The Talent Season 1 2026 Episode 10

Maggie Wang is a 17-year-old cellist studying with Howard Penny from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). In both 2025 and 2026, she was appointed principal cellist of the Bishop Orchestra at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp, and was selected to perform with the flagship orchestra on its 2025 International Tour in Europe. She has also been a long-standing participant of the Australian Chamber Orchestra Academy and Melbourne Youth Orchestra, holding principal cello positions across multiple programs. 

  

As a soloist, Maggie has performed Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with the Queensland Youth Symphony under the baton of Fabian Russell, following her selection as a finalist in the John Curro National Youth Concerto Competition. She was a finalist in the Preston Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition in 2022 and 2024, and named Overall Winner in 2024. Internationally, she was invited to the Qingdao International Cello Festival, where she was recognised as one of the Best Young Artists, and in 2026 was awarded Absolute Winner of the Haydn Online International Music Competition. Upcoming engagements in 2026 include appearances as a finalist in Melbourne Recital Centre’s Baroque Competition and the Hopkins Bradford Youth Concerto competition.  

 

Maggie is eager to further develop her musicianship through collaboration with like-minded musicians and participation in a wide range of musical projects and performance opportunities. 

 

Maggie will perform:
Don Banks – Three Studies for Cello and Piano (1954) 
I. Andante 
II. Lento espressivo 
III. Allegro con brio 

 

and

 

Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Figaro from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville 

Emma Li is a dedicated 13-year-old pianist and a Year 8 student at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, currently studying piano with Ian Munro. She started learning the piano at the age of 5 and picked up the clarinet in Year 4.

Emma is a well-accomplished musician and has won numerous awards and competitions, including winning First Prize in the International Kayserberg Competition twice in a row (2023, 2025), and has also been invited by Piano Star to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York. She has completed her AMusA in 2024, and is now preparing for her LMusA examination later this year.

Apart from music, she also has a passion for sport, especially swimming and badminton. She is also excellent in her studies and has won awards such as the Maths Olympiad and the Junior Australian Maths Competition. She hopes to continue playing and performing music into her adulthood.

Emma will perform:  

1. Chopin - Etude Op. 25 No. 12
2. Beethoven - Sonata Op. 27 No. 1 3rd Mvt 
3. Prokofiev - Diabolical Suggestion
4. Chua - Preludio from Sonatina