Nth Qld/Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition

History of the Event

The First North Queensland Piano Competition was held in 1980, at the instigation of the late Dr Bill Williams, OBE.  The winner of the competition that year was Joy Rutledge accompanied by Dr Williams.

In 1982, an Instrumental Section was added and the name changed to the North Queensland Concerto Competition;  in 1984 an Open Section was added;  in 1988 the Vocal Section and Ensemble Section were added and the name changed to the North Queensland Concerto & Vocal Competition.

In 1991, the present Director, Mrs Carol Dall’Osto, took over the reins from Dr Williams, who had wished to step down due to ill health.  The decision was taken to hold the competition annually, coinciding with the establishment of a Music Degree Course at James Cook University.  With the support and sponsorship of the James Cook University, the competition was able to offer a substantial prize for the Open Section which became ‘open’, in that it was without any geographical or age restrictions, making it a truly unique competition, and one that could provide a prestigious national platform for all participants.

In 1996, sections for Young Performers, both soloists and ensembles, were added.  In 1997, a new section was added to encourage the performance of works by Australian composers, called ‘Australiana’.  This section is open to both vocalists and instrumentalists.  It has been dedicated to Dr Bill Williams in recognition of his efforts in promoting the works of the twentieth century and, in particular, the works by Australian composers.

Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition

After the 2007 Competition, the Committee decided that as the Competition was  attracting more and more competitors from around the country and even from  overseas, we should look at changing the name to reflect a more national  competition. The name was therefore changed to the Australian Concerto & Vocal  Competition from the 2008 Competition and another new section “Open Ensembles” was added to the list of sections.

In 2011, the Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition commissioned a work for young pianists by distinguished composer Larry Sitsky, with the idea of encouraging young pianists to be involved in ensemble music making, entitled ‘Concerto for Young Pianist’. This was world premiered in 2012 in both Townsville and Cairns in February in the presence of the composer who generously allowed the Competition to have full publication rights, and allowed the second piano part to be orchestrated for use by schools for performance. A young pianist perform the work as part of the competition in the Young Performers Section that year and was placed second by adjudicator Donald Hazelwood OA, OBE.

For the 2014 Competition the Open Section was separated into Open Instrumental and a separate Open Vocal section with a specialist vocal adjudicator, preliminaries as required by the number of entries, and a Vocal Final.

North Queensland Concerto & Vocal Trust

The North Queensland Concerto & Vocal Trust was established in 1996 with a very generous donation of $70,000 from Mr G Ishiyama, of Shipfield Pty Ltd.  This was followed up with donations totalling $30,000 from the regional community of North Queensland.  It is envisaged that, by continuing to build up our resources in the Trust Fund, that the income will cover administrative and organizational costs, and allow for future development.  All donations to the Trust Fund are Tax Deductible, and we are hopeful of receiving a further boost from the North Queensland community.  All enquiries should be directed to Mrs Carol Dall’Osto (Director).

NQ Concerto & Vocal Trust Board Members:
Mr Cris Dall’Osto, Mrs Judith Leong, Mrs Beth Honeycombe.

Previous Winners of the Open Section
1984 Joy Rutledge (Piano – Townsville)
1986 Carol Dall’Osto (Piano – Townsville)
1988 Joy Rutledge (Piano – Townsville)
1990 Jenny Morris (Piano – Townsville)
1992 Coral Paget (‘Cello – Perth)
1993 Ryan Daniel (Piano – Townsville)
1994 Peter Axford (Vocal – Malanda)
1995 Drew Niemeyer (Clarinet – Brisbane)
1996 Hikari Nakamura (Piano – Brisbane)
1997 Young-Ah Kim (Piano – Brisbane)
1998 Michael O’Brien (Piano – Brisbane)
1999 Yu-Feng Huang (Violin – Brisbane)
2000 James Andrewes (Violin – Dunedin New Zealand)
2001 Melinda Stocker (Violin – Brisbane)
2002 Emily Dellitt (Violin – Brisbane)
2003 Marianne Broadfoot (Violin – Canberra)
2004 Jason
Xanthoudakis (Saxophone – Sydney)
2005 Alexander Sunman (Piano – Nedlands, WA)
2006 Anya Muston (Violin – Sydney)
2007 Matthew Rigby (Violin – Samford Valley, Qld)
2008 Ji Won Kim (Violin – Melbourne)
2009 Rebecca Chan (Violin – Melbourne)
2010 Blair Harris (Cello – Melbourne)
2011
Edwina George (Violin – Melbourne)
2012 Yoshika Masuda (Cello – Sydney)
2013 Grace Clifford (Violin – Sydney)
(Open Section was split into Open Instrumental and Open Vocal for the 2014 competition)
Instrumental Open Winners

2014 Jennifer Bradstreet (Flute – Sydney)
2015 Arthur James Athan (Piano – Melbourne)
Vocal Open Winners
2014 Kimberley Colman (Melbourne)
2015 Bronwyn Douglass (Townsville)

