Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra | 2026 NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition Finals

28 June, 2026, The Concourse, Chatswood, NSW

Six individual secondary school pupils performed their selected concerto with the KPO conducted by Paul Terracini on Sunday 28 June, competing for prizes and opportunities. This is a challenge not only for the very gifted young performers but also for the orchestra who had six concertos to accompany. Very few competitions offer so many finalists an opportunity to perform with a professional-standard, complete orchestral accompaniment. Kudos to the KPO for running this wonderful competition for the past 22 years!

First of all, I want to congratulate all the entrants of this competition. You had the courage and the bravery to put yourselves out there and let yourselves be judged by other people who may or may not be right. Fortunately, there were multiple prizes given out, which is for the best.

Now, this concert showcased six finalists performing parts (or in the case of a double bass, the whole) of a concerto. Prior to this concert, we were told, ‘The audience, orchestra volunteers and the adjudicators were so impressed by the standard of concert performance, technical skill and musicality (of all entrants). They found it difficult to choose the Six Finalists but the final choices came down to the most musical performances with the potential to work with an orchestra.’

This is the ‘fine art’ of classical music, and Dimity Hall made very clear in her awards speech just what the criteria were for the winner:

• technical proficiency (the ability to play the literal notes),
• musical phrasing (the ability to imbue musical spirit from the notes),
• insight (the ability to communicate the composer’s intentions),
• artistic integrity (an unwavering commitment to their and the composer’s vision),
• knowledge of the score (the soloist has to double as a backup conductor),
• and their relationship with the orchestra (the soloist has to coach the team too).

The common man has always found the fine art of classical music too esoteric – and I have relayed above what makes one musician ‘superior’ to another, but it is really impossible to explain why someone won compared to another, so let me just lay it out for you: The mortal who can play the Sibelius Violin Concerto the way that it is supposed to be played will win any competition every day of the week, because the Sibelius VC has got it all! Just playing this masterpiece (my favourite violin concerto of all time) the right way will tick all the boxes, and, yes, that is what happened tonight with Connie Liu taking first prize.

Now, I do not want to comment on any of the finalists and their performances because I am not an adjudicator or professional enough to know why one finalist wins compared to another, but more than that I do not want to play favourites or be biased by praising one performer over another, especially since two adjudicators and the KPO have already awarded the prizes. All of the information I am giving you comes from the excellent program notes:

• Christina Bhang (Violin) played the first movement of the Korngold VC
• Kiara Morishita-Lee (Flute) played the first 2 movements of Mozart’s second flute concerto in D major
• Jaemin Yoo (Viola) played the last 2 movements of Bartok’s Viola Concerto
• Jeffrey Dong (Piano) played the first movement of Chopin’s 2nd PC.
• Leon Spikmans (Double Bass) played the entirety of the Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto no.2 in B minor
• Connie Liu (Violin) played the first movement of the Sibelius VC.

But, I am going to break my own rule (already!) and comment on the Bottesini concerto. Such a wonderful piece of music, more pieces like this should be written to showcase the double bass. The only downside to the instrument is that when the performer shows off the plaintive tones that the double bass is capable of, they have to be in really high positions because, well, it’s a really low instrument!

The KPO also played Sibelius’ Finlandia during the adjudication process. A wonderful rendition showcasing the power of the brass, and also the emotive pull of the winds and strings as Sibelius alternates between raw fury and yearning for a ‘still soul’ (the hymn Be Still My Soul uses the elegiac melody from the middle section of this piece). KPO also presented interesting variations from this piece which I found illuminating and informative, being a ‘classicophile’ who is always interested in expanding my already prodigious knowledge in this genre.

The whole concert was beautifully framed by the MC and ABC compere Vanessa Hughes. Everything she said and did was delightful and uplifted the spirits of both performers and audience. This concert was recorded to be presented by ABC-FM Fine Music 92.9 for a later date. It was a delightful touch to see the winner of last year’s competition give a bouquet to each and every finalist after their performance. I wish that I could have done the same!

Photo credit – Reza Bhageri