Scotch College

Piano virtuosity to the Max

Scotch’s Max Foster performed superbly to win the keyboard section of the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers’ Award.

Words: JOHN FERGUSON • DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

Max Foster of Year 11 has won the keyboard section of the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers’ Award – the most prestigious competition in Australia for young performers.

The competition age limit is 30, so at just barely 17, Max is certainly a rather young winner. He receives a $5,000 prize, and also wins the David Paul Landa Scholarship, administered by Musica Viva, which is a $25,000 travelling scholarship.

Max performed superbly with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane’s Conservatorium Theatre to win the award, and went through to the grand final, a concerto performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on 16 September in Hamer Hall.

The Young Performers’ Award concert was broadcast live on ABC Classic FM, and will be repeated later this year. It was recorded for broadcast on ABC Television’s Sunday Arts program.

The ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers’ Awards is an annual competition which encourages the talent and ambitions of Australia’s young musicians. Originally called the Concerto and Vocal Competition, the awards have provided opportunities for an extraordinary number of our finest classical performers, including Geoffrey Parsons, Roger Woodward, Vernon Hill, Glenys Fowles, Neil Warren-Smith, Nathan Waks, Rosamund Illing, Diana Doherty and Adele Anthony.

Max Foster, who is a boarder at Scotch, began music lessons as a young child, and at the age of eight entered the Queensland Young Conservatorium of Music. After completing his A.Mus.A. at 13, Max moved to Melbourne for tuition with Rita Reichman, one of the world’s finest pianists, and to attend the Australian National Academy of Music. Max plays viola in the Scotch College Symphony Orchestra.

Max performed the final movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 with the Symphony Orchestra at Foundation Day this year on 3 September.
GS