Theme and Variations Foundation 2023 awards announced

This year we publicised the awards to all conservatoria in Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria and South Australia, inviting applications for assistance from our foundation.

Applications closed on September 29 and were initially reviewed by Avan Yu and Fraser McEwing. We held live final auditions in the Willoughby showroom of Theme and Variations Piano Services on November 5, with Roland Peelman and Andrea Lam as our adjudicators.

The Theme & Variations Foundation is pleased to announce awards have been awarded to Anna Gao from Victoria and Michael de Huy from NSW.

We are always delighted to find, as we have this year, exciting, fresh talent coming through our teaching institutions.

 

Anna Gao

Anna is currently studying a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music under renowned pedagogue Glenn Riddle and after completing her Masters aspires to travel abroad to Europe in order to further her studies. Anna has had success in numerous national competitions including winning the prestigious 2022 MBS National Fine Music Young Virtuoso Award, as well as the Margaret Schofield Chopin Prize in both 2019 and 2022. Anna has performed concertos by Grieg and Beethoven with the Preston Symphony Orchestra, the Zelman Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and the Camerata Orchestra.

 

Photo Credit: Cameron Jamieson

 

Michael de Huy

Michael is an Australian, Vietnamese and Chinese pianist, composer and improvisor originally from Melbourne. He is currently studying his third year Bachelor’s degree with Natalia Ricci at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, having previously studied with Glenn Riddle at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. In addition to regularly performing in Australia and overseas, Michael has gone on to win national and international awards such as the 2023 Valencia International Piano Festival Competition First Prize and the 2023 Sydney Conservatorium of Music Piano Concerto Competition. He will be performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with the SCM Symphony Orchestra early in the new year.

Theme and Variations Foundation 2023 awards announced2023-11-24T02:30:19+00:00

Sasha in the salon

Before concerts with big audiences became the norm, musicians did most of their performing in luxurious private homes. The Foundation recalled this intimate and charming way of hearing a great pianist on 1 st July when Alexander Gavrylyuk delighted a small audience at the home of one of the Foundation’s supporters.

The beautifully restored and extended terrace in Glebe was transformed into a small concert hall equipped with a Steinway model B on which Alexander played a program of Haydn, Liszt and Chopin.

Besides being among the world’s leading classical pianists, Alexander (Sasha to his friends) is the Foundation’s ambassador – largely in appreciation of the nurture and practical help Nyree and Ara Vartoukian gave him when he arrived in Australia as a 13-year-old student from Ukraine. It was this kind of assistance to a number of promising young pianists that ledto the establishment of the Theme & Variations Foundation.

Sasha’s playing is fast becoming legendary – again confirmed by this salon recital. His take on a Haydn sonata was technically perfect, as we’ve come to expect, but Sasha’s interpretation was, in many ways, innovative. Liszt’s Tarantella has become one of his showpieces with his heart stopping technical demands and sudden calls to go from hammering chords to feather touch runs. He finished the concert with a soothing Chopin etude.

Sasha in the salon2023-07-19T10:03:12+00:00

Theme & Variations Foundation 2022 awards announced

This year we publicised the awards to all conservatoria in Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria and South Australia, inviting applications for assistance from our foundation.

Applications closed on September 30 and were reviewed by Christine Logan and Roland Peelman. We staged live performances in the Willoughby showroom of Theme & Variations Piano Services on November 6.

The Theme & Variations Foundation is pleased to announce encouragement awards have been awarded to Brian Luo and Eklavya Mudgil.

We are always delighted to find, as we have this year, exciting, fresh talent coming through our teaching institutions.

 

Brian Luo

21 year-old pianist BRIAN LUO is a BMus (Hons) student at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, studying with Glenn Riddle. He previously studied with Prof David Lockett in Adelaide and Patsy Toh at the Purcell School in London. Awards include the MCM Pearis Rodgers Scholarship, the MCM Katherine Ellis Memorial Scholarship, the MSV Hephzibah Menuhin Piano Award, the MRC’s Elisabeth Murdoch Prize as well as 1st Prizes in 3MBS’s ‘The Talent’, the Boroondara Concerto Competition and the MCM Concerto and Aria Competition. In 2022 Brian performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 3 with the MCM Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall with the Camerata Orchestra.

