Past Winners

In 1944 an annual, state-based competition for young performers was organised by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. In 1968 the competition became the Instrumental and Vocal competition and by 1978 a format comprising four categories (String, Vocal, Keyboard and Other Instrumental) was born. In 1987 the title of the competition again changed, this time to the ABC Young Performers Awards. In 1997 the Concerts Division of the ABC devolved to become Symphony Australia. The competition was known as the Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards until 2006.

Photo Gallery

1944	An annual state based competition was organised.
	Richard Farrell	piano	NSW
	Audrey White	piano	SA
	Betty Munro George	piano	WA
1945	No winner selected

1946
	Beryl Kimber	violin	NSW	British Council Scholarship winner
	Manfred Clynes	piano	VIC	Juilliard Scholarship winner
	Sybil Willey	contralto	QLD	Juilliard Scholarship winner
1947
	Dallas Haslam	piano	VIC	Juilliard Scholarship winner
1948
	Frances Moran	piano	WA	Juilliard Scholarship winner
	Laurence Davis	piano	NSW
	Norma Cornelius	soprano	QLD
	Berenice Lehmann	piano	SA
1949	Commonwealth Finals first held.
	Donald Weekes	violin	VIC	Commonwealth winner
	Ronald Jackson	bass	NSW
	Helen McKinnon	contralto	QLD
	Sylvia Biddle	soprano	QLD
	Pamela Main	piano	SA
	Pamela Flower	soprano	WA
	Lyall Duke	piano	TAS
1950	Awards inaugurated for singers and instrumentalists. Name changed to ABC Concerto and Vocal Competition
	Ronald Price	piano	VIC	Commonwealth winner
	Enid Strong	piano	NSW
	Trevor Lewis	baritone	NSW
	Leslie Miers	piano	VIC
	Kevin Miller	tenor	SA
	Elise Longwill	soprano	WA
1951
	Kevin Miller	tenor	SA
	Audrey White	piano	SA
1952
	Marjorie Conley	soprano	NSW
	Max Olding	piano	VIC
1953
	Lynette Kierce	soprano	VIC
	Donald Westlake	clarinet	VIC
1954
	Donald Thornton	piano	WA
	Patricia Wyatt	soprano	WA
1955
	Neil Warren-Smith	bass-baritone	VIC
	Barbara Hoad	clarinet	QLD
1956
	Russell Cooper	bass-baritone	NSW
	Janette Hamilton	piano	NSW
1957
	Patricia Connop	soprano	WA
	Stanley Ritchie	violin	NSW
1958
	Lynette Howieson	soprano	WA
	Geoffrey Michaels	violin	WA
1959
	Gloria McDonall	soprano	VIC
	Irene Pang	piano	NSW
1960
	Nance Grant	soprano	VIC
	Stephen McIntyre	piano	VIC
1961
	Ruth Gurner	soprano	SA
	Rodney Sigston	piano	VIC
	Michael Wentzell	organ	VIC
1962
	Charmian Gadd	violin	NSW
	Janet Gare	piano	TAS
	Janice Hearne	soprano	SA
1963
	Althea Bridges	soprano	NSW
	Phillip Miechel	clarinet	VIC
	Geoffrey Madge	piano	SA
	Kerry Smith	violin	QLD
1964
	Roger Woodward	piano	NSW
	Brian Hanly	violin	WA
	Paul Curtis	flute	NSW
	Elizabeth Tippett	mezzo-soprano	VIC
1965
	Pamela Bryce	violin	QLD
	Vernon Hill	flute	QLD
	Janet Lasscock	soprano	SA
	Elizabeth Leslie	piano	NSW
1966
	Margaret Crawford	flute	SA
	Janice Taylor	soprano	VIC
	Elizabeth Drake	piano	VIC
1967
	Robert Davidovici	violin	NSW
	Thomas Ungar	piano	NSW
	Glenys Fowles	soprano	WA
1968	Preliminary recital stage introduced. Instrumental categories divided into Keyboard and ‘Other’. Name changed to Instrumental and Vocal competition.
	Nathan Waks	cello	NSW
	James Whitbread	baritone	VIC
	Tom Pommerel	piano	QLD
1969
	Margaret Garrett	soprano	NSW
	Tanya Hunt	cello	VIC
	Gustave Fenyö	piano	NSW
1970
	Julie Raines	harp	VIC
	Anthony Newcombe	piano	SA
1971
	Ormsby Wilkins	piano	VIC
	Rodney Lowe	trumpet	VIC
	Margot Wall	soprano	VIC
1972
	Rosalie Myers	piano	WA
	Andrew Peter Bowman	male alto	QLD
	Keith Crellin	viola	TAS
1973
	Renate Turrini	piano	SA
	Jeffrey Crellin	oboe	SA
	Jonathan Summers	baritone	VIC
1974
	Virginia Inkratas	piano	NSW
	Wendy Verco	mezzo-soprano	NSW
	Michele Walsh	violin	SA
1975
	Lesley Young	piano	QLD
	Graham Godfrey	tenor	QLD
	Alan Vivian	clarinet	VIC
1976
	Anthony Halliday	piano	VIC
	Rosamund Illing	soprano	SA
	Peta Lowe	violin	SA
1977
	Robyn Cantle	soprano	NSW
	Jenni Flemming	piano	QLD
	Susan Blake	cello	NSW
1978	Four categories introduced (Vocal, Orchestral Strings, Keyboard, Other Instrumental).
	Amelia Fonte	mezzo-soprano	QLD
	Laurien Kennedy	cello	VIC
