JENNEN NGIAU-KENG (Winner)
Born in Melbourne in 1983, Jennen Ngiau-Keng began music studies at the age of three on piano and six on violin. From 1994-2001, he studied on a full academic and music scholarship at Camberwell Grammar School, and from 2002-2005 on a full scholarship at the Australian National Academy of Music.

Jennen is a demonstrating violinist on the 2003 & 2004 AMEB Violin Technical Syllabus & Key Techniques on CDROM by Twofold Media. He has been interviewed and broadcast on radio stations 3MBS FM, ABC Classic FM, ABC National Radio, SBS FM and New Zealand Radio and television channels 2, 7, 9, 10 and 31.

He has attended International Music Festivals in Belgium and Austria, and travelled as a soloist with orchestras around Australia and to Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. He has performed as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2004 he won the 16th Gisborne International Music Competition (New Zealand) and, as a result, performed with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 2006.

Jennen was the concertmaster of the Australian Youth Orchestra, Season 2:2006, and a casual player with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Pro Arte Orchestra. In May 2006, he toured with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra to China as the Assistant Concertmaster. In April 2007, he toured the USA with the ACO and in May 2007 he was guest concertmaster of the WASO for a month. In July 2007 he will be leading the Australian Youth Orchestra on its European tour.

In 2008 Jennen is studying his Master of Music Studies at the University of Tasmania. He ison a full scholarship there, and also working casually with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
Updated July 2008

BING XIANG
Bing was born 1987 in China, and relocated to Melbourne at the age of 4. He commenced violin lessons at the age of 8 with Sook Yoon, attending Camberwell Boys Grammar under a full music scholarship for 3 years. He then attended the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School from year 9 onwards, continuing his violin lessons with Miwako Abe.

Bing Xiang has been awarded numerous prizes including the Paul McDermott Scholarship for Violinists, the Austral Salon scholarship and the Preston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. In 2004 he was one of the three national finalists in the National Youth Concerto Competition held in Brisbane, QLD, where he performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Queensland Youth Orchestra under John Curro. Currently he attends the Victorian College of the Arts.

LILLIAN SO
Lillian is 15 years old and began playing the violin at the age of 6. She now studies with Charmian Gadd. Lillian received both her AMusA and LMusA with distinctions at 12 and 14 and has been awarded full music scholarships from prestigious private schools as well as the Australian National Academy of Music and the Australian String Academy. This year she attends James Ruse Agricultural High School.

In 2003-05, as Abbotsleigh full music scholar and concertmaster of her school’s Orchestra, Lillian featured as soloist at the Sydney Town Hall in the Performing Arts Showcase Gala Concert, and led her school’s String Quartet at the Quality Teaching Awards presentation hosted by the Education Minister at Government House. An experienced performer, she gave a live broadcast recital for the 2005 2MBS-FM Young Performers’ Award, and regularly represents the Australian Institute of Music at the Art Gallery of NSW. In May 2006, she was interviewed and broadcast on ABC Classic FM Rising Stars with Graham Abbott.

Lillian has won many first prizes in various eisteddfods. At the age of eleven, she won the Junior Instrumental Championship, followed by the Wenkart Foundation Junior Violin Award in the MacDonald’s Performing Arts Challenge. In 2005, she won the prestigious 30th National Youth Concerto Competition (NYCC) presented by the Queensland Youth Orchestras. She was also winner of the Ku-ring-gai Zonta Club's Women of Achievement Young Performer Encouragement Award and won the multiple concerto section of the KPO NSW Secondary School Concerto Competition 2006.

In 2006 (Year 10) Lillian took accelerated High School Certificate (HSC) music and achieved First in State in Music II. Early in 2007 she was named Outstanding Performer in the 2007 NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition hosted by the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra (KPO).

In 2008 Lillian will complete the HSC exams and will be playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major with KPO in Nov 2008.
November 2007