 

Eklavya Mudgil

Born in Delhi and raised in Sydney, Eklavya Mudgil began playing the piano at the age of 12.  He is currently studying a Bachelor of Music (Honours) Performance degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Dr Paul Rickard–Ford. He was nominated for HSC ENCORE in 2018 and awarded the John and Dorothy Vimpani Pianoforte Scholarship in 2019. He was a finalist in the Piano Department’s Concerto Competition in 2020 and has attended masterclasses with Professor Christian Wilm Müller and Professor Andreas Groethuysen. He was awarded a George Henderson Scholarship in 2022 to study in Switzerland.

Theme & Variations Foundation 2022 awards announced2022-11-15T11:05:56+00:00

Jeremy Sun – a young pianist lifting off

The Theme and Variations Foundation is dedicated not only to discovering and supporting exceptional young Australian pianists, but to keeping track of how they apply their financial assistance.

We asked our 2021 winner, Jeremy Sun, some searching questions about his plans and the life elements that influence his playing.

Jeremy Sun

Jeremy Sun

How do you intend to apply your award?

I am extremely grateful to the Theme and Variations Foundation for the financial aid and I will use it to attend music festivals, summer courses and masterclasses as I think they will greatly benefit me and help me understand more about music.

What influenced your decision to pursue a career as a pianist?

I think it just sort of happened. I have always loved listening to music since before I started learning the piano and as I played in more competitions and performances, I knew that this was thing I love doing and want to keep doing.

Where are you at right now with your musical studies and where you will you be headed next?

I will be starting at the UQ Music School this year studying with Dr Anna Grinberg. I am not sure as to where I will be after my bachelors, but I think I want to go to the US or Europe for further studies.

Based on your current studies with Professor Béroff, how do you rate lessons through internet connections such as zoom?

I am currently studying with Dr Anna Grinberg and occasionally have online lessons with Professor Béroff. I think online lessons definitely aren’t ideal but I still learn a lot from Professor Béroff, especially on French repertoire like Debussy and Ravel’s works.

What other parts of your education are important to you and have they been beneficial to your music?

Learning music theory and harmony intensively in the past few years has really helped me in the practical part of music playing. I feel like it has opened up my ears a lot more and I can now hear my playing much more than I used to be able to.

What would be your typical practice routine in a day? Do you have an exercise routine to maintain your technique?

My practice routine is not really set (which is probably not a good thing) but I try to get a couple of hours each in the morning, afternoon and evening. I normally start with a couple of Chopin etudes or scales to wake my fingers up and get them moving or sometimes I just go straight into a technically difficult passage in a piece to warm the fingers up and practise the difficult section at the same time, which I think saves time for me.

How do you go about memorising a piece?

I normally memorise a piece by looking for patterns within the piece or by remembering the chord progressions in a certain section. This normally makes the learning process much easier for me.

How important is sight-reading?  How to you rate yourself?

I think sight-reading is quite important in music making as quite often, you are given a very short time to prepare a piece to either perform or accompany. I still rate myself pretty poorly on that aspect, but I am continuing to practise on this skill by sight-reading and accompanying regularly!

Do you prefer to play solo, with an orchestra, in an ensemble, or accompanying?

I like doing all of these! They all have something different for me to enjoy. For example, by accompanying, and playing in ensembles, I get to discover so many wonderful pieces from composers I haven’t really heard of.

Do you get nervous before you play and, if so, what do you do to overcome it?

My mum thinks I don’t get nervous but maybe that’s her memory of the younger Jeremy Sun which I don’t remember a thing about. I try to overcome my nervousness by thinking about the piece and by pressing the play button in my head. Sometimes it doesn’t work though, so I just embrace the nervous feelings and leave it to chance.

How does playing in a competition differ from playing a recital?

I haven’t played in many recitals before, but I think the main difference is that you have more freedom in your playing and don’t need to worry about what the judges would think of your slightly unconventional interpretations.