	Victor Sangiorgio	piano	VIC
	Peter Veale	oboe	SA
1979
	Keith Birchley	piano	QLD
	Liza Cheshire	flute	NSW
	Adele Nisbet	soprano	QLD
	Howard Penny	cello	ACT
1980
	Sue-Ellen Paulsen	cello	QLD
	Stephen Emmerson	piano	QLD
	Claire Primrose	soprano	VIC
	Michael Mulcahy	trombone	VIC
1981	Award to most outstanding competitor (concerts with ABC orchestras) introduced. (Indicated with *)
	Jolanta Nagajek*	mezzo-soprano	WA
	John White	marimba	SA
	Brett Dean	viola	QLD
	Robert Zocchi	piano	ACT
1982
	Ian Munro*	piano	VIC
	Ivan James	cello	NSW
	Geoffrey Payne	trumpet	VIC
1983
	Joan Qiong Shih*	violin	TAS
	Margaret Schindler	soprano	QLD
	Deborah de Graaff	clarinet	NSW
	Paul Ford	piano	VIC
1984
	Adele Anthony*	violin	SA
	Susan Dunn	soprano	QLD
	Katrina Brown	piano	SA
	Warwick Tyrrell	trombone	NSW
1985
	Diana Doherty*	oboe	VIC
	Cameron Retchford	cello	QLD
	Yasuko Toba	piano	WA
	Miriam Gormley	soprano	QLD
1986	Name changed to ABC Young Performers' Competition. State finals converted to four category finals. Young Performer of the Year receives extra cash and minimum of three concert performance with ABC orchestras
	Alison Lazaroff*	violin	NSW
	Philip Mayers	piano	QLD
	Anna Connolly	soprano	QLD
	Frances Barzyk	tuba	VIC
1987
	Bernadette Harvey*	piano	NSW
	Karen Robertson	mezzo-soprano	VIC
	Amanda Parsons	horn	WA
	Patricia Ayling	cello	NSW
1988
	Virginia Taylor*	flute	ACT
	Julian Smiles	cello	ACT
	Yanghee Kim	piano	NSW
	Ian Vayne	bass-baritone	QLD
1989
	Melissa Barnard	cello	NSW
	Antony Chesterman*	oboe	NSW
	Louise Page	soprano	ACT
	Duncan Gifford*	piano	NSW
1990
	Clemens Leske, Jnr*	piano	SA
	Andrew Collis	bass-baritone	QLD
	Anna McMichael	violin	SA
	Markus Lutz	percussion	QLD
1991
	Tamara-Anna Cislowska*	piano	NSW
	Kathryn McCuster	soprano	WA
	Zoë Black	violin	VIC
1992
	Natalie Chee*	violin	NSW
	Caroline Almonte	piano	VIC
	Steve Rossé	tuba	NSW
	Lisa Brown	soprano	WA
1993
	Liwei Qin*	cello	VIC
	Rebecca Chambers	piano	VIC
	Sarah Warner	bassoon	WA
	Emma Lysons	soprano	WA
1994
	Elowyn Leonard*	clarinet	ACT
	Sally Cooper	violin	SA
	Fiona Campbell	mezzo-soprano	WA
	Margot Lee	bassoon	SA
	Shan Deng	piano	QLD
1995
	Alison Eddington*	percussion	NSW
	Leanne Kenneally	soprano	QLD
	David Tong	piano	VIC
	Sally Cooper	violin	SA
1996
	Andrew Day*	flute	VIC
	Lachlan Redd	piano	ACT
	Catherine Carby	mezzo-soprano	VIC
	Susie Park	violin	NSW	Winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship
1997
	Philip Arkinstall*	clarinet	NSW
	Kirsten Le Strange	violin	NSW	Winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship
	Alexandra Sherman	mezzo-soprano	VIC
	Fabian Russell	tuba	VIC
	Lance Coburn	piano	QLD
1998
	Simon Tedeschi*	piano	NSW
	Sarita Kwok	violin	NSW	Winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship
	Nicole King	bassoon	VIC
	Caroline Chown	soprano	QLD
1999
	Claire Edwardes*	percussion	NSW
	Andrea Lam	piano	NSW
	Göknur Ray	soprano	NSW
	Alexandra Osborne	violin	NSW	Winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship
2000
	Sophie Rowell* (winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship)	violin	NSW
	Kim Grace	piano	NSW
	Meg Sterling	flute	ACT
2001
	Pei-Jee Ng* (winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship and the Paul & Helena Haas Scholarship)	cello	QLD
	Kristian Chong	piano	VIC
	Emma Scholl	flute	NSW
	Caitlin Hulcup	mezzo-soprano	WA
2002
	Kristian Winther (winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship)	violin	ACT
	Jamie Adam	marimba	SA
	David Fung*	piano	NSW
2003
	Olivia Sham	piano	NSW
	Nicole Vasilakis (winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship)	violin	NSW
	Richard Haynes*	clarinet	QLD
2004
	Chen Gu (winner of the Nelly Apt Scholarship)	violin	NSW
	Edward Neeman (winner of the David Paul Landa scholarship)	piano	ACT
	Amy Dickson*	saxophone	NSW
2005
	Suyeon Kang*	violin	VIC
	Oliver Le Meng She	piano	QLD
	Mark Gaydon	bassoon	SA
2006
	Cameron Hill*	violin	VIC
	Shefali Pryor	oboe	NSW
	Brieley Cutting (winner of the David Paul Landa scholarship)	piano	QLD
2007
	Shaun Lee-Chen*	violin	VIC
	Tristram Williams	trumpet	NSW
	Benjamin Kopp	piano	QLD