A spectacularly crisp and cold day in Queenstown today saw competitors rehearsing with their pianists.
Jee Won Kim rehearses with pianist Bernadette Balkus.
Simply stunning. Words cannot describe.
From the sublime to the ridiculous. The Michael Hill International Violin Competition is no doubt the only major competition in the world that has to fit around rugby - New Zealand's national past time. Here the piano is being delivered to the Wakatipu Rugby clubhouse - which is doubling as a secondary backstage area for the competition this year.
An impromptu dinner party draws together competitors Mateusz Smol (Poland), Kyoko Yonemoto (Japan), Sophie Rosa (UK), and Alexander Read (Canada) with Michael Hill and some New Zealand pinot noir.