Is there a competition you would love to enter? Are there composers and works to include and those to avoid in competitions?

I would love to participate in the Sydney International, but I think that’ll have to wait until 2025 when I am old enough. I would also like to try for the big competitions in the future: Leeds, Van Cliburn, Chopin.

Who are your favourite composers and pieces?

I think at one point, most composers are going to be my favourite as my likes and dislikes constantly change and move around. Right now, I love listening to Bach, Ravel (probably Professor Béroff’s inspiration), Chopin and Schumann. There are too many pieces from too many incredible composers to choose from so I’m not sure if I am capable of having a list of favourite pieces unfortunately.

Which international pianists do you admire and why?

I love listening to Sviatoslav Richter because his music is so powerful and direct. I also love listening to Pascal Rogé’s French music; his interpretations are always so touching and addictive to listen to. Oh, and I was also hooked onto Kyohei Sorita’s playing in the Chopin Competition last year as his tone is just so beautiful and relaxing to listen to. His second-round pieces were my sleep playlist for a couple of months.

If you could have a ticket to a piano recital by one pianist, alive or dead, who would it be?

I would probably want to go to a recital by Horowitz because he’s probably just the best there will ever be.

What do you do to relax?

I enjoy hanging out with my friends to relax by watching a movie, playing sports, and doing various other things.

Jeremy Sun – a young pianist lifting off2022-01-21T02:10:42+00:00

Calvin’s big year

This year, Calvin Abdiel has had an outstanding success in the 2021 Sydney Online International Piano Competition (the Sydney). As the youngest competitor in the 2021 edition, he won the George Frederic Boyle 3rd Prize ($15,000) and the Nancy Weir Best Australian Pianist Award, as well as a $10,000 scholarship to further his musical studies and career overseas. In total, he walked away with prize money of $35,000.

The Sydney is one of the most prestigious international piano competitions in the world and has been a member of the WFIMC since 1978. Due to the travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 edition was held online, requiring each participant to record three different recitals across three rounds totalling around 3 hours. There were also additional requirements to simulate the real expectations in concert recitals, such as the requirement for an underlying theme in the 2nd round recital, a verbal introduction to each set of works in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, and encores in the 1st and 3rd rounds.

For these achievements, Calvin attributed his success to his teacher Natalia Ricci, who played a major role in helping him prepare a large solo repertoire required in the competition. He mentioned that they spent countless hours of planning and discussion together to construct a program that showed a wide range of styles and highlighted his musical strengths throughout the competition. He also expressed gratitude to the Theme and Variations Foundation for their continual support, especially in providing him the opportunity to perform at the Canberra International Music Festival earlier this year in May.

As part of the prizes from the Sydney, Calvin will be undertaking concert engagements in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities in Australia next year. He will also participate in a summer course in France, as part of the scholarship from the Institut Francais d’Indonesie (IFI) that he received in his 1st Prize win in the 2020 Ananda Sukarlan International Piano Competition. Finally, he plans to undertake Honours in his performance undergraduate studies next year, in his final year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

To watch Calvin perform Scriabin’s Sonata No 5 Op 53, see below:

Calvin’s big year2023-03-21T04:06:33+00:00

Leanne’s piano speaks Spanish

Congratulations to Theme and Variations Foundation 2018 award winner Leanne Jin for receiving the 2021 Stefan Kruger Scholarship. This scholarship will go towards the funding of an exciting DVD project: a showcase of Spanish and Latin American piano music. This DVD is inspired by her teacher, Natalia Ricci, who had introduced Leanne to the world of Spanish and Argentinian music. Leanne is very excited to record masterworks by composers such as Albéniz and Ginastera as well as a newly commissioned work by award-winning composer Daniel Rojas who specialises in rich and vibrant Latin American music. This will be her second collaboration with the Master Performers Label, with whom she had previously worked with to produce her first DVD which is due to be launched this year!

Here is a YouTube link to her performance of Albéniz’s Triana (from book 2 of Iberia), which shows a snippet of what is to come in her second DVD. This was filmed at Phoenix Central Park as part of Monochromatic Series project recently.

