2010 Young Musicians Chamber Music Competition

March 21, 2010

56th Annual Competition – $5,000 in prizes

Plus a successful first time for Audience Prizes!

On Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 7:00 pm, a large audience joined Friends of Chamber Music for the 56th annual Young Musicians Chamber Music Competition in the Koerner Recital Hall at the Vancouver Academy of Music, 1270 Chestnut Street, Vancouver. The Friends were pleased again to foster young musicians’ interest in such wonderful music through a FREE public concert featuring the finalists selected from play-down auditions in February 2010. As always, this is also a great way for people of all ages to come out and hear chamber music from the classical, Romantic and modern periods, whether for the first time or after decades of enjoyment. And the 2010 edition of the event was no exception. The quality of the music-making was very high!

And for the first time in the history of this competition, there were Audience Prizes awarded to a junior and senior ensemble. Friends of Chamber Music board member Dr. Malcolm Hayes made this possible and he announced the results of the vote and named the Audience Prize-winners (marked below) from the stage after the concert.

The adjudicator, Hans-Karl Piltz, professor emeritus from the UBC School of Music, a conductor, orchestral and chamber musician, decided to award two first prizes in both the junior and senior categories.

First Prize, Junior Category (the Koerner Prize, in memory of Mr. Fred Koerner) co-winners:

Mendelssohn – Piano Trio in D minor, Opus 13
Molto allegro agitato
Natalie Lo, piano
Jessy (J.Y.) Kim, violin
Susie Jiwon Yoo, cello

Dvorak – Piano Trio in E minor, Opus 90 “Dumky” (Junior Audience Prize winners)
Lento maestoso – Allegro quasi doppio movimento
Poco adagio – Vivace non troppo
Aisa Sayama, piano
Henry Liao, violin
Jennifer Son, cello

First Prize, Senior Category (the Chan Prize, donated by Bonita and Tom Chan) co-winners:

Carter – Woodwind Quintet
Allegretto
Allegro giocoso
Joanna Tse, flute
Emily Hopkins, oboe
Connor Learmonth, clarinet
Neil Jongbloed, horn
Selina Kuo, bassoon

Shostakovich – String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Opus 110 (Senior Audience Prize winners)
Largo
Allegro molto
Allegretto
Aliayta Foon-Dancoes, violin
Marika Constant, violin
Newsha Khalaj, viola
David Shin, cello

Honourable mention, Junior category:

Schubert – Piano Trio in B flat major, Opus 898
Andante un poco mosso
Emma Woo, piano
Esther Hwang, violin
David Shin, cello

Mendelssohn – String Quartet in A minor, Opus 13
Presto
Grace Takeda, violin
Cindy Kao, violin
Olga Makarevski, viola
Grace Li, cello

Honourable mention, Senior category:

Brahms – Piano Trio in B major, Opus 8
Allegro con brio
Devon Joiner, piano
Rebecca Lin, violin
Luke Kim, cello

Devreese – 5 Divertimenti pour quatuor de saxophones
I Introduction; allegro moderato
II Valse
III Café – concert
IV Marche – allegro molto ritmico
Allegra Pomeroy, alto saxophone
Sean Gormley, soprano saxophone
Sarah Kaal, baritone saxophone
Asa Abbott, tenor saxophone

Koetsier – Brass Quintet, Opus 65
Andantino – allegro molto
Molto vivace
Dan Kocurek, trumpet
Brennan Westerman, trumpet
Nancy Mann, horn
Jim Hopson, trombone
Daniel Forman, bass trombone

Congratulations to all the musicians, their teachers and coaches and to the audience members who joined us for an entertaining and musically exciting evening!