Musica Viva Australia (MVA) has announced the winners of the 2026 Strike A Chord competition.

The Victorian-based Kingussie Trio has been awarded the Robert Salzer First Prize, worth $5,000. It has also been invited to participate in the Australian Festival of Chamber Music’s 2027 Pathways Program and to record a studio album with ABC Classic.

The Kingussie Trio. Photo © Lucien Fischer

The Kingussie Trio is pianist Dillon Chan, violinist David Chon and cellist Gabriel Liu, music scholars from Camberwell Grammar School.

The trio also competed in the 2024 and 2025 Strike a Chord competitions, earning Second Prize last year.

The Paul Morawetz Second Prize ($4,000) was awarded to Quartet Avenoir, and the Youth Music Foundation of Australia Third Prize ($2,500) was awarded to Queensland’s ATC Trio.

This year’s jury panel comprised Jury Chair and Artistic Director of Competitions Wilma Smith, pianist Aura Go, cellist Rohan de Korte, percussionist Brent Miller and violist Fiona Sargeant.

“We can count on the Strike A Chord final to give Melbourne audiences the feel-good highlight of the year! It was wonderful to see a few groups return to the finals stage and to welcome a lot of new faces to the Championship showcase,” said Jury Chair and MVA Artistic Director of Competitions Wilma Smith.

The 2026 Strike A Chord competition. Photo © Lucien Fischer

“Chamber music is a lot of fun but the serious work also undertaken by our young musicians to perform at such a high level is an inspiration and we congratulate them all and their teachers.”

In January, Strike A Chord received $300,000 in funding from the Hansen Little Foundation after MVA failed to secure the Creative Victoria funding that had supported the program since 2020.

More about Strike A Chord can be found here.