The new auditorium at Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland, the Diocesan Arts Centre, was the venue for a special event ... the final of the National String Competition, nominally for 2021.
Well, they tried on two occasions to hold the competition in 2021, but two times they were thwarted by that pesky virus. Extreme perseverance and hard work from everybody involved meant that in February 2022, the show did go ahead ... albeit under Red traffic light level with a much-reduced audience than they would have normally hoped for.
The National String Competition is administered by the Hill Family Foundation for Art and Music and in some ways was a replacement event for the Michael Hill International Violin Competition which was scheduled for 2021 but which couldn’t go ahead. Instead, the Hill Family was pleased to be able to support young local musicians with this event in our times of Covid. Watch videos of these performances on YouTube and Listen here:
KiHei Lee, Hyein Kim, Christine Jeon Photo: Adrian Malloch
Three players were selected from nine semifinalists and for the final they each played a programme of about 20 minutes for the small audience and for the adjudicator, Justine Cormack.
Christine Jeon (Third Prize)
Christine Jeon Photo: Hill Family Foundation for Art and Music
Christine Jeon was born in Christchurch. She studies with James Tennant at the University of Waikato. At age 14, she was the youngest of the nine semi-finalists.
KiHei Lee (Second Prize)
KiHei Lee Photo: Adrian Malloch
KiHei Lee is a recent graduate from the University of Auckland where she was studying with Stephen Larsen. In 2019, her violin duo, Felice Duet were the recipients of the Royal Overseas League Scholarship. She was a member of The Troubadours string quartet at the 2021 Adam Summer Celebration in Nelson.
Hyein Kim (First Prize)
Hyein Kim Photo: Adrian Malloch
Hyein (23) was born in Seoul and moved to Christchurch when he was seven. He now studies with James Tennant at the University of Waikato. He’s been remarkably successful in competitions – at age 13 he won the International Padova Competition in Italy and in 2020 he won the Gisborne International Music Competition.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Diocesan Arts Centre, 12 February 2022
Producer: Tim Dodd; Engineer: Adrian Hollay
