Entry Information

RRepertoire Requirements

Works must be prepared and performed from memory for all rounds.

Heats: A video recording of one work with a total performance time of up to 15 minutes. This must be a recorded performance made in 2025, filmed in a single take and without edit. The video recording must be uploaded to the Sydney Eisteddfod Entrant Portal by 4:00pm on Monday, 28 April 2025

Semi-Finals: Sunday, 1 June 2025 | Glebe Town Hall, Chamber Hall

Eight entrants will be selected to give a live performance of two contrasting works which must vary in style and period. The performance must not exceed a total duration of 15 minutes ( includes the time taken between pieces/movements ). Selection of works may include items performed in the Heats.

Finals: Friday, 4 July August 2025 | Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Recital Hall West

Four entrants will be selected to present a recital program of works varied in style and period, including one work by an Australian composer. The performance must not exceed a total duration of 25 minutes ( includes the time taken between pieces/movements ). Selection of works may include items performed in the Heats and Semi-Final.

Adjudicators

Dr Konstantin Shamray

Described as an exhilarating performer with faultless technique and fearless command of the piano, Russian-Australian concert pianist Konstantin Shamray performs at an international level with the world’s leading orchestras and concert presenters. Konstantin was born in Novosibirsk and commenced his studies at the age of six with Natalia Knobloch. He then studied in Moscow at the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music with Professors Tatiana Zelikman and Vladimir Tropp, and the Hochschule fuer Musik in Freiburg, Germany, with Professor Tibor Szasz. In 2008, Konstantin burst onto the concert scene when he won First Prize at the Sydney International Piano Competition. He is the first and only competitor to date in the 40 years of the competition to win both First and People’s Choice Prizes, in addition to six other prizes. He then went on to win First Prize at the 2011 Klavier Olympiade in Bad Kissingen,Germany and has performed at the Kissinger Sommer festival. In July 2013, following chamber recitals with Alban Gerhardt and Feng Ning, he was awarded the festival’s coveted Luitpold Prize for “outstanding musical achievements”. Since then, Konstantin has performed extensively throughout the world in recitals, as a soloist with orchestras and as a chamber musician. In Australia, highlights have included engagements with the Adelaide, Queensland, West Australia, Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony orchestras, as well as tours with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and ANAM Orchestra. Outside of Australia, he has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Orchestre National de Lyon, Prague Philharmonia, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic amongst many others. He has enjoyed collaborating with distinguished conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Vladimir Spivakov, Dmitry Liss, Tugan Sokhiev and Nicholas Milton. Chamber music plays a strong role in Konstantin’s musical career and collaborations have included tours with the Australian String Quartet, Southern Cross Soloists, Richard Tognetti, Natsuko Yoshimoto, Alban Gerhardt, Kristof Barati, Andreas Brantelid, Li Wei Qin and Leonard Elschenbroich. Konstantin has performed as part of the International Piano Series in Adelaide, and at the Melbourne Recital Centre and Ukaria Cultural Centre. He has enjoyed critical acclaim at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, the Bochum Festival in Germany, the Mariinsky International Piano Festival and the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Adelaide Festival, Musica Viva Sydney and Huntington festivals. Konstantin has recorded albums with the labels Naxos, ABC Classics and Fonoforum. Konstantin was formerly Lecturer in Piano at the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide and was awarded his PhD in 2020 for his performance-based project ‘The piano as Kolokola, Glocken and Cloches: performing and extending the European traditions of bell-inspired piano music’. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Piano at the University of Melbourne. Konstantin is open to research supervisions, with particular areas of interest being Russian piano music of the 20th century and bell-inspired piano performance traditions.

