The Michael Hill Competition entourage has hit the ground running in Auckland. There have been visits to schools and masterclasses with members of the adjudication panel including Grammy Award-winning James Ehnes, Professor Mauricio Fuks and child prodigy turned elegant super-star, Clara-Jumi Kang. With more than twenty thousand followers on Instagram, Clara-Jumi is very popular with young violinists, some of whom were thrilled to get her autograph during the quarter-finals. My hotel room is right next door to Clara-Jumi’s…

After four intense days competing in the quarter-final rounds six semi-finalists have been selected from sixteen international contestants. They are: Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis(Latvia), Hannah Cho (USA), Do Gyung (Anna) Im (South Korea), Eric Tsai (USA), Victoria Wong (Australia), Angela Sin Ying Chan (Hong Kong). Congratulations and see you all in Auckland for the semi-final rounds! The award for best performance of the commissioned piece ('Chatoyance' by Lyell Cresswell) went to Harry Ward (Australia). Lyell thanked the Michael Hill competition…

Today I spent time talking to some of the spectators. Peter Wilson has strong memories of the first competition in 2001. When an afternoon session at The Memorial Centre was disturbed by the clatter of rugby boot sprigs on concrete, Peter was tasked with going downstairs and diplomatically asking the rugby team to take their warmup outside. Peter Wilson and Gerda McGechan sponsor German competitor Matthias Well. Matthias performed today for the first time and surprised audiences by…

We woke up to snow on the mountains this morning – a dramatic backdrop for the start of the quarter-final rounds in Queenstown’s Memorial Centre. While paragliders soar on thermal updrafts right outside the auditorium, eight of the sixteen contestants glide their way through sublime solo Bach works, fiendishly difficult Paganini Caprices, charming salon pieces and the popular Ad Libitum – a work of their own choosing. The youngest competitor, 19-year-old Emmalena Huning performed today. Emmalena was an…

Despite the icy weather, all the contestants and their Kiwi host families were given the warmest of welcomes at Sir Michael Hill’s Arrowtown home. They’ve flown to Queenstown from as far away as Russia, Lativa, Germany, South Korea and the USA. A traditional Maori pōwhiri (welcome) was led by tangata whenua with impressive performances from Arrowtown Primary School kapa haka group. The contestants responded to the welcome by singing the waiata ‘Te Aroha’ and greeting their hosts with…