ABC Young Performers Awards

Last updated

The ABC Young Performers Awards is a classical music competition for young people that ran annually from 1944 to 2015, and again from 2017. It is generally considered the most prestigious Australian classical music competition not restricted to a single instrument.

Contents

History

It was conducted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in conjunction with Symphony Australia (a trading name of Symphony Services Australia Limited, a non-profit arts organisation that operates both domestically and internationally).

In December 2015 it was announced that the competition would be discontinued with immediate effect, as Symphony Australia could no longer support it. [1] However, in October 2016 the return of the competition from 2017 was announced. It will now be under the management of the Music & Opera Singers Trust (MOST), a philanthropic organisation. [2]

Names

The competition had a number of names throughout its history. [3]

Format

The structure of the competition also underwent numerous changes. Initially, there were six state-based competitions, with no overall winner. In 1949, the six state winners competed for the Commonwealth final for the first time. In 1950, singers and instrumentalists were separated. In 1968 a Preliminary Recital stage was introduced and the instrumental categories were divided into Keyboard and Other. In 1978, four categories were introduced: Vocal, Orchestral Strings, Keyboard, and Other Instrumental.

In 1981 came an award for the most outstanding competitor, their prize including concerts with ABC orchestras. In 1986 the State finals were converted to four category finals. [4]

In 2002 the vocal division of the competition was disbanded and the award transferred over to the Australian Singing Competition.

From 2013 until 2015, all entrants were exposed to Preliminary Auditions which were held in each state, from which 12 finalists were chosen by the judges irrespective of their instrument. All 12 finalists played in a Recital round; six were chosen to proceed to the Chamber Music round; and three contested the Concerto round. One of these three was chosen as the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year. [5] The chamber and concerto rounds are hosted each year by a different state orchestra of Australia, 2013's awards will be hosted by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

From 2017, preliminary auditions are by digital video submission from which 12 Semi Finalists are chosen by the judges, irrespective of their instrument or location. All 12 Semi Finalists play in a series of competitive public recitals from which three Finalists are chosen to proceed to the Finals. One of the Finalists is chosen as the overall winner and is named the Young Performer of the Year. [6] The awards are broadcast on ABC Classic FM.

In 2018, the recital round was held at City Recital Hall in Sydney, and the final concerto round was held at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The winner of the 2018 competition was the violinist Emily Sun. [7]

The 2020 Awards were cancelled due to COVID-19 lockdowns across Australia. The rescheduled Awards were disrupted in 2021 and the decision was made to hold the YPA entirely online with digital entries and pre-recorded Semi-Finals and Finals stages. The winner of the 2021/22 Awards was flautist Eliza Shephard. [8]

Notable competitors

The Young Performers Awards and its predecessors featured some of the best known names in the Australian classical music scene. They include:

Related Research Articles

John Harris Harbison is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Stucky</span> American composer

Steven Edward Stucky was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.

Bent Sørensen is a Danish composer. He won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 2018 for L'isola della Città (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krzesimir Dębski</span> Polish composer (born 1953)

Krzesimir Marcin Dębski is a Polish composer, conductor and jazz violinist. His music career as a musician has been that of a performer as well as composer of classical music, opera, television and feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augusta Read Thomas</span> American composer (born 1964)

Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer and professor.

Peter Goddard Lieberson was an American composer of contemporary classical music. His song cycles include two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Music: Rilke Songs and Neruda Songs; the latter won the 2008 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition and both were written for his wife, the mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. His three piano concertos were each premiered by the pianist Peter Serkin, with the 1st and 3rd also being Pulitzer finalists.

Richard John MillsDMus BA(Hons), is an Australian conductor and composer. He is currently the artistic director of Victorian Opera, and formerly artistic director of the West Australian Opera and artistic consultant with Orchestra Victoria. He was commissioned by the Victoria State Opera to write his opera Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1996) and by Opera Australia to write the opera Batavia (2001).

Dan Welcher is an American composer, conductor, and music educator.

Brett Dean is an Australian composer, violist and conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuri Kasparov</span> Armenian composer

Yuri Sergeyevich Kasparov is a Russian composer, music teacher and a professor at the Moscow Conservatory where he had studied for his doctorate under Edison Denisov. Under the patronage of Denisov, he founded the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble in 1990 and is its artistic director. He is the chairman of the Russian section of the International Society for Contemporary Music.

Andrew Ford is an English-born Australian composer, writer, and radio presenter, known for The Music Show on ABC Radio National.

David Horne is a Scottish composer, pianist, and teacher.

William Jay Sydeman was a prolific American composer. He was born in New York. He studied at Duke University, and received a B.S. degree in 1955 from the Mannes School of Music, having studied with Felix Salzer, Roy Travis, and Roger Sessions. He received his master's in music from the Hartt School in 1958, studying under Arnold Franchetti and Goffredo Petrassi. From 1959 to 1970 he joined the composition faculty at his alma mater Mannes School of Music.

David Frederick Stock was an American composer and conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Ludwig (composer)</span> American composer of classical music (born 1974)

David Serkin Ludwig is an American composer, teacher, and Dean of Music at The Juilliard School. His uncle was pianist Peter Serkin, his grandfather was the pianist Rudolf Serkin, and his great-grandfather was the violinist Adolf Busch. He holds positions and residencies with nearly two dozen orchestras and music festivals in the US and abroad. His choral work, The New Colossus, was performed at the 2013 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

Gordon Kerry is an Australian composer, music administrator, music writer and music critic.

Ashley William Smith is an Australian clarinet player and academic. He is the chair of woodwind and contemporary performance at the UWA Conservatorium of Music at the University of Western Australia, and a member of the Queensland-based Southern Cross Soloists.

References

  1. ↑ Limelight Archived 19 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 20 February 2016
  2. ↑ "ABC Young Performers Awards rescued in brave new deal". www.limelightmagazine.com.au. Limelight Magazine. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "ABC: YPA". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Past Winners". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  5. ↑ YPA: New format from 2013
  6. ↑ "How to enter - ABC Young Performers Awards". ABC Young Performers Awards. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "2018 Winner Emily Sun". ABC Young Performers Awards. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "Winner of the 2022 ABC Young Performers Awards announced". Limelight Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.