Call for Entries - SAMRO Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition
25 years of music excellence celebrated
The prestigious SAMRO Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition is inviting entries from music students at junior level. Now in its third year, the project builds on the strong foundation laid by the SA Society of Music Teachers (SASMT) 25 years ago when fledgling musicians competed for the first time on a national basis.
A special incentive created four years ago for developmental groups from disadvantaged communities, enables these candidates to compete on equal terms with participants from other communities.
To share in celebrating the silver jubilee, alumni, adjudicators, participants, teachers as well as parents and accompanists of the competition since 1989 are also kindly requested to establish contact by registering and sharing highlights of their memories on the site: www.samrohubertvanderspuy.wordpress.com
The closing date for this year’s competition is Friday, 19 April 2013. Auditions in all the main centres will commence at the beginning of June. About 60 candidates will eventually be selected to compete over four rounds at the Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium in Parow, Cape Town, from 16 to 20 September. Medals, prize-money totalling more than R80 000 and other attractive prizes are at stake.
Candidates will compete in four categories: Piano, Strings, Woodwind & Brass Instruments, and Other Instruments (percussion, recorder, classical guitar and harp), with a sub-category for developmental groups. The only condition is that candidates must still be 13 (14 for developmental groups) at the time of the competition.
Entry forms are available at http://samrohubertvanderspuy.wordpress.com/
According to Hilda Boonzaaier, president of the SASMT: Tygerberg, the competition has a broad appeal amongst applicants from diverse communities and instrumentalists across the music spectrum.
"In addition to offering participants the chance to distinguish themselves within the ambit of their own sections, the structure also facilitates interaction and contact between students, teachers and parents from divergent communities, from all parts of South Africa."
André le Roux, Managing Director of the SAMRO Foundation, said that the exceptional performances he witnessed at the past two competitions were awesome and inspiring. “One can hardly imagine having such a platform of excellence existing at primary school level. We have also seen many candidates, the likes of Jacques-Pierre Malan, Avigail Bushakevitz and Vicente Espi, who excelled in this competition being highly successful in our SAMRO Overseas Scholarships competition and even winning the coveted main scholarship. SAMRO Foundation feels privileged to be part of this trajectory of excellence in music.”
He added that SAMRO committed, through the SAMRO Foundation, to support projects of excellence, at many levels. The projects include the Gauteng and Cape Town Big Band Jazz Festivals for high school students, the SAMRO Music Bursaries at tertiary level and finally, the pinnacle of its flagship projects, the SAMRO Overseas Scholarships competitions.
Enquiries can be directed to Kathleen du Plessis (between 10:00 and 18:00) at 021 939 9105, or in writing to clay.kathleen@gmail.com, or Hilda Boonzaaier (20:00 – 21:00) at 021 945 3861.
Notes:
The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) came on board as the main sponsor in 2011 when the original sponsor, Sanlam, withdrew.
The competition honours Prof. Hubert van der Spuy, founder of the competition in 1989, for his enormous contribution to music development in South Africa, inter alia at the universities of Durban-Westville and Western Cape, the SASMT and as Professor Emeritus of Music at Unisa.
The original competition was launched by the SASMT’s Tygerberg Branch in 1989. It provides a platform for promising young musicians to participate at national level, to gain valuable experience, to learn from each other and to be identified as promising musicians at an early stage. It has already put a number of young musicians on the road to successful music careers and even international acclaim.
The organisers hope to assemble some of these acclaimed musicians to perform at a concert in celebration of the competitions 25th anniversary during the competition week. Further information regarding this concert will be made available closer to the event.
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