The Philip H Moore Music Competition for soloist classic musicians was held at Jeppe High School for Girls for the fifth time this year. The competition is open to musicians from ages 8 and under up to and including 22 years. Prizes in excess of R30 000 were awarded in the form of cash and Lovemore gift vouchers to the winners and runners-up in the seven categories.
Over one hundred and fifty entries were received this year, showcasing a great variety of instruments including cello, violin, harp, piano, trombone, guitar, voice, clarinet, flute, french horn and recorder. The competition comprised two preliminary rounds and the Gala evening where the finalists will compete.
Members of the public and learners wishing to listen to some of the performances in the school hall were welcome. The preliminary rounds commenced on Monday 13 August in the afternoons and the second round included eight to ten contestants from each age category and was held on 30 August. It was an ideal opportunity for music students to hear the crème de la crème playing.
The finals
of the fifth Philip H Moore Music Competition took place on the 4th
September 2010 at JeppeHigh School for Girls. It
was a wonderful evening of magical music with exceptional performances on
violin, piano, harp, clarinet and flute. In some cases, there was less than a
percentage difference between winner and runner-up, and the standard was very
high. The Adjudicators of the competition, Wessel van Wyk, Srdjan Cuca and
Marian Friedman, are top musicians in their own right and are held in high
esteem in the musical industry.
The overall winner of the 2010 competition was Junnan
Sun, a 20 year old BMus student at the University of Pretoria.
Born in China,
Junnan started clarinet lessons in 2001 with Prof Wuzhan Ren. He moved to South Africa in
2003 and now studies under Lizet Smith. He has won a number of competitions,
including the woodwind category of the Absa National Youth Music Competition in
PE (2006), in 2008 and 2010 he was one of the winners of The Pretorium Trust
Bursary at the University of Pretoria and overall winner of the 4th
Ronnie and Rhona Lubner Music Solo Competition (affiliated to the South African
Youth Orchestra) in 2008 and of The Unisa South African Music Scholarship
Competition in 2009. He matriculated from Pretoria Boys High with Honours in
Music in 2007 and has performed as soloist with a number of orchestras.
Victoria Bennett, the benefactor of the competition, congratulated Junnan on
his performace, which could not be faulted technically and was particularly
engaging and heart warming. “We wish you all the best in your future studies
and may your music continue to give you as much joy as it does to those who
hear you play” she said.
Stefan Du Toit was runner-up.Born in Nelspruit, he matriculated in2005 with an A aggregate. Between 2001 and 2005, Stefan received piano tuition from Mario Nell at the University of Stellenbosch, during which time he performed 5 times as a soloist with orchestras and won a number of competitions, including the Fundâo Youth Competition in Portugal. He received a bachelor degree in music at the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland and has been acccepted for a Masters degree in performance at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Liepzig, Germany.
There were a
number of surprises during the evening. Anthony Franklin of Lovemore donated a
beautiful electronic keyboard to JeppeHigh Schoolfor Girls and
MusicMate Parkmeadows gave each finalist a gift voucher to the value of R250.00.
Victoria Bennett also announced the launch of the Ivumo Choir Festival for Junior and SeniorSchool
Choirs. The choir festival will commence in 2011 on a national basis, with
entries for the first round by cd. The top five choirs will compete in the
finals at JeppeHigh School for Girls sometime during
the second quarter of 2011.There will be fantastic cash and other prizes and it
is hoped that this new branch of the Philip H Moore Music Competition will
become an annual event not to be missed by any choral enthusiast.
