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Leanne Jin, dubbed 鈥渢he Piano Woman鈥� by Sydney Eisteddfod, has enjoyed a year of outstanding success. In the second year of a Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Jin has already won three major piano competitions in 2019.

In July, Jin took out first prize in the prestigious Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, one of the most important in Australasia.

Jin also picked up three other prizes in the same competition: Best Concerto Performance on Finals night, with a scintillating performance of Rachmaninov鈥檚 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra; Best Performance of Third Round; and Best Performance of a Prelude and Fugue for her Shostakovich. She walked away with prize money of $32,000.

"The Lev Vlassenko Competition was the first of three significant Australian competitions I participated in within two months,鈥� Jin says. 鈥淚t was a long process involving months of planning, hard work and preparation.鈥�

The first step, she says, was choosing her repertoire. 鈥淭his involved hours of discussion with my teacher, , and trial and error, as I wanted to present a program of wide scope that highlighted my different strengths and musical passions.鈥�

Then came her rigorous preparation regime. The competition meant she had to play three solo recitals and one concerto with an orchestra 鈥撀爏ome 2.5 hours of music in total.

鈥淚t was important to organise a clear practice and performance schedule,鈥� Jin says. 鈥淎ll the works needed to be securely learnt and memorised and aired in various performances leading up to the competition.鈥�

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Jin adopted a philosophical attitude to her peformances and the competition. 鈥淢y approach was not so much playing with the intention of winning but to go out on stage with my teacher鈥檚 philosophy in mind, which was to play as well as I could聽and leave with the satisfaction of knowing I鈥檇 given a good performance even if I didn鈥檛 make it to the finals.鈥�

But make it to the finals she did. Not only that, she won the competition. 鈥淲hen they announced the prize-winners, I was utterly overwhelmed,鈥� Jin says. 鈥淧reparing for the competition was such a positive experience in itself, in the way it challenged me to rise to new levels of performance and musicality. But winning it was an incredible bonus and a moment I will forever cherish.鈥�

This stunning success was not in fact the beginning of Jin's winning streak, which really began in 2018 when she won the Emerging Artists Series Award as well as the prestigious national Theme and Variations Foundation Award.

In August, shortly after the Vlassenko Competition, Jin took out the biggest piano prize at the Sydney Eisteddfod, the Kawai Piano Scholarship, valued at $12,000. One of the judges, Vivian Choi, praised Jin鈥檚 impressive performance as one that 鈥渃ame from the soul鈥�.聽

Jin was selected on the Eisteddfod finals night as Young Virtuoso State Finalists, and will compete on Sunday 13 October.

But wait, there鈥檚 more. Leanne was awarded first prize in the Sydney Conservatorium Piano Concerto Competition, also held in August.聽This means she will play a concerto with the Conservatorium Orchestra early next year.

Jin鈥檚 teacher, Natalia Ricci, attributes her successes to her exceptional talent, razor-sharp focus and determination, engaging stage presence and wonderful flair as a performer, as well as her tremendous capacity for hard work and effective practice.

Jin says she could not have achieved these successes "without the endless support of my wonderful teacher, Natalia Ricci, the Theme and Variations Foundation and my family and friends".聽