Dame Malvina Major Foundation Awards Help Fund Return To Overseas Study For Auckland Pianists

Two Auckland pianists about to return to overseas study have had a financial boost from the Dame Malvina Major Foundation in its latest round of Arts Excellence Awards for the Auckland/Waikato region.

Pianist Delvan Lin and collaborative pianist Amy Chang, both previous recipients of the award, have been awarded $3,000 each by the Auckland/Waikato Committee of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation towards further artistic training.

Dame Malvina Major Foundation Auckland/Waikato Committee Chair James Harrison says the committee was acutely aware how incredibly challenging this year has been for those involved in the arts.

“The field of applicants for 2020 was exceptionally talented across the board and was representative of the immense breadth of talent coming out of New Zealand.”

Delvan Lin has been back in Auckland since March after COVID-19 disrupted his undergraduate piano studies at the Eastman School of Music in New York. He previously received the award in 2016 to attend the Curtis Institute of Music’s Young Artist Summer Programme in Philadelphia.

He says he is planning to return to New York early next month to resume the final year of his studies, despite the “tricky” situation in the United States.

“This academic year will be especially important for me – it is crucial that I am able to work with my teacher Alan Chow in person to ensure that I am adequately prepared for my upcoming graduate school auditions. I am honoured and humbled to once again have been chosen as a recipient of a Dame Malvina Major Foundation Arts Excellence Award.”

Amy Chang, who first received the award in 2019 towards her Master of Music as an opera répétiteur at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, had to complete her final term of her first year of study online from Auckland due to COVID-19.

“This award allows me to travel back to the United Kingdom to continue my studies, and fund a vital portion of my living costs. The 2020-2021 academic year will see me working as a répétiteur for Handel's Giulio Cesare, Jonathan Dove's Flight, Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (in collaboration with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), and Debussy/Marius Constant's Impressions de Pelléas; all in addition to weekly music and language coachings, seminars and workshops with visitors from the industry, and preparing for professional auditions upon graduation.

“The Dame Malvina Major Foundation has been one of the very few organisations that has recognised my passion as an opera and song pianist as a worthy career path to support, and I am extremely honoured and grateful to be a recipient of the Arts Excellence Award for another year.”

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