Regional Finals of National Chamber Music Contest

Six Wellington Chamber Music Ensembles in Regional Finals of National Chamber Music Contest

SIX WELLINGTON CHAMBER MUSIC ENSEMBLES will compete in the Central Regional Final of the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest in Napier this weekend.

The six ensembles involving 16 young musicians, two of whom play in two of the ensembles, were selected for the Regional Finals following the Wellington District Contest held earlier this month which saw 25 ensembles perform before the judges.

In all, 36 chamber music ensembles will compete in the Northern, Central and Southern Regional Finals of the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest in Auckland, Napier and Christchurch this weekend.

The Central Regional Finals take place on Sunday 21 June at Napier's Municipal Theatre at 11.30am and 4.30pm.

The Regional Finals rounds are new to the contest this year. Twelve ensembles compete in each Regional Final, including the winning ensemble from each of the 15 district contests held earlier this month.

The Regional Finals take place in Christchurch on Saturday 20 June, and in Auckland and Napier onSunday 21 June. The top 12 ensembles from the three Regional Finals will compete at the National Finals in Wellington in August.

The Northern Regional Contest has seven ensembles from Auckland, two from Hamilton and one each from New Plymouth, Whangarei and Tauranga. The Central Regional Contest features six ensembles from Wellington, three from Hawkes Bay, and one each from Gisborne, Palmerston North and Wanganui. In the Southern region, Christchurch has seven ensembles competing with two from Dunedin and one each from Timaru, Invercargill and Nelson.

The New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest is celebrating its 50th Jubilee year. It is the longest running youth music competition in New Zealand and is the only nationwide chamber music competition for young musicians and composers. In 2015 it attracted 476 ensembles from around the country involving more than 1800 young musicians.

Each member of the winning group at the National Final receives the James Wallace Arts Trust Prize of $1000.

This year 20 young composers have submitted work for judging in the Original Composition section, with eight entered in the Junior Composer category. New Zealand composer Leonie Holmes will select the winning scores. The winner will be awarded the SOUNZ prize of $500 for the Senior Composition and $100 plus a $50 SOUNZ voucher for the Junior Composition.

The national contest is well-known for nurturing young musicians who go on to successful musical careers and coinciding with this year’s contest is the Turnovsky Ensemble tour which features 14 contest alumni spanning 40 years of the contest and led by mesmerising violinist Wilma Smith.

Viola player Bryony Gibson-Cornish was a member of the 2007 and 2008 winning contest ensembles and is now studying at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. She features in the Turnovsky Ensemble and says that “being in the contest is not about winning or losing. It is the journey that you have experienced with your fellow chamber musicians and nobody can take that away from you.”

In presenting the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest, Chamber Music New Zealand acknowledges the generous support of The New Zealand Community Trust, ABRSM, SOUNZ (Centre for NZ Music), The Wallace Arts Trust, KBB Music, CANZ (Composers Association NZ) and various regional funders who support events at District Contests.

ENDS

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