Finalists in the annual SAMRO Overseas Scholarships for Composers Competition have been announced signalling the final race towards the finish in one of SA’s most prestigious music competitions.
Four candidates out of an unprecedented 16 entries are now in line for the ultimate prize, which will be awarded during the final round competition, taking place on Saturday, August 19th.
With this year’s scholarships focusing on jazz and classical music, finalists are Gareth Walwyn (28) from the University of Cape Town and Wikus van der Hoven (23) from the University of Pretoria in the Jazz/Popular genre as well as Cape Town’s Matthijs van Dijk (23) and Andile Khumalo (28) from the Hochschule in Stuttgart who are competing in the Western Art (Classical) genre.
SAMRO reports very high standards of composition amongst the entries, with potential candidates coming from a who’s who of South African music teachers and composers including Peter Klatzow, former scholarship winner, Hendrik Hofmeyr, Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, Darius Brubeck, Alexander Johnson, Noel Stockton, Mike Campbell and others.
On Saturday night, a String Quartet/Jazz Quartet composition by each of the finalists will be performed.
In bringing to life the compositions of the finalists, SAMRO has called on some of the country’s best musical talents. Leading chamber group, the Rosamunde String Quartet will perform the Western Art entries and a Jazz Quartet made up of Marc Duby (bass), Kevin Davidson (saxophone) and two previous winners, Burton Naidoo (piano) and Ayanda Sikade (drums) will play the Jazz/Popular entries.
Saturday night’s event will be made all the more exciting when the winners are announced, with two of the four finalists winning a substantial amount of money (the highest single amount awarded to composers in South Africa) to assist them in pursuing their musical careers abroad.
Dr Johnny Mekoa, Member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Director of the Music Academy of Gauteng, will, with a group of students from the Academy, provide entertainment in the foyer before the concert starts and during interval.
Those who are interested to attend the final round competition to be held at the University of Witwatersrand on the 19th August 2006 can contact Alpha (011 489 5163) or Naseema (011 489 5161) to book seats.
