Vivianna Shmanova Pearson & Simon Wu | Johnman Concerts

ABOUT

Concert by Simon Wu (piano) and Vivianna Shmanova Pearson (piano).

Vivianna Shmanova Pearson has been studying piano since the age of 7 and performing regularly since the age of 8. She studied under Ms Sue Paterson-Jones from 2013 until 2023 and she is currently studying at UCT under Prof. Francois du Toit. In September this year she will start her studies at the esteemed Royal College of Music in London.

She has taken part in the Afrikaans and English eisteddfods since the age of 8 and has won the overall junior and senior piano sections at both Eisteddfods many times, often performing at their prize giving concerts.

She has been a finalist in the Johann Vos music competition since 2018, receiving second place in the Junior Section in 2021 and first place in the Senior Section in 2022. In 2023 she was the winner of the Pieter Kooij Music Competition and the winner of the senior section of the Western Cape Piano Festival. For the past two years she has participated in the Atterbury National Piano Competition held in Pretoria where she received second prize overall both times.

In 2020 as well as 2023 Vivianna was selected to play as a soloist in the annual Hugo Lambrechts Concerto Festival. In 2022 she competed in the Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition where she was awarded 5th prize and performed with the Cape Town Philharmonic orchestra. That same year she took part in the annual Youth Classical Concert where she performed in the Artscape Theatre with the CPO.

Vivianna is a keen chamber musician and has attended both the Franschhoek Chamber Music Festival and the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival since the age of 13, playing piano as well as flute. She has received masterclasses from esteemed pianists such as Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Megan-Geoffrey Prins, Anastasia Markina, Emanuil Ivanov, Mariel Ilusorio and Albie van Schalkwyk.

Simon Wu recently completed his BMus Honours in Piano Performance under Professor Francois du Toit and Dr. Esthea Kruger at UCT. He will be pursuing his master’s degree in the same field at the Royal College of Music in London at the end of the year. In 2015, Simon debuted as a soloist with the UCT Symphony Orchestra. He performed as a soloist at CPO’s Youth Music Festival numerous times. He has been awarded 1st prize in the junior, senior, and open category at the Johann Vos Music Competition. In 2019 at UCT, he won the Laura Searle prize for concerto playing. In 2022, he was awarded 1st prize for the instrumental category of the FMR Bursary Competition. He placed 3rd at the UNISA National Piano competition in 2023. Recently he was awarded the Lionel Bowman Prize for Beethoven’s work, and his ensemble was awarded 2nd prize at the Schock Chamber competition playing Bartok’s Sonata for 2 Percussions and 2 Pianos. He has received masterclasses from distinguished pianist such as Kate Liu, Gustavo Romero and Vladimir Kharin.

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