13 talented pianists from across the country will head to Shepparton to compete for $65,000 prize money.

The Australian National Piano Award has announced the 13 talented finalists of this year’s competition. The shortlisted pianists, aged 21-28-years-old, come from Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia. They will compete from September 5 – 10 in regional Victoria at the Eastbank Centre in Shepparton, for the $65,000 prize money. The competition is recorded by ABC Classic FM and broadcast nationally.

Founded in 1992, the biennial awards have grown in stature and scale over the past 24 years; today ANPA is considered one of Australia’s top musical competitions. Among its past winners are some of the country’s most acclaimed pianists including the Australia Piano Quartet’s Daniel de Borah, New York-based pianist and new music champion Jocelyn Ho and ABC Classics artist Jayson Gillham.

This year’s awards will be adjudicated by Rolfe Plagge, Diana Weekes and Clemens Leske. ANPA President, Darryl Coote, said the judges would be looking for “passion, talent and charisma on stage.” Over the five-day competition, a total of 33 recitals will feature masterworks from the Classical, Baroque, Romantic and Contemporary repertoire. “The philosophy of ANPA is to provide Australian pianists with a professional platform to help propel their careers to become world-class artists,” Coote explains.

The Australian National Piano Awards Finalists 2016

New South Wales
Peter de Jager (26yrs)
Sabina Im (25yrs)
Tony Dong Yi (24yrs)
Nicholas Young (25yrs – residing in Melbourne)

Victoria
Berta Brozgul (26yrs)
Timothy Chiang (28yrs)
Kathy Chow (22yrs)
Joshua Hooke (23yrs)
Michael Li (22yrs)

Tasmania
Ben Austin (25yrs –residing in Melbourne)

South Australia
Mekhla Kumar (27yrs)

Queensland
Aaron Liu (23yrs)
Oliver She (25yrs – residing in U.K. + QLD)