THE Kendall National Violin Competition’s weekend of violin-based concerts has been a huge success, according to organisers.
The weekend started on Friday with live and interactive performances of Peter and the Wolf by Live Music Sydney at a pre-school and two primary schools in Kendall and Herons Creek.
Then on Saturday, the four finalists competed for top honours at the Kendall School of Arts.
Grace Clifford put in an extraordinary performance to win the overall competition and all other special prizes, except for the Best Performance of an Australian Composer, which was won by Benjamin Adler.Yejin Min and Tony Zhai, the other finalists, also put on stunning performances.
Grace, who is in Year 9 and hails from Abbotsleigh north of Sydney, wins a Caldersmith concert instrument made from Australian tonewoods, a paid regional tour in 2014 and cash prizes.
On Sunday there was a celebration concert, which took the form of a tribute to local violin maker Graham Caldersmith, who has now donated 15 concert instruments to KNVC winners.The tribute concert featured Grace and special guests Carl Pini, Susan Collins and Jane Hazelwood and Live Music as well.
KNVC President Douglas Head said the three days had been a tremendous success and were a tribute to an enormous effort by the KNVC Committee and its supporters.“The KNVC routinely delivers musicians who rapidly emerge as significant performers as soloists, or with the world’s great orchestras or ensembles,” he said.
“Grace is in her early teens and still at school but is already viewed as having a limitless career on offer. Our concerts were essentially all sell-outs and the audience saw concerts of the highest musical standards, heard some of Australia’s most gifted performers at this level and saw a future star emerge. This is what the KNVC offers.”
He paid tribute to all competitors, saying the KNVC attempts to give a meaningful experience to all entrants because it involves direct interaction of performers with the audience and judges which is not always available.
“The 15th KNVC field was particularly strong, right back to the semi-finals where previous finalists missed out,” he said.
He recommended Mid North Coast residents keep a look-out for Grace Clifford’s regional tour in 2014.
