WATCH: Pretoria youngster wins piano competition

High and low piano keynotes were the order of the day during the finale of the Piano Superstar competition at East Rand Mall on October 9.

Ten youngsters from areas such as Johannesburg, Randfontein and as far as the Free State battled it out in front of an audience in their efforts to be crowned winners.

The competition which was put together by East Rand Mall and Rocco De Villiers, was launched in April last year, inviting youngsters between the age of 11 and 18 to enter the competition by loading a video of themselves playing the piano.

Judges Rocco de Villiers, Clint Waring (general manager music division of Yamaha Music South Africa) and Damian Engelbrecht reviewed and scored all the entries and the top 20 were announced in July for public voting.

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Combined with the judge’s score and public voting the 10 pianists were chosen to perform during a live performance at East Rand Mall.

During the live performance, the nominees had to serenade the judges with their musical masterpieces.
Impressing the judges with his piano skills, 14-year-old Heinrich Sutton of Pretoria won the first prize of R10 000 shopping mall voucher, a Yamaha DGX660 digital piano and performance with Rocco de Villiers.

The second winner, Janco Scholtz (19) of Free State, won an R7 500 shopping mall voucher and a Yamaha P45 digital piano.

Etienne Mentz (18) of Rustenburg won a R5 000 shopping mall voucher and a Yamaha PSR-E portable keyboard.

Reinhardt van Vollenstee (17) of Farrarmere was among the pianists and he said he was encouraged to enter the competition by his grandmother.

Yamaha South Africa and Krispy Kreme were the sponsors for the event. 

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