Dr Stephanie Neeman

Dr. Stephanie Neeman is an active international performer and has performed to critical acclaim across the United States, Asia, and Australia. Stephanie  has won virtually all major piano competitions in Indonesia, including the first prize in the prestigious Yamaha National Piano Competition. She won first prizes in the Empire State International Piano Competition and the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition. She was also a top prizewinner and won the prize for the best interpretation and outstanding performance of Franz Liszt at the Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition in the United States. Stephanie performs regularly with her husband Edward Neeman as the Neeman Piano Duo. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from CCM at the University of Cincinnati as a scholarship student of James Tocco. She is currently the head of the piano department at ELMS Conservatory of Music in Jakarta.  Stephanie’s passion and dedication to teaching have brought positive impact and accomplishment to her students. Her students have won top prizes at the Pittsburgh International Piano Competition, Seattle International Piano Competition, Henle International Piano Competition, Steinway Piano Competition, Sydney Eisteddfod, Carmel Klavier International Competition, Southeast Asia International Chopin Piano Competition, the ASEAN International Concerto Competition, the Alberti International Piano Competition, Hong Kong International Music Festival, among others. She is in demand as an adjudicator, judging the Mozart International Piano Competition in Thailand, the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, West Australian Pianists Competition, and numerous competitions and festivals in the United States and Asia. She is the author of an advice column for STACCATO, a monthly music education magazine in Indonesia. She has previously served as the CEO/Artistic Director of Music for Canberra (Canberra Youth Orchestra) and as a piano professor at Valdosta State University and University of Utah. www.neemanpianoduo.com

Important Notes

All entrants are to submit a video recording for the heats via the Sydney Eisteddfod Entrant Portal. Please ensure you have all required supporting documentation ready for upload at the time of submitting your application. The video submission must be uploaded to the Sydney Eisteddfod Entrant Portal by 4:00 PM Monday, 28 April 2025.

Entrant’s video submission must be a YouTube or Vimeo link. Please clearly indicate the work’s title and composer, along with the name of the entrant’s first and last in the title and/or description box (eg. Emily Jones_ Sonata No.3 in F Sharp Minor_Scriabin)

Supporting documentation requirements:

* A 150-word biography
* A short statement outlining your current and proposed studies, and how the Sydney Eisteddfod Kawai Piano Scholarship might help you.
* A publicity picture in colour as a JPEG file - in high resolution (minimum 2M.B.)

Upon progression to the Semi-Final, you will be asked to submit your Proposed Repertoire for the Final event.

Please use the following format when listing your proposed works for later rounds (including complete titles for all movements, if applicable)

Example: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F# minor, Opus 11 by Robert Schumann (28:00 mins)

I. Introduzione. Un poco adagio - Allegro Vivace

II. Aria

III. Scherzo e Intermezzo. Allegrissimo - Lento

IV. Finale. Allegro un poco maestoso

Changes to repertoire cannot be made any later than the fortnight leading up to the Semi-Final. Entrants will be notified if their repertoire is considered unsuitable for the later rounds.

Email: [email protected] if you have any questions relating to this submission method

Conditions

1. Previous winners not eligible.

2. Event is open to any pianist who is a citizen or permanent resident of Australia or New Zealand. ~ Residency and proof of age documents will be cited upon progression to the Semi-Final. This can include a Birth Certificate, an Australian or New Zealand passport, or a permanent resident stamp. A driver’s licence is not acceptable.

3. Adjudicator reports will be written for the preliminary heats only. No marks will be given on these reports.

4. Four finalists and two Reserve Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finals.

5. The awarding of the scholarship is at the discretion of the adjudicators and will take into consideration presentation, current level of achievement and potential. The scholarship us given on the understanding that the Winner will undertake study in piano performance, including tertiary studies, masterclasses, private lessons, solo and chamber music recitals - both domestically and/or internationally.

6. The scholarship must be utilised within two years of winning and completed within two years thereafter. The payment of instalments is upon application to Sydney Eisteddfod with satisfactory reports of progress from the winner's teacher or teaching institution.

7. The Winner and Finalists must be reasonably available for media interviews and performance engagements. Sydney Eisteddfod will endeavour to continue to provide performance opportunities to alumni as a way of staying connected and nurturing the creative practices of all.

8. Please refer to the Piano Rules & Conditions of Entry.

Prizes

Winner Total prize: $12,000 ($2,000 cash plus $10,000 Scholarship).
Sponsored by Kawai Australia.

Finalists (excluding place-getter): $500 each.
Supported by The Estate of the late John Allison AM
Supplemented by the Sydney Eisteddfod Jubilee Fund.