Tuesday 3 November 2026

Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday)

Regular readers will know I have reviewed many symphony concerts, but this one was different in that it was being filmed for the ABC, and it was the Grand Final of a competition. Spoiler WARNING! If you’re planning to watch the concert on ABC television on Thursday night, stop reading now because I will announce the winner by the end of this article.

Nearly 100 musicians aged 31 or under submitted a video entry in the first round of the competition. From them 12 semi-finalists were chosen for the 45-60 minute recital round. They represented a range of ages and instruments – saxophone, violin, percussion, cello, guitar, piano and flute. From that round our 3 grand-finalists were chosen to perform a concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

ABC personalities Jeremy Fernandez (TV newsreader among other things and shockingly I’ll say resplendent in a shimmering even stunning silver suit) and Megan Burslem (Radio – ABC Classic Breakfast) introduced the evening to a packed house (minus a few boxes and rows occupied by camera equipment and of course the judging panel). Recording for TV meant regular stopping and restarting which, while understandable, is a bit disconcerting to regular SSO patrons. But the novelty was entertaining in its own way.

So, in order of appearance…..

Charlotte Miles – Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor. With those now famous 3 opening chords on the solo cello, Charlotte announced her credentials – strong energy, depth of emotion and vitality. Her technical ability was flawless, as was her timing in relation to the orchestra. There was a vivid sense of pathos and yearning in the slow movement and a cheekiness in the final movement. Her double stopping and chord work was superb as the tension built to the final cadences. Her tone, while rich, often wasn’t strong enough to rise above the orchestra. I thought where she was marked down was the predictability of her interpretation of the work. There was no discernible rubato or stretching of time and no glissandi or stretching of pitch. Everything was perfectly placed as it should theoretically be, but this negated any sense of her personality and individuality in the performance.

Beatrice Colombis – Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor. Again an engaging opening solo introduction, with Prokofiev’s dark Russian melodies perfect for the violin’s lower register. Beatrice’s physical energy was evident in the way she moved with her instrument. The upper register was clear but the middle register got lost in the depths of the SSO strings from time to time. Her violin soared with exquisite sweetness in the poignant slow movement. The virtuosic fireworks of the finale were breathtaking and again technically flawless. But this concerto is emotionally complex, and I think she failed to extract every last drop of emotion from the score.

Dillon Chan – Chopin Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor. The first thing we noticed was Dillon’s age. At just 14 years old he is only rivalled by Tamara-Anna Cislowska for the youngest entrant in the Awards. As he sat at the piano during the extended orchestral introduction, he looked like a nervous athlete before a big race, but when he struck that first high D his whole demeanour transformed into a confident and focused musician. This is a young man who is born to play Chopin – in fact he won the International Chopin Competition for youth in Poland. He is the very reincarnation of the ‘poet of the piano’. His sense of lyricism is profound, his ability to maintain a solid regular pulse while playing beautiful ornamentations and runs, whether they be 7, 11 or even 19 notes against 4, without losing the longer phrasing and emotional story, demonstrated musical maturity well beyond his tender age. Like the other two contestants, there was never a note played incorrectly or out of time.

And to the judges. Led by Marshal McGuire, the five member panel had a hard job indeed ofdecidingjust one winner. The difficulty of the task soon became evident as our hosts were obviously filling for time while the deliberations continued, even to the point of dragging the radio host, Genevieve Lang from the control room to fill a few more minutes. Despite never missing a moment to make us love her even more,she obviously hadn’t expected to appear on stage and was dressed for radio in a green boiler suit. Always one to be prepared for any unexpected situation, she happened to have a pair of 5 inch stilettos in her bag. A new look? Only rivalled by Jeremy’s silver space-age suit.

Finally the judges had completed their onerous task and the winner was announced – cellist, Charlotte Miles, our 2026 Young Performer of the Year. Congratulations Charlotte. Judging from the level of audience cheering, many in the crowd, like myself, thought it should have been Dillon Chan. I’m sure there were many arguments amongst the judges, back and forth, that we were not privy too – Was Charlotte clearly the best through the previous rounds? Was Dillon too young to have his career launched when he needs to finish school. I guess that is the nature of a competition such as this, and as a classical musician, competitions are par for the course. I’m just glad that I wasn’t the one having to choose between three highly talented young musicians. No doubt we will see Dillon on our concerts platforms before too long.

Posted in: ARTS WEDNESDAY, Program Blogs, Reviews