She credits the Theme and Variations Foundation for her success over the last few years, stating that “I would like to express my gratitude to the Theme and Variations Foundation and the generous sponsors for supporting young aspiring pianists. The Theme and Variations Foundation Award has opened so many doors of opportunity and experiences and I am so excited for what the future holds.”

Leanne’s piano speaks Spanish2021-10-19T05:14:59+00:00

Journey to the concert stage

An interview with our 2020 award winners

Joy Chen and Jake Cheong

The Foundation’s two award recipients for 2021 are Joy Chen and Jake Cheong. Even though they will be entering a highly competitive and stressful world, both intend to become concert pianists.

Apart from playing the piano exceptionally well, how do they equip themselves to handle the demands of one of the toughest of all careers? We asked each of them some questions to find out.

Joy Chen

Jake Cheong

The Theme and Variations Foundation likes to keep track of how its financial assistance will help its award winners. How do you intend to apply yours?

Joy: I am planning to use the Theme & Variations Foundation Award for international competitions and masterclasses overseas in the future.

Jake: I intend to apply the Theme and Variations Foundation Award towards international events such as competitions, masterclasses, and overseas performance opportunities.

What influenced your decision to pursue a career as a pianist?

Joy: I have always enjoyed spending time on the piano since a young age. Throughout the years, I find playing piano becomes one of my daily routine, and I gained more interest in discovering and playing music in different styles.

Jake: Since I was young, I have enjoyed playing the piano and performing in front of an audience. I continuously played the piano through the years and instead of being bored from it, I gained more passion and knew this was what I wanted to do.

Where are you at right now with your musical studies and where you will you be headed next?

Joy: I have just finished my second year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is about to start my third year. In the coming years, I wish to attend more masterclasses overseas, and hopefully can continue my Master degree overseas or at the con.

Jake: I will be starting my third year of studying Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. I was planning to participate in international events but with the current Covid-19 situation, I will have to push those plans till later. I intend to use the time now to further develop my musical skills and techniques.

What qualities do you look for in a teacher?

Joy: I look for someone that is supportive, and challenges me in  my learning progress. Also someone can inspire me musically, guide me to develop a deeper understanding of each musical work, and portraying the style accurately, while giving me enough freedom to present my own interpretation.

Jake: I look for a teacher who challenges and leads their students out of their comfort zone for further growth in their musical studies. A teacher who directs the students towards the appropriate style while giving them freedom to apply their musical interpretation to grow their unique musical voice.

What other parts of your education are important to you and have they been beneficial to your music?

Joy: I have discovered the importance of knowing the history and context behind the musical works, as it helps me to present the style and characteristics more accurately. 

Jake: I found the theory subjects like harmony and aural beneficial towards my musical studies. Studying harmony allowed me to improve on analysing the harmonic progressions in my pieces which also improved my memory of the works. Studying Aural has improved my listening skills in identifying various colours and tones.

What would be your typical practice routine in a day? Do you have an exercise routine to maintain your technique?

Joy: I don’t have a set routine for my daily practice, but I try to run through the technical parts in each of my piece every day. 

Jake: I don’t have a set practice routine, but I practise scales and arpeggios to keep my fingers moving and warmed up. The exercise routine depends on the pieces I’ll be practicing that day. If a piece has lots of repeated notes passages, I will start by doing repeated notes exercises. 

How do you go about memorising a piece?

Joy: I am not particularly good with memorising music. Usually I do muscle memory and visual memory first, then analyse the spots that I have problem with, in order to get a deeper understanding of the piece, which helps to secure my memory.

Jake: I personally don’t have a set plan to memorising a piece as it comes naturally over time and continuous playing. I found that memorising the melody and harmonic progressions can accelerate the progress of memorising a piece.

How important is sight-reading?  How to you rate yourself?

Joy: I think sight-reading is an essential skill for pianists, as it can fastens the learning progress, which helps the pianist to build up their program. I don’t think sight-reading is my strongest point, I am still trying to improve in daily practices.

