NZSM Student wins New Zealand Junior Piano Competition

Year 13 piano student Otis Prescott-Mason has won first prize in the 2020 New Zealand Junior Piano Competition.

9 October 2020

The competition, organised by the Lewis Eady Charitable Trust, is open to pre-tertiary pianists, with past winners including Delvan Lin and Tony Yan Tong Chen.

Adjudicator Richard Mapp said the standard of playing this year was "really phenomenal". While 'junior' is the age requirement, he says, in terms of sophistication and polish in their playing the young pianists were performing at a very high level.

While Otis is still at secondary school, he is also enrolled in a Certificate of Proficiency at Victoria University of Wellington, taking four New Zealand School of Music courses in 2020 with Dr Jian Liu and Emma Sayers. As the winner, Otis receives $2,000 and a string of performance engagements in 2021, including performance opportunities supported by Lewis Eady and Bach Musica NZ.