From October 7 to 12, 14 of Australia’s finest young pianists are gathering at Riverlinks Eastbank in Shepparton, competing for up to $68,000 in cash and prizes.
The week-long event features performances of classical masterpieces, captivating audiences with works by Chopin, Beethoven and more. News reporter Khadija Hadjab took the opportunity to ask attendees about their favourite classical music pieces. Here’s what they had to say.
Michael De Huy
I think my favourite piece is the Beethoven sonata Opus 109 in E major, particularly the third movement, which takes up more than half the piece. I think that it’s such an exuberant and eternal journey of a work that is equally satisfying and some could say, philosophically difficult, but it’s very dear to me, and I enjoy to learn and play.
Calvin Abdiel
The previous piece that I have played, actually, is this Piano Sonata (by Béla Bartók). And I thought, because it has this kind of energetic rhythms and also very dance-like scenes, and a lot of, I think, folk melodies, which I think Bartók invented from, you know, the melodies that he heard all over Transylvania and these Hungarian races, and that constituted my last piece of the first recital.
Lizanne Godwin
Yes, well, it's very difficult because Beethoven has it, particularly with these piano sonatas. Beethoven is, really, and Bartók for you know, more up-to-date and very more modern. (I’ll go with) Bartok music.