2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Tue 4 June 2013 Heading to Auckland All our semi-finalists headed to Auckland today as we enter the next phase of the Competition. We grabbed our top six semi-finalists for a quick snap before they dashed to board their flight. Tomorrow three of our six top semi-finalists rehearse with Ashley Brown (cello) and Michael Houstoun (piano) before the first of the Round III performances at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town…

2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Mon 3 June 2013 Announcing the Top Six Finalists We’ve announced the top six semi-finalists to progress to Round III. Eighteen violinists from around the world have performed in the gruelling initial rounds of competition in Queenstown over the past three days. The six semi-finalists who go through to the next round in Auckland are (in no particular order): Nikki Chooi (Canada), Sarah Christian (Germany), Ioana Cristina Goicea (Romania), Wonyoung…

2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Mon 3 June 2013 Have You Picked Your Top Six? The time has come – after three intense days of wonderful music, our international jury has adjourned to make the decision on the top six semifinalists to advance to Round III. The voting is done in secret and the judges do not confer at all. In the foyer of the Queenstown Memorial Centre we can hear the audience members discussing…

2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Mon 3 June 2013 Have You Picked Your Top Six? At the end of the day our international jury will retire to decide on the top six semi-finalists to go through to Round III in Auckland. Jurors follow a strict voting procedure and do not discuss competitors. Each juror votes in confidence for his/her first choice of semi-finalist to advance to Round III and a semi-finalist may only advance by…

2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Sun 2 June 2013 Jazzing It Up With Sergey Today’s activities ended on a high note with a special jazz concert ‘Come Play With Me’ featuring 2011 winner Sergey Malov performing with the Jason Thornton Jazz Group and guest vocalist Karen Hattaway. Sergey once again showed us, and a sold out audience, his incredible talent. This year has been a year of ‘firsts’ for the competition – the first time…

2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Sat 1 June 2013 Dressing The Part We’re reaching the end of day one of the Competition and along with beautiful performances, we’ve also seen a parade of gorgeous gowns worn by our 13 female semi-finalists. While every semi-finalist has put in hours and hours of practice before they take to the stage, thought and planning has also gone into what they wear, and for the women, that means evening…

2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Sat 1 June 2013 Competition Underway Today The 2013 Michael Hill International Violin Competition gets underway this morning with the first round during which each semi-finalist plays a Bach sonata and a Mozart concerto. First to perform is Australian Sujin Park who last night told us she had hoped not to be first or last “but that’s my luck and I’m not thinking about it too much”. American semi-finalists Stephen…

2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Sat 1 June 2013 Round 1 Action We’re halfway through Round 1 of the Competition with nine of the semi-finalists having performed their solo Bach and accompanied Mozart pieces. The almost full house at the Queenstown Memorial Centre has certainly appreciated the very high level of skill shown by our competitors. New Zealand semi-finalist Natalie Lin performed this afternoon and said afterwards that she was pleased with her playing. “I…