Calvin Abdiel Tambunan has won the 2020 Ananda Sukarlan Award, the largest piano competition in Indonesia.

The Jakarta-born pianist received a scholarship from Institut Francais d'Indonesie (IFI) for a summer course in France when physical restrictions have been eased.

Calvin is studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia. The 19-year-old was selected to join the school's Rising Stars program, which makes him eligible to receive scholarships and support to enter competitions in various countries.

Calvin was a soloist at St Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra when he was 16, and had also appeared with Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Switzerland's Les Chambristes. He has performed in Indonesia, Germany, Denmark and Israel with those orchestras.

Victorious variations: A screenshot from the submission video for the 2020 Ananda Sukarlan Award shows the performance of first place winner Calvin Abdiel. (Courtesy of YouTube/Courtesy 2020 Ananda Sukarlan Award)

In second place was Semarang-based Kevin Trisna, who earlier this year graduated summa cum laude from the Robert Schumann Hochschule fuer Musik in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Kevin is scheduled to appear with the award patron Ananda Sukarlan at an on-site concert in Muara Jambi, South Sumatra.

The pre-recorded event will be streamed on YouTube channel Budaya Saya – run by the Cultures Directorate General of the Education and Culture Ministry – on Dec. 22. 

Due to the pandemic, this year's competition was held online. 

As many as 104 young talents have uploaded their videos to YouTube, as required.

"The online platform is a challenge for the judges because we have to evaluate the contestants based on the piano they use as well. In a live competition, they all play on the same piano," Indonesian pianist and composer Ananda Sukarlan said in a press release Sunday.

"Thus we needed a longer time to decide the winners because we played the records on repeat. It could be an advantage because in a live competition we don’t get to replay the performance."

Ananda, who divides his time between Jakarta and Spain, was recently bestowed the title of Cavaliere Ordine della Stella d'Italia (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italia) by Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

Starting this year,  the Ananda Sukarlan Award was organized as part of the government's efforts to map and develop Indonesian assets in classical music.

The seventh installment of the competition initiated by the composer to pull in young talent has recognized the country’s prodigies.

In the Junior category, the judges picked two young pianists to share first place – 10-year-old Maggie Tse from Surabaya and Vivienne Thamrin, 18, from Makassar, who studies music in Beijing, China.

The judges, 2014 ASA winner Anthony Hartono and Christine Utomo, the youngest doctor of music in Indonesia, said both winners earned the same scores in artistic skills.

All videos of winners and participants are available on YouTube under the keyword “Ananda Sukarlan Award 2020”. (ste)