On Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 7:00 pm, Friends of Chamber Music hosted the 54th annual Young Musicians Chamber Music Competition in the Koerner Recital Hall at the Vancouver Academy of Music, 1270 Chestnut Street, Vancouver. We are pleased to foster young musicians’ interest in this wonderful music through this free public concert. This is also a great way for people to come out and hear chamber music for the first time! Year after year, the quality of the music-making is very high!
Pianists, string and wind players from Vancouver and around the Lower Mainland played together in groups to compete for cash prizes before an audience of more than 100 people. Each member of a “Junior” group cannot be over age 18, and each member of a “Senior” group cannot be over age 26. This year’s finals featured a wide variety of ensembles playing music by composers ranging from Haydn and Beethoven to Bartok, Turina, Poulenc and Hindemith. These ensembles were selected to compete from the earlier elimination play-downs.
This year, the judge for the finals was Evan Mitchell, assistant conductor with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He gave insightful constructive comments to all of the musicians as well as awarding the prizes to the winning ensembles.
The Chan Prize was given to the first prize Senior category ensemble, a violin quartet:
Grazyna Baceivicz – Quartet for 4 Violins
Allegretto
Andante tranquill
Molto allegro
Jonathan Chan, violin
Stephanie Chan, violin
Alex Sachs, violin
Jan Bislin, violin
Second prize in the Senior Category was awarded to a brass trio:
Anthony Plog – Trio for Brass
III. Allegro Moderato
IV. Adagio
V. Allegro vivace
Alexander Cannon, trumpet
Nick Anderson, horn
James Hopson, trombone
The Fred Koerner Prize was awarded to the first prize ensemble in the Junior category, a cello trio:
Ludwig van Beethoven – Trio in C major, Opus 87
Adagio cantabile, Minuetto (allegro molto scherzo)
Carol Tsai, cello
Jennifer Son, cello
Isidora Nojkovic, cello
Second prize in the Junior category was awarded to a trio of clarinet, violin and piano:
Bela Bartok – Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet & Piano, Sz 111
Last movement
Henry Liao, violin
Evan Watkins, clarinet
Michelle Lin, piano
Peter Lang offered the other finalist ensembles an opportunity to perform a paid outreach concert in the community. The other 2008 finalists were:
Junior:
Joseph Haydn – Piano Trio in C major, Hob XV: 27
Allegro
Frank Lin, violin
Veronica Oh, cello
Valerie Chong, piano
Joaquin Turina – Piano Trio no. 2 in B minor, Opus 76 –
First movement
Kaine Newton, violin
Tunmo Kim, cello
Emma Woo, piano
Senior:
Francis Poulenc – Sextet for Winds and Piano
First movement – trés vite et emporté
Yoobin Whang, flute
Jonathan Blackman, horn
Gina So, piano
Katelin Coleman, bassoon
Rachel Lim, oboe
Michael Mah, clarinet
Paul Hindemith – Kleine Kammermusik for 5 Winds, Opus 24 no. 2
First movement
Fourth movement
Fifth movement
Joanna Tse, flute
Emily Hopkins, oboe
Jessica Burkart, clarinet
Neil Jongbloed, horn
Selina Koo, bassoon
