Music at Ten: Jonathan Bekes, 'cello; Paul Cheung, piano

The Programme

Popper: Hungarian Rhapsody

Delius: Romance for cello and piano

Strauss: Sonata for cello and piano

Biographies

Jonathan Békés has been playing the cello since the age of 10. He is currently studying at the Australian National Academy of Music under the guidance of Howard Penny. In 2014 he completed a Bachelor of Music (performance) under the direction of Julian Smiles. He has won various awards at competitions and eisteddfods and has attained his A.Mus and L.Mus both with distinction. He is recipient of the 2016 Accenture Australia Scholarship and the Sydney Conservatorium’s Corinna d’Hage String Scholarship.

Békés is the principle cellist of the Australian Youth Orchestra and a founding member of the Estivo Trio. The Estivo Trio competed in the 2015 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and has performed in concerts, festivals in masterclasses across Europe, Asia and Australia. Jonathan will be touring with the Australian World Orchestra in 2016 to Singapore and has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Békés was principal cellist of the Sydney Youth Orchestra and cellist with the award winning Tecchler String Quartet. In 2013 he toured to Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland with the Australian Youth Orchestra with conductor Christoph Eschenbach and soloists Joshua Bell and William Barton.

In 2011 he was invited to perform for the HSC ENCORE program at the Sydney Opera House for his performance in extension music in the HSC. Békés has taken masterclasses across Australia and China. He has performed in numerous masterclasses with well-known cellists Steven Isserlis, Pieter Wispelwey, Peter Bruns as well as members of the Goldner String Quartet, the Tokyo String Quartet, Doric String Quartet, Borodin String Quartet, the London Haydn String Quartet and the Kuss Quartet. He has worked closely with members of Ensemble Liaison, the Australian World Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and is in great demand as a performer, chamber musician and teacher across Australia.

Paul Cheung is one of Australia’s most promising young accompanists. He is currently a postgraduate accompaniment student at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a recipient of both the prestigious Geoffrey Parsons Australian Scholarship and the Chapple Bremner Award. Paul has been learning piano with Ms Tamara Anna Cislowska and Ms Neta Maughan AM for the past few years, and has recently begun receiving instruction from the likes of Mr David Miller AM and Ms Maree Ryan for both vocal accompaniment and chamber music.

He is increasingly in demand as an accompanist for instrumentalists and singers across a wide range of situations, including concerts, competitions, recordings, exams, and so on.

In addition to his experience as an accompanist, Paul has also achieved considerable success as a solo pianist. In 2009, he was the winner of both the UMT Roger Woodward Scholarship and the MTA Junior Pianoforte Scholarship, and as a result of the latter he was chosen to perform in Adelaide in the Yamaha Recitals Australia Showcase concert as the NSW representative. In 2010, he was runner-up in the prestigious Kawai Piano Award at the Sydney Eisteddfod. Later in the year, he entered the semi-finals of the 2MBS-FM young performers award, and was subsequently runner-up in the state finals. In late 2011, he was awarded his LMusA with distinction, and was invited to be one of the five performers at the graduation ceremony in early 2012. Most recently, Paul was the winner of the Recital Award section of the Sydney Eisteddfod.

At the age of 19, Paul commenced his PhD in mathematics at the University of Sydney after being awarded a Bachelor of Science (advanced mathematics), with first class honours and the university medal. He is currently working towards a Graduate Diploma (Performance) in the accompaniment stream (the maths PhD is suspended for the duration of this course).