Previous Winners of the E. Robert Hayles and Alison L. Hayles Award for Most Outstanding Musician Under 25 years Resident in North Queensland
1997 John Fitzgerald (Trumpet – Thuringowa)
1998 David Mitchell (Bassoon – Cairns)
1999 Philip Cadell (Cello – Cairns)
2000 Belinda Pratt (Saxophone – Cairns)
2001 Cynthia Berryman ( Clarinet – Townsville)
2002 Marissa Facer (Saxophone – Charters Towers)
2003 Sarah Ryan (Violin – Townsville)
2004 Steven Cadell (Viola – Cairns)
Previous Winners of the Joy Rutledge Prize for Most Outstanding Musician from North Queensland
2005 Miles Devlin (Cello – Cairns)
2006 Greta Sherriff (Vocalist – Sydney, formally Townsville)
2007 Rebecca Cassidy (Vocalist – Townsville)
2008 Melinda Frewen-Lord (Cello – Townsville)
2009 Steven Cadell (Viola – Townsville)
2010 John Coulton ( Trumpet – London)
2011 Margot Doherty (Violin – Townsville)
2012 Morgan Jones (Soprano – Mackay)
2013 Andrew Fong (Clarinet – Townsville)
2014 Leesa Cooke (Clarinet – Cairns)
2015 Andrew Fong (Clarinet – Townsville)

Previous Winners of the Patron Rev. Norton Challenor Prize for the Most Promising Vocalist
1996 Anita Nielsen (Home Hill)
1997 Helen Schaffer (Mackay)
1998 Adele Cristaudo (Ingham)
1999 Rachel Cairns (Townsville)
2000 Kelly Salisnew (Brisbane)
2001 Helen Newman (Mossman, Nth Qld)
2002 Heru Godwin (Brisbane)
2003 Veronica Zahra (Brisbane)
2004 Alice McConnell (Townsville)
2005 Rebecca Cassidy (Townsville)
2006 Alyssa Oliveri (Townsville)
2007 Helen Schaffer (Malanda)
2008 Morag McNichol (Townsville)
2009 Greta Sherriff (Sydney)
2010 Peter Jacob Fisher (Townsville)
2011 Naomi Page (Townsville)
2012 Ella Broome (Townsville)
2013 Keegan Li Sehl (Mackay)
2014 Crystal Sijia Wei (Sydney)
2015 Kevin Price (Townsville)

Previous Winners of the Frank Carroll Memorial Prize for the Most Promising Pianist
(Established in 2000)
2000 Shawn Yeh (Brisbane)
2001 Tan-Wei Chao (Wellington, New Zealand)
2002 Edward Neeman (Canberra)
2003 Alexander Sunman (Perth)
2004 Misa Yamamoto (Melbourne)
2005 Alexander Sunman (Piano – Nedlands, WA)
2006 Scott Weekes (Sydney)
2007 Julie Bowden (Townsville)
2008 Alex Raineri (Brisbane)
2009 Halina Leung (Sydney)
2010 Daniel Le (Melbourne)
2011 Ryaed Owens – Montville Qld.
2012 (Not awarded this year)
2013 Daniel Minnick (Cardwell Qld)
2014 Diletta Bredow (Sydney)
2015 Nathaniel Kong (Piano – Sydney)

Previous Winners of the Australian Strings Association Prize for the Most Promising String Player
(Established in 2002)
2002 Steven Cadell (Viola – Cairns)
2003 Marianne Broadfoot (Violin – Canberra)
2004 Kylie Liang (Violin – Melbourne)
2005  Matthew Rigby Violin – Samford Valley, Qld)
2006 Jennen Ngiau-Keng (Violin –  Melbourne)
2007 Jasmine Martin (Violin – Townsville)
2008 Francesca Hiew (Violin – Brisbane)
2009 Sonja Schebeck (Violin – Sydney)
2010 Sonia Baldock (Violin – Melbourne)
2011 Sam Lucas (Cello – Montville Qld)
2012 Elena James (Violin – Townsville)
2013 Harry Ward (Violin – Sydney)
2014 Courtney Cleary (Violin – Brisbane)
2015 Benett Tsai (Violoncello – Sydney)

Previous Winners of the Prize for the Most Promising Woodwind & Brass Player
(Established in 2004)
2004 Oliver Harris (Sydney)
2005  Claire Janiec
2006
Alisha  Coward (Clarinet – Townsville)
2007 Darren Tannock (Saxophone – Townsville)
2008 Emma Gregan ( French Horn – Brisbane)
2009 Claire Ramuscak (Bassoon – Melbourne)
2010 Ashley Carter (Trombone – Brisbane)
2011 Campbell McInnes (French Horn – Brisbane)
2012 Lina Park (Flute – Melbourne)
2013 Sophie Spencer (Trumpet – Sydney)
2014 Andrew Fong (Clarinet – Townsville/Melbourne)
2015 Lina Heeseung Park (Flute – Melbourne)

Triple T Classic Music Team Audience Choice Award
(Established in 2009)
2009 Van-anh Nguyen (Piano – Sydney)
2010 Kana Ohashi (Violin – Melbourne)
2011
Jack Bailey (Cello – Sydney)
2012 Stephanie Stamopoulos (Cello – Melbourne)
2013 Grace Clifford (Violin – Sydney)
2014 Lily Higson-Spence (Violin – Brisbane)
2015 Arthur James Athan (Piano – Melbourne)

Audience Choice Award – Vocal Finals (sponsored by Susan Grinsell Singing Studio $300)
(Established in 2015)
2015 Bronwyn Douglass

Youth Development Award for Young Performers Award
(Established in 2013)
2013 Jasmine Lee (Violin – Townsville)
2014 Florence Cappler-Shillington (Violin – Townsville)
2015 Jasmine Lee (Violin – Townsville)

North Queensland/Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition Images

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