2026 Dates
Thursday 23 July – Friday 31 July Unley Park Baptist Church
Adjudicators
Based in Adelaide, Sharon Grigoryan was the cellist with the Australian String Quartet from 2013-2020. As part of that group she has collaborated with artists such as the Goldner and Tinalley Quartets, Pieter Wispelwei, Sara Macliver, Slava Grigoryan, Pepe Romero, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Katie Noonan, Lou Bennett, William Barton, Konstantin Shamray, Caroline Almonte, and the Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.
Born in Melbourne, Sharon studied at the University of Melbourne and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) under David Berlin, Philip Green, and Howard Penny. From 2008-2012 Sharon held a position with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and in 2011 Sharon was a recipient of the MSO Friends’ Travel Scholarship which took her to Berlin to study with Professor Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and Nicolas Alsteadt. Whilst there she performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Spira Mirabilis Chamber Orchestra.
Still an avid chamber musician, Sharon has enjoyed performing with artists such as Vilde Frang, Lawrence Power, Torlief Thedéen, Tipi Valve, Satu Vänskä, Richard Tognetti, Elizabeth Layton, Andrea Lam, Thalia Petrosian, Joseph Tawadros, Kristian Chong, and many others.
Sharon has performed as a guest with the Australia Ensemble and Australian World Orchestra, and has been invited to be guest principal cellist with most of the Australian Symphony Orchestras. Sharon was the Artistic Director of the “Barossa, Baroque and Beyond” music festival from 2013-2021. In 2019 Sharon curated a chamber music series, “Live at the Quartet Bar” as part of the Adelaide Festival Centre, and made her debut as a radio presenter on ABC Classic.
Apart from teaching the cello privately, Sharon has tutored ensembles such as the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, the Australian Youth Orchestra, is on staff at the University of Adelaide, and been a guest chamber music tutor at ANAM and the University of Melbourne.
Sharon formed the cello/guitar duo with husband Slava Grigoryan in 2014, and this has been a particularly joyful musical and personal collaboration for her. She is currently acting Principal Cello of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
2026 Syllabus
Rules
Competitors, teachers and parents are advised to read the Rules of the Competition 2026 carefully.
String Division Convenors: Shu Yin Goh
