Kiwi Keyboard Artists Aim To Make New Zealand Proud With Maxwell Fernie Dame Malvina Major Foundation Award

Kiwi organists Matthew Chanwai (Ngati Kahu) and Rebecca Lee have been named as recipients of the Maxwell Fernie Dame Malvina Major Foundation award for 2024.

Matthew, who was the 2023 Head Boy of St Paul's Collegiate in Hamilton, is set to complete a Bachelor of Arts (Music Tripos) with Honours at the University of Cambridge. He will also be the Organ Scholar of Downing College, University of Cambridge, the only remaining College which has an Organ Scholar responsible for every facet of running the College Choir.

Rebecca, who is currently based in Germany, will be putting her award towards her studies for the Master- Claviorganum degree at the Hamburg Conservatory, Germany.

“I want to make New Zealand proud with the talents I am shaping and developing here in Germany. My goal is to contribute to the development of high quality New Zealand arts,” says Rebecca.

2023’s award winner, Zosia Herlihy-O’Brien, is undertaking her second year of a Master of Music at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In June she was formally installed as the Organist of the Charterhouse in London, only the second female organist since its founding in the 1600s. Zosia will also be performing a solo organ recital in Dorset in September.

The Maxwell Fernie Dame Malvina Major Foundation Award honours the memory of acclaimed New Zealand organist, conductor and teacher, Maxwell Fernie. The annual award is to support young keyboard artists to further their education or training in the organ. The award is managed through the Maxwell Fernie Trust by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation.

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