The flooding that has hit Shepparton so hard forced the Australian National Piano Award to rush to a conclusion a day early.
Held in Shepparton last week (October 10 to 14), the award winner was to be decided from three finalists on Saturday evening after the semi-final on Friday night.
However, with floodwaters making their way towards Shepparton, organisers decided to make the semi-final the final on Friday evening to allow entrants and visitors linked to the award to leave the city prior to the flooding.
"Our priority is to ensure the safety of all our finalists, adjudicators, audiences, partners and other stakeholders,“ award board president and co-founder Darryl Coote said.
“While this news was sudden, we appreciated everyone's support and patience as we promptly managed these changes.”
Alex Zhang, a 27-year-old pianist from NSW, emerged from the disruption to be crowned the winner of the award and the $22,000 City of Greater Shepparton first prize, plus a $5000 Daphne and Ross Turnbull Bursary for music career development.
The $10,000 Fairley Foundation second prize and $3000 Daphne and Ross Turnbull Bursary for music career development was awarded to 29-year-old Paul Cheung, also from NSW.
Yasmin Rowe, 33, from Victoria, was in third place, winning the $5000 Beleura, John Tallis Prize and a $2000 Daphne and Ross Turnbull Bursary for music career development.
Nine finalists from across Australia performed solo recitals at Riverlinks Eastbank in Shepparton during the competition.
The breadth of the repertoire selected was from the Baroque and Classic periods, the 19th and 20th centuries and works by Australian composers.
Other awards and prizes winners
$1000 Max Cooke Encouragement Award sponsored by the Australian National Piano Award: Raymond Shon.
$1000 Shepparton News Prize for best performance, Bach: Paul Cheung.
$1000 Leona and Bruce Sterling Prize for best performance, Mozart or Beethoven: Bowen Li.
$1000 Jenny Houlihan Prize for best performance, Haydn or Schubert: Alex Zhang.
$1000 Pam Wells Prize for best performance, Chopin: Joshua Hooke.
$1000 Horton Family Prize for best performance, romantic era (excluding Chopin) or 20th century music up to 1950: Alex Zhang.
$5000 Andreadis Family Australian Composition Commission Prize for best performance for music composed after 1950: Paul Cheung.
$5000 Lorna Speechley Memorial Prize for best performance as voted by the audience: Alex Zhang.