Thursday, September 20, 2012
CLASSICAL MUSIC - HALF the field hails from around New Zealand, while the rest come from Australia, Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, but they all have one thing in common. All entrants in this year’s Gisborne International Music Competition will come seeking a career-enhancing experience.
Organisers this year reached their 60-entrant ceiling in record time and this week they released the names of the solo orchestral instrumentalists aged 16-25 who will compete in GIMC 2012.
And there are a few familiar faces among them.
Australia-based cellist Christopher Mui was a finalist last year, as was violinist James Dong, who also lived in Australia.
Meanwhile, Auckland violinist Tony Zhai (pictured) was aged just 17 when he was named Most Promising Player at the 2009 competition, and he will be back this year to give it another go.
As in past years string players domi-
nate the pool, with no fewer than 23 violinists along with eight cellists plus players of classical guitar, the viola and the double bass. Other instruments represented include clarinet, flute, saxophone, oboe and French horn.
Carrying a first prize of $8000 (again sponsored by the Wallace Art Trust) and a total prize pool of over $25,000, the contest is regarded as one of the most important of its kind, both in prizes and in experience for emerging artists
There’s lots for spectators, too . . . the recital format of the competition makes it popular among audiences.
And GIMC managers Gretchen and Mark La Roche have secured some high-profile artists/educators to make the big decisions. On the jurors’ bench this year will be Martin Riseley — head of strings at the NZ School of Music — and Gordon Hunt, principal oboe with the Philharmonia and London Chamber Orchestras (and, coincidentally, nephew of highly respected Gisborne piano teacher, the late Ivy Hunt).
The 24th annual event will, as usual, be held at the War Memorial Theatre and entry to the first and second round recitals will be free.
The opening round will start on November 25 with the final taking place on December 1 and, says Gretchen La Roche, “we are sure it is going to be another thrilling competition”.
The GIMC competitors for this year are:
James Dong (violin, Australia); Liisa Pallandi (violin, Australia); Christopher Mui (cello, Australia); Brett Yang (violin Australia); Tony Zhai (violin, New Zealand); Wendy Kong (violin, Australia); Camille Barry (violin, Australia); Jack Bailey (cello, Australia); Steven Cadell (violin, Australia); Peter Clark (violin, Australia); Courtenay Cleary (violin, Australia); Olivia Francis (violin, New Zealand); Alex Geary (violin, New Zealand); Diane Huh (violin, New Zealand); James Jin (violin, United States); Stella Kim (violin, New Zealand); Alexandra Lomeiko (violin, United Kingdom); Yejin Min (violin, Australia); Estelita Rae (violin, Australia); Adam Tilley (violin, United States); Wei Tsai (violin, Australia); Jonathan Tanner (violin, New Zealand); Amelia Taylor (violin, New Zealand); Amie Sweetapple (violin, New Zealand); Shauno Isomura (violin, New Zealand); Kinsey Alexander (flute, Australia); Reuben Chin (saxophone, New Zealand); Charlotte Fetherston (viola, Australia); Alex Fyffe (saxophone, Australia); Jamie Garrick (classical guitar, New Zealand); Lucy Gijsbers (cello, New Zealand); Jesbery Hartono (cello, New Zealand); Joshua Healey (cello, Australia); Matthew Hinchliffe (saxophone, Australia); Carolyn Irons (clarinet, New Zealand); John Jang (clarinet, New Zealand); Samuel Jones (saxophone, New Zealand); Stephanie Jones (classical guitar, Australia); Kenworth Keppel (clarinet, New Zealand); Sally Kim (cello, New Zealand); Tamsin Kreymborg (cello, New Zealand); Andrey
Lebedev (classical guitar, Australia); Min Jin Lee (cello, Singapore); Sophia Lee (viola, New Zealand); Sungpil Lee (clarinet, Australia); Madeleine Lie (double bass, New Zealand); Sam Lucas (cello, Australia); David Müller-Cajar (french horn, Germany); Kurt Murphy (flute, New Zealand); Harim Oh (clarinet, New Zealand); David Park (clarinet, Australia); Lina Park (flute, Australia); Martin Qi (viola, New Zealand); Georgina Roberts (oboe, Australia); Hugh Roberts (flute, New Zealand); Thad Shattuck (viola, Australia); Justin Standring (flute, New Zealand); Hye-Won Suh (flute, New Zealand); Lena Taylor (flute, New Zealand); Kay Zhang (saxophone, Australia).