With Round II now well underway, we invited some of our 2026 Fellows – New Zealand-based musicians who are studying at a high level and who hold a number of different roles in the 2026 Competition including presenting, score reading and page turning – about their favourite moments from Round I, the quarter-finals in Queenstown…
Mana Waiariki (violinist)
“Hearing Salina Fisher’s piece ‘Chasm’ so many times in so many different interpretations has been so interesting! They are all so convincing and distinctly different from one another.
“Tianyou Ma’s (pictured at right) Bach C major was INCREDIBLE! He made the Queenstown Memorial Centre sound like a boomy church.
“I loved and appreciated Maxim Tzekov, Alexey Stychkin and Jakow Pavlenko incorporating te reo Māori into their speeches using phrases such as ‘kia ora’ and ‘tēnā koutou katoa’. It absolutely warms my heart that they are immersing themselves into our culture here in New Zealand!”
Madeleine Xiao (collaborative pianist)
“I have really enjoyed the different perspectives of hearing the contestants from the audience, backstage (when score-reading for the videographers) and also on-stage when I’m page-turning for pianist Paige Roberts Molloy
“As a pianist, it’s been really cool to see how the collaborative pianists have been adjusting to each violinist, especially for the pieces they’re playing with more than one competitor.
“I have also felt my ears changing to hear things differently, given the violin is an instrument I don’t play!”
Lorna Zhang (violinist)
“I enjoyed hearing the Lutoslawski Partita (performed by Anais Feller, at right). I’ve never heard of the piece before. It was refreshing and exciting to hear something that is outside of the standard classical repertoire.”
Archie Lamont-Bowden
“One of my favourite moments from the first round of the Competition was being backstage and assisting our fabulous stage manager, Sam. It was awesome to get to know the participants a bit better, to gain insight into how they prepare immediately before a recital, and to play a part in making sure everything goes smoothly.
“My favourite musical moments have been in hearing pieces that I am unfamiliar with. So listening to Alexey Stychkin (pictured below) playing a unique and unknown solo work by his previous teacher, Marc Bouchkov, was particularly enthralling!”
