Pianist Simón Pazos Quintana has taken out the 25th Geoffrey Parsons Award, earning the $3,000 first prize after a unanimous decision by the judging panel.

The Award is a competition for South Australian accompanists aged 35 years and under.

Simón Pazos Quintana

Quintana completed his performance-based PhD at the Elder Conservatorium last year under the supervision of Konstantin Shamray and Professor Charles Bodman Rae. He is also a piano teacher as part of the Open Music Academy (OMA) and recently made his solo recital debut in the Elder Hall lunchtime concert series.

Quintana was one of three Adelaide-based finalists – alongside Lynne Gong and Shawn Hui – who each performed with leading local instrumentalists in the final round of the national collaborative-piano competition.

Accompanying artists included Janis Laurs, Greg Tuske, Alison Heike, Jenny Hu, Gordon Scott Richter and Minas Berberyan.

The evening also featured guest performances from pianist Hans Zheng and violist Bridget McCullough while judges deliberated.