Jake: I believe sight-reading plays a big role in the progress of my musical studies. A fast sight-reader has the advantage of learning the pieces quickly and further enhancing their technique. My sight-reading skills can be much better, but it is enough to get myself to learn a piece in a short period of time.

Do you prefer to play solo, with an orchestra, in an ensemble, or accompanying?

Joy: I enjoy playing in all forms, as they have their own characteristics. At the moment, I have not played with orchestra yet, I am still working to achieve that.

Jake: I have spent most of my time playing solo with some accompanying. I haven’t had much experience in an ensemble and would like to gain more experience during my studies at the Conservatorium. I hope to get an opportunity to perform with an orchestra someday! 

Do you get nervous before you play and, if so, what do you do to overcome it?

Joy: Yes, I get nervous before my performance almost every single time. I always flip through my scores before my performance to refresh my visual memory, which also help me to focus more on my music.

Jake: Like most other performers, I do get very nervous before I play. I feel the most performance anxiety when waiting to go out to perform. However, once I am up on the stage I start to calm down and relax. I have noticed the more confident I am, the less nervous I get so I aim to get my pieces ready to the point I feel confident and can play comfortably. 

How does playing in a competition differ from playing a recital?

Joy: For me personally, there’s not much difference in playing in competitions and recitals, as I get nervous in both situations.

Jake: I like to believe that there is no difference between playing in a competition and a recital. They are both the same performance with the purpose of moving the audience through music.

Is there a competition you would love to enter? Are there composers and works to include and those to avoid in competitions?

Joy: There are a lot of competitions that I would love to try out, it is hard to choose a specific one as every competition is a good experience. Hopefully in the future, I will be able to participate in some bigger international competitions. I don’t think there’s a specific work that I have to avoid in competitions, but I always try to consider both ‘popular’ pieces and less known pieces in my program to create more variety.

Jake: I think any international competition is a great way to build experience and motivate myself. I believe any work chosen by the performer is suitable for any competitions. Competitions are just another performance with the purpose of communicating with the audience through music and this is possible with any choice of repertoire. 

Who are your favourite composers and pieces?

Joy: There are a lot of composers and pieces that I enjoy playing. I have to say Rachmaninoff is one of my favourite, especially his Sonata No.2. Recently, I rediscovered my interest in playing Mozart’s work, as the elegant characteristics sounds very refreshing after all the intense pieces in my program.

Jake: My favourite composer for piano solo pieces is Liszt. Liszt composed many beautiful melodies while making it technically challenging which makes it exciting to play. Some of my favourite pieces include Ballade no.2, Tarantella and Mazeppa. I also love Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos no.2 and 3 and wish to play them someday! 

Which international pianists do you admire and why? 

Joy: There are a lot of pianists that I admire, Martha Argerich is one of them. I enjoy listening to her interpretation of works in different styles. Watching her performance is also an enjoyment, not only her technical skills are very impressive, the way she conveys the emotions behind the work strongly attracts the audience.

Jake: I have recently been following the pianist Seong Jin Cho after hearing his performance of Chopin Etude Op.10 No.1 in the International Chopin Piano Competition. I was stunned by his accuracy and clarity in his sound. I have also been following the pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk after hearing his performance of Prokofiev Sonata no. 6. I was very surprised and excited to participate in a masterclass with him!

If you could have a ticket to a piano recital by one pianist, alive or dead, who would it be?

Joy: I would love to watch Rachmaninoff’s recital.

Jake: I would love to watch Liszt or Prokofiev perform their own difficult works to hear their intentions and see how well they can play it!

What do you do to relax?

Joy: Since piano practice requires me to spend a lot of time by myself with full concentration, during my free time, I prefer to hang out with friends and family, also travelling, watching movies or drawing.

Jake: I like to stay active, so I go out to exercise or swim but when I feel lazy, I relax by watching movies and playing video games with friends. I also like to arrange popular songs on the piano in my spare time.

Journey to the concert stage2021-02-17T23:32:08+00:00

Theme & Variations Foundation 2020 awards announced

This year we publicised the awards to all conservatoria in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and ACT, inviting applications for assistance from our foundation.

