Cellist Charlotte Miles won the top prize of AUD40,000 (£20,800)
The grand final of Australia’s 2026 ABC Young Performers Awards was held on 3 November at the Sydney Opera House.
24-year-old cellist Charlotte Miles won first prize following her performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Northey.
Miles receives a cash prize of AUD40,000 (£20,800), as well as a recording opportunity for a solo studio album under the ABC Classics label.
Miles has been studying in the Kronberg Academy’s professional programme with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt since March 2025. She has received over 100 music prizes, including a special prize at the 73rd International ARD Cello Competition in 2024, Kronberg Academy’s 2025 Altkönig-Stift Prize, among others.
She also studied at the University for Music ‘Franz Liszt’ in Weimar with Schmidt and is a graduate of University of Melbourne and of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), where she studied with Howard Penny.
She is a 2025 laureate of the Gautier Capuçon Foundation in Paris, she now tours internationally as a member of Capuçon’s cello ensemble, the ‘Capucelli’.
Violinist Beatrice Colombis, who won the 2026 Michael Hill International Violin Competition earlier this year, was named runner-up and receives AUD15,000 (£7,800). Pianist Dillon Chan was awarded third place of AUD5,000 (£2,600).
This year’s competition jury was chaired by harpist and arts leader Marshall McGuire, and comprised Aura Go, Sophie Rowell, Adam Szabo and Eliza Shepherd.
No comments yet