Violinist Beatrice Colombis, cellist Charlotte Miles and pianist Dillon Chan have been selected as the three grand finalists in the ABC Young Performers Awards. The finalists will perform as soloists with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on November 3, competing for a $40,000 winner's prize and the opportunity to record a solo studio album under the ABC Classic label.
Beatrice Colombis, Charlotte Miles and Dillon Chan named ABC Young Performers Awards finalists
Violinist Beatrice Colombis, cellist Charlotte Miles and pianist Dillon Chan have been selected as the three grand finalists in the ABC Young Performers Awards. The finalists will perform as soloists with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on November 3, competing for a $40,000 winner's prize and the opportunity to record a solo studio album under the ABC Classic label.
The awards are open to instrumentalists aged 31 and under and unfold across three rounds. In the opening round, applicants submitted a 40-minute video recital for assessment by a judging panel. Twelve musicians were selected to perform in live semi-final concerts held in Sydney and Melbourne throughout August, and the three finalists advanced to the Grand Final.
The winner receives $40,000 and the opportunity to record a solo studio album under the ABC Classic label, according to the published prize list. The runner-up receives a $15,000 cash prize and the third-place finalist receives $5,000. Each competitor will receive a cash prize for the purpose of furthering their musical career.
The Grand Final will be broadcast live on ABC Classic at 7pm AEDT on Tuesday 3 November, with pre-concert activity live from the Sydney Opera House from 3pm AEDT. It will be televised on ABC TV and iview on Thursday 5 November at 8:50pm, and tickets are available for the Grand Final performance.
Colombis, 23, is an Italian-Australian violinist studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin after graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She formed the Cousin Quartet with her brother and cousins in 2020, winning Musica Viva's inaugural Strike A Chord competition, was selected as an Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2023 and 2024, has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Karajan Akademie Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and earlier in 2026 won the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. She will perform Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto. Miles, 23, is a Melbourne-born cellist studying at the Kronberg Academy in Germany who has won more than 100 Australian and international prizes, including the Australian National Young Virtuoso Award and 3MBS Young Performer of the Year, and received the Melbourne Prize for Music's Professional Development Award in 2025; she plays a 1780 Joseph Hill cello on loan from an Australian collection and will perform Elgar's Cello Concerto. Chan, 13, is a Melbourne-born pianist and Year 9 music scholar at Camberwell Grammar School whose trio Kingussie won the 2026 Musica Viva Strike A Chord National Chamber Music Competition; he has won major national and international piano competitions including the Steinway Youth Piano Competition Australia and the Hephzibah Menuhin Memorial Awards, is a Young Ambassador of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and will perform Chopin's Second Piano Concerto.
The competition has helped launch the careers of Australian musicians including composer and violist Brett Dean, percussionist Claire Edwardes and violinist Emily Sun and, most recently, flautist Eliza Shephard.
- The source does not state the year in which the Grand Final takes place, giving the date only as November 3 and referring to events in 2026 elsewhere in the text.
- The source does not state the names of the judging panel or how the finalists were selected.
- The source does not state how many musicians applied in the opening round.
- The source does not state what the nine semi-finalists who did not advance receive beyond the statement that each competitor will receive a cash prize for furthering their musical career.
- The source does not state who funds the prizes or the value of the cello on loan to Miles.
- The source does not include comment from the finalists or from award organizers.
Read the original at ABC News Australia