Eleven performances made the Michael Williams piano competition one of the biggest of recent years.

Sam opened with Chopin’s beautiful Prelude in E Minor and was followed by Christopher, with Hartmann’s The little Ballerina. Milo gave an assured Sonatina in A Minor by Benda and Isaac gave us Parry’s Elizabeth. Gwyndaf’s Moderato (by Bruch) had poise and Jason’s Beneath The Mask by Meguro had atmosphere. Jack’s Tugela Rail lightened the mood somewhat and Ned’s Rondo by Clementi had drama. Max’s Metamorphosis III by Philip Glass was an assured performance from memory, Jesús gave us Einaudi’s Nuvole Bianchi and Marco finished with Rachmaninoff’s massive Prelude in G Minor.

Stephen Marshall, our adjudicator and a teacher of much experience, commented on the need to project a performance out in to the audience. He gave second place to Max and first place to Marco for his Rachmaninoff.