21. May 2022
Four girls from Vienna and South Tyrol won the “Golden Note” prize for young talent this year. Nine young musicians competed for prizes for string, keyboard and wind instruments in the ORF final show, and an audience prize was also awarded. They were accompanied by the Big Island Orchestra Vienna under the direction of Martin Gellner. The pre-recorded finale, moderated by Alfons Haider and Leona König, was broadcast on ORF 2 on Saturday at 8:15 p.m.
The jury, consisting of violinist Lidia Baich, baritone Clemens Unterreiner and Rebecca Horner, principal dancer of the Vienna State Ballet, finally decided on an all-female winner. For example, the “Golden Note” in the keyboard instruments category went to twelve-year-old Sunny Ritter from Vienna, who took the lead with Mozart’s Sonata No. 11 in A major, “Rondo Alla Turca”, KV 331. During the winning performances, the members of the jury supported the winners, and the State Opera soloist Horner performed together with Ritter.
In the string instruments category, 13-year-old Mariam Abouzahra from Vienna won with “Saebeltanz” from the ballet “Gayaneh” by Aram Chatschaturjan, and in the wind instruments category was 13-year-old Chantal Ramona Veith from Bolzano from South Tyrol for her performance of Cécile Chaminades’ “Concertino , op. 107” on the flute. The ten-year-old and thus youngest finalist – pianist Sona Tamura from Vienna – thrilled with Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” and received the audience award. This might be voted on in advance via online voting.
“I am sure that we will hear a lot more regarding these talents and I am happy to support them on their way,” said the initiator of the competition and moderator König. The winners are also supported by the show: as a prize, they receive age-appropriate master classes in cooperation with members of the Vienna Philharmonic. The audience award winner gets a free semester at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK). In addition, the young musicians have various performances ahead of them – for example, they take part in the ORF program “Stars & Talents by Leona König”.
In addition to choosing the winners, the show wanted to set a sign for solidarity and peace, according to the broadcast: juror Lidia Baich, who comes from St. Petersburg, interpreted together with the 15-year-old Ukrainian violinist Valeria Motora from Kharkyv “Oblivion ‘ by Astor Piazzolla.
(SERVICE: “Goldene Note”: Final on Saturday, May 21 at 8:15 p.m. on ORF 2, stream and video-on-demand at )