2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Thu 6 June 2013

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE

Our three finalists have been named as the Competition enters its final stages.

Following Round III performances by Wonyoung Jung, Sarah Christian and Boson Mo, the judges decided (again by secret ballot) on the final three – Canadians Nikki Chooi and Boson Mo, and German Sarah Christian.

Sir Michael Hill with the three finalists and judges: Helene Pohl, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, James Ehnes, Nikki Chooi, Boson Mo, Sarah Christian, Ning Feng, Dene Olding, Christian Altenburger and Ida Kavafian. Photo: Simon Darby

These three finalists will spend Friday rehearsing with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra ahead of their final performances on Saturday night for which they will each play a full concerto. Boson Mo will play Prokofiev’s Concerto for Violin No 2 in G minor; Nikki Chooi will play Sibelius’ Concerto in D minor and Sarah Christian will play Brahms’ Concerto in D major.

And while Nikki, Boson and Sarah rehearse and prepare for the final, our other semi-finalists and judges have a full programme. Competition violinists will visit two Auckland secondary schools, and three of our judges – Ida Kavafian, Christian Altenburger and Ning Feng – teach masterclasses for talented New Zealand violinists and our semi-finalists.

The masterclasses are open to the public. Ida and Christian teach at the University of Auckland School of Music Theatre (Ida at 1pm and Christian at 3.30pm), while Ning Feng conducts his masterclass at the University of Waikato at 5pm. Dmitry Sitkovetsky and James Ehnes taught masterclasses today.

And tune into Radio New Zealand Concert at 12.05pm Friday (NZST) to hear judge Dmitry Sitkovetsky talking about the Competition. Plus, we’ll be popping into rehearsals and will keep you up with the play as we head towards the Final on Saturday night.

And finally, we thought we’d share this snap. Earlier today, one of our team made a flying visit to our colleagues in Wellington at Chamber Music New Zealand … and who should walk into the office but 2011 Winner Sergey Malov and his mum Klara. If you’re in Wellington on Friday, Sergey is performing a concert at Expressions Theatre in Upper Hutt.