in 1978 in Katowice, Poland. He began his musical education on the piano in Australia at the age of 6. He was then taught by Nita Maughn. In 1986 he moved to Papua New Guinea, where he was taught by his mother Krystyna Kinda.
After completing his eighth grade for the AMEB in 1990, Gregory returned to Poland where he continued his studies in Katowice. In 1999 Gregory gained a Master of Arts degree at the Academy of Music in Katowice under Prof Aleksei Maksymow, after only three years of study rather than the normal five years. Gregory continued his post-graduate studies in Oslo, Norway under Sigurd Slattebrekk and in Gdansk, Poland under Prof Ekaterina Popowa-Zydron. In 2000, Gregory returned to Australia and he is now working at the Australian International Conservatorium of Music in NSW as a teacher. To Top of Page |
Andrea Lam, age 19, was born in Sydney. She began her musical studies at the age of 5 and has performed in all six states of Australia, as well as in Italy, the USA and Hong Kong. Andrea’s first concerto performance was at the age of 13.
Her most recent performances have been Mozart’s Concerto in B flat, K450 in March with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, directed by Markus Stenz and Chopin’s Concerto no 1 in June with The Queensland Orchestra. Andrea has received study grants from the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and the Queen’s Trust. She is currently studying at Yale University with Boris Berman, and previously studied with Ronald Farren-Price.
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 | Tahu Matheson began his piano studies at the age of 5 with his father, international conductor John Matheson. He is currently completing his Masters degree at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, studying with Oleg Stepanov and Natasha Vlassenko. In 1995 Tahu won the Queensland Piano Competition and he made his professional debut in 1996 with a solo recital at the New Zealand International festival of the Arts. He performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 1997 and was invited to record by Kiwi-Pacific Records. Tahu has also performed widely in Australia, both with the Orchestras and solo, and has toured Australia for Musica Viva. Tahu was recently awarded the Hilda Woolmer Prize for Best Piano Accompaniment and is a recipient of the Brisbane Club award for 2000.
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Lachlan Redd graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in New York in 1999 with a Masters degree as a scholarship holder and a recipient of the Queen’s Trust for Young Australians. In 1995 he won First Prize at the Fourth International Youth Music Festival, ‘Virtuosi of the Year 2000’ Competition held in St Petersburg. Lachlan won the 1996 National Keyboard Finals of the ABC Young Performers Awards. In 1996, Lachlan replaced Bruno Leonardo Gelber in two performances of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Lachlan has appeared with the majority of the ABC Orchestras, on ABC Television and Classic FM. He is currently studying with Professor Frank Wibaut.
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 | Martin Strauss is a 17 year old student at Melbourne University, in his first year of a Bachelor of Engineering/Computer Science degree. He studies piano with Professor Stephen McIntyre as part of his Diploma of Music program. In 1999, 2000 and 2001, Martin participated in the Australian National Academy of Music Masterclass Program. Martin began piano lessons at the age of 4, gained his AMusA at 11, and his LMusA in piano and AMusA in flute at 13. Martin has won many awards, including the Yamaha Australian Youth Piano Championship, the Dandenong Festival for Music and Art for Youth and the Ethel Stevenson Award for Piano. He was a national finalist in the intermediate section of the Yamaha Australian Youth Piano Championship (1999) and finalist in the Music Society of Victoria’s Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Awards for piano (1996, 1998). Martin performed with the Victorian Youth and Preston Symphony Orchestras and played at the Castlemaine State, the Port Fairy Spring Music, and the Collins Street Festivals and in Melbourne’s Summer of Music. To Top of Page |
David Tong was born in 1983 in Macao and came to live in Australia in 1988. Since 1992 he has been a student of Stephen McIntyre. In 1995 at the age of 12, he won the National Keyboard Final of the ABC Young Performers Awards.
David has performed as a concerto soloist throughout Australia and also in New Zealand and China. In January 2000 David appeared as a soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and gave solo recitals in Shanghai and Nanjing. In 2001 David is performing the Mozart Concerto K467 with the Sydney and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestras and the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
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 | Angela Turner was awarded the Conservatorium Medal for her Bachelor of Music Honours (First Class) in Performance in 2000. She commenced her Master of Music in 2001 with an Australian Postgraduate Award, continuing her studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University with Natasha Vlassenko. She previously studied with Joyce Bennett.
Angela is the recipient of numerous academic and performance scholarships and awards from the Conservatorium and the University of Queensland, and is a member of the Australian National Academy of Music. Winner of the Queensland Piano Competition three times, she was a semi-finalist of the 1999 Lev Vlassenko Piano competition, and has been a National Finalist in the Yamaha Australian Piano Competition. Angela has been broadcast nationally on ABC-FM and 4MBS-FM. Angela has a strong interest in harpsichord and composition, and has previously studied violin, viola, cello, guitar and percussion. She is also co-founder of the music typesetting and printing company, FinePrint. To Top of Page |
Liam Viney is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Yale University, studying with Boris Berman. He completed his Bachelor of Music Performance with Honours degree at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, studying with Natasha Vlassenko and studied previously with Alison Waddell and Stephen Savage.
Liam has won first prize of many competitions and awards including the City of Sydney Piano Scholarship 1998, the Yamaha Australian Youth Piano Competition 1995, and the Queensland Piano Competition 1996 & 1997. Liam also received the Encouragement Award at the inaugural Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition 1999. Liam has recorded for ABC FM’s ‘Young Australia’ program and for 4MBS. He has performed concertos with the former Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Youth Symphony and the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, and has played in ensemble with Michael Kieran Harvey. To Top of Page |  |
 | Misa Yamamoto, aged 19, is in the third year of a Bachelor of Music (Intensive Major) at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. She commenced her musical studies in Japan when 3 years old. After migrating to Australia in 1991, Misa continued her piano studies with Catherine Beattie before going to the Conservatorium to study with Leah Horowitz in 1997. In 1999, Misa was a national finalist in the Yamaha Australian Youth Piano competition and was awarded a LMusA with distinction and the AMEB Sydney May Memorial Scholarship. In 2000, she was the Queensland finalist in the ABC Young Performers Awards. Misa has been chosen to participate in a number of masterclass programs conducted by the Australian National Academy of Music. To Top of Page |
Elina Yasumoto studied with Yoko Iseki and is currently studying under scholarship with Elizabeth Powell at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. At 18, she toured the United States of America for the Olympic Arts Festival ‘Reaching the World’ and was offered 2 air tickets after her performance at the 1999 Schools’ Spectacular. In 2000, Elina was awarded a scholarship from the TCU/Cliburn Piano Institute in Texas. She has been invited to perform the Schubert Fantasy in F minor with world-renowned concert pianist, Lorin Hollander, in September this year. Elina was invited to become a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, a group of outstanding scholars whose membership, which is by invitation only, includes Nobel Prize winners and US Presidents. Elina’s media performances include broadcasts on ABC-FM, 2MBS-FM and Network 10 News.
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