Applications closed on October 2 and were reviewed by our independent artistic assessment panel of Professor Michael Brimer,  Professor John Luxton and Roland Peelman AM.

The Theme & Variations Foundation is pleased to announce its 2020 award recipients, Joy Chen and Jake Cheong. Because of COVID-19, our assessment panel had to rely on video recordings rather than our usual requirement of live performances. However, the talent of our successful applicants came through.

Our panel was impressed by the commitment and musicianship in the programs of both pianists, commenting on their great clarity and technique, while demonstrating musical imagination.

To see Joy perform,
please click this youtube link

Joy Chen

Joy Chen is twenty years old, currently studying piano performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Dr Paul Rickard-Ford, and received the Myron Kantor Bequest Scholarship and Henderson Traveller Scholarship in 2019. Joy was part of the Rising Star Program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 2014 to 2018, under the Kathleen Holmes McCrea Pianoforte Scholarship.

Joy has won many eisteddfods throughout the years, and also participated in international competitions in Belgium, Germany, China and Russia. Joy has also participated in many masterclasses with renowned pianists.

To see Jake perform,
please click this youtube link

Jake Cheong

Jake Cheong is twenty, currently completing a Bachelor of Music (Performance) under a scholarship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying with Dr Paul Rickard-Ford. He participated in a masterclass with Alexander Gavrylyuk hosted by the Theme and Variation Foundation. He was recently one of 20 finalists chosen from 350 applications in the Ettlingen International Piano Competition. Jake was invited to perform in Vienna by achieving first place in an International Music Competition. He was a finalist for the Sydney Eisteddfod Kawai Scholarship. Jake was awarded grants from the Bouddi Foundation for the Arts for three years.

Theme & Variations Foundation 2020 awards announced2020-11-18T22:09:30+00:00

Calvin to play at 2021 Canberra International Music Festival

As part of Theme & Variations Foundation award, Calvin Abdiel, one of our 2017 recipients, will be participating in the 2021 Canberra International Music Festival as a 2021 Young Artist.

Calvin’s performances in Canberra:

Thursday May 7, a solo recital at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Kingsley Avenue, Acton, ACT

Wednesday May 6, evening, Piano Trio with Anna da silva Chen and Miles Mullin-Chivers

Sunday May 10, as part of the festival ensemble in the final concert of festival

For further information and bookings please go to Canberra International Music Festival

Calvin to play at 2021 Canberra International Music Festival2020-11-18T06:31:19+00:00

Tony Lee performing for you

We would like to stay in touch during this unprecedented time.
We bring to you a very exciting performance by our very first award recipient, Tony Lee, who, along with all of us, is in ‘lock-down’ in Sydney.

Enjoy this remarkable performance of the Saint-Saens Danse Macabre op. 40 (arranged by Vladimir Horowitz) by Tony, who received an assistance grant in 2013.

With the help of the Foundation, Tony was able to pursue further studies in Europe. Between 2014 and 2016 he was invited to be an artist in residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Belgium, where he worked with renowned Swiss-Portuguese pianist, Maria João Pires. In 2016, he won the Australian National Piano Award and was named best Australian pianist at the 11th Sydney International Piano Competition. Since 2017 he has had concert engagements in Europe, China and Australia. He has again been chosen as one of the 32 internationally drawn contestants for The Sydney, which has been postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the virus has put a temporary pause on all live performances, enterprising pianists like Tony Lee have used it to their advantage. Tony says: “I am utilising this time to learn repertoire I previously would not have been able to do. I’m also spending more time on reading, researching, listening to music, and enjoying outdoor activities like fishing, golfing, jogging.”

And, of course, he’s keeping up his preparation for The Sydney. He says that it is a little different to the preparation he would make for a concert. “In the end, we are playing for the jury, and this brings about a set of new challenges. The best way for me is to focus on the music and hopefully communicate with the audience, just as I would in a concert.”

In addition to the above video, which was shot at the newly completed Phoenix Theatre in Chippendale, several of Tony Lee’s performances can be found on YouTube

 

Tony Lee performing for you2020-06-16T03:57:33+00:00
Go to Top