Jennifer Hou will go on to compete at the National finals, while Toby Thatcher is named Patron of Emerging Artists.

Pianist Jennifer Hou has taken out the New South Wales State Final of the Fine Music Young Virtuoso Awards in Sydney, winning $3000 and the opportunity to compete in the National Finals held in November this year. Fine Music has also announced that conductor Toby Thatcher, Assistant Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, has been appointed Fine Music Patron of Emerging Artists as part of the station’s Emerging Artists Program.

Hou, a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium High School who is now studying Music and Law at the University of New South Wales, was competing against five other performers in the finals, pianist Enrico Mainas, sopranos Jessica Harper and Imogen-Faith Malfitano, trombonist Jamie McCarthy and clarinettist Rachel Thompson. The finalists competed in front of a live studio audience in a performance that was broadcast live on air. The judging panel consisted of Clemens Leske, Luke Spicer and Narell Yeo.

Hou performed the first movement from Ross Edwards’ Piano Sonata as well as Chopin’s Ballade No 1, Op. 23. The second prize, worth $2000, went to Jessica Harper, who performed Wolf’s...