Musicians Tune Up for National Chamber Music Contest

Young Wellington Musicians Tune Up for National Chamber Music Contest

More than 130 young musicians from the Wellington region are tuning up to compete in the annual New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest.

The Wellington District Contest of the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest takes place on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June at the Adam Concert Room, New Zealand School of Music and is one of 15 district contests being held nationwide to select the top 12 ensembles that will compete in the National Finals in Auckland in August.

Last year the contest was won by Wellington’s Trio Glivenko, the first time a Wellington ensemble has won the contest in many years. Two members of the 2015 winning ensemble feature in three ensembles in this year’s contest.

Chamber Music New Zealand chief executive Peter Walls says he is delighted with entry numbers for the 2016 contest, and is particularly pleased to see a major increase in entries from the Wellington region – in 2015 25 ensembles involving 88 students entered the District Contest.

“Perhaps young Wellington musicians were inspired by the success of Trio Glivenko last year.”

Overall throughout New Zealand, 467 ensembles of between three and eight musicians involving almost 1800 students, will compete for spots in the National Finals. Musicians will perform on a wide variety of instruments from the saxophone, to the violin to the Chinese zither and playing music by more than 300 different composers from Bach to John Lennon and including more than 30 New Zealand composers.

The New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest is the longest running youth music competition in New Zealand and last year celebrated its 50th jubilee. It is the only nationwide chamber music competition for young musicians and composers. As well as organising the contest, Chamber Music New Zealand also arranges coaching and open workshops for ensembles with the support of ABRSM.

At the end of each District Contest the winning group from each district, and up to four highly commended groups, will be named and an award will be given for the overall Best Performance of a New Zealand work.

Following the Wellington District Final, the top ensembles from the Hawke’s Bay, East Coast, Whanganui, Manawatu and Wellington contests will travel to Napier to compete in the Central Regional Finals on Sunday 26 June. The top 12 ensembles from the three Regional Finals held in Christchurch, Napier and Auckland will compete in the National Finals on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 August in Auckland.

Each member of the winning group at the National Final receives the Wallace Foundation Prize of $1000.
This year 16 composition entries have been submitted in the Original Composition section of the Contest including one entry from Lower Hutt student Liam Furey. Liam (18), who attends Te Kura Correspondence School has submitted a piano trio which will be performed at the Wellington District Contest rounds by trio The Wolf Gang with Liam on piano.

Auckland-based composer Alex Taylor will select two winning scores (Junior and Senior) and the winning composers will be announced in June. The winners will be awarded SOUNZ cash prizes and a year’s subscription to CANZ (Composers’ Association of New Zealand).

The national contest is well-known for nurturing young musicians who go on to successful musical careers. Iconic New Zealand pianist Michael Houstoun competed in the event when he was a school student in Timaru and 27-year-old violinist, Amalia Hall was a Contest winner in 2003 and 2004. Amalia has just been awarded first prize and the overall prize at the 2016 Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition and was also the Overseas Award Winner in the 2016 ROSL Annual Music Competition.

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

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