Adelaide-born pianist Mekhla Kumar has been announced as the winner of this year’s Geoffrey Parsons Award. Presented by the Accompanists’ Guild of South Australia and worth $6000, it is Australia’s most enduring and valuable prize for collaborative piano performance.

Mekhla Kumar

“I’m extremely honoured to be the winner of the Geoffrey Parsons Award for 2019,” said Kumar. “It was a wonderful experience to work with associate artists, cellist Thomas Marlin and clarinettist Dean Newcomb. The competition allowed participants to choose most of their program which meant I could present contrasting works that I connect with, as well as the set piece of Brahms’ first clarinet sonata.”

“Collaborative piano performance is a rewarding and enriching aspect of music making,” Kumar added. “Having been trained as a solo pianist I primarily spend a lot of time practising alone so I’m very grateful to Accompanists’ Guild for giving me a fantastic opportunity to work with two of Australia’s finest musicians. The exposure the Award has given me will hopefully lead to more collaborative music making with other musicians in Australia and the generous prize money is a huge help!”

In addition to the Brahms clarinet sonata, Kumar secured...