Grahamstown audiences were treated to stunning performances by the prize winners of the third National Grahamstown Music Competition last week Monday.
Grahamstown audiences were treated to stunning performances by the prize winners of the third National Grahamstown Music Competition last week Monday.
The concert in St Andrew’s College Drill Hall was the final triumphant event after three days of tough competition.
The tertiary winner was Pieter Crathorne (age 23, from Stellenbosch), whose performance of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz won him R2 500.
Two Rhodes University students played their winning piano pieces in the tertiary category: Andrew Duncan (second prize, age 20) played Les jeux d’eau a la Villa d’este by Liszt, and Mia Pistorius (third prize, age 21) gave a performance of Sonata No 2 by Rautavaara.
In the senior category, the first prize of R2 500 went to Caryn Reed (age 15, piano, Bethlehem), who performed Impressoes Seresteiras by Villa Lobos; second prize was awarded to Tinus Ferreira (age 15, piano, Pretoria) for Sonata Op 7 Prestissimos Agitato by Czerny; and third prize went to Christo Greyling (age 17, piano, Port Elizabeth), who played the Allegro de Concierto by Granados.
In the junior category, the first prize of R2 500 went to Cindy Ju (age 10, piano, Northriding) for her performance of the Sonata in F Op 163 No 2 by Czerny; second prize to Heleen Ferreira (age 12, piano, Pretoria) and third prize to Inge Lubbe (age 10, violin, Pretoria), who performed Fantasie and Recitative by Perlman.
Crème de la crème
Nosipho Tyanase (age 30, voice, Grahamstown) earned the Mariel Ilusorio prize of R1000 for her performance of Where E’er You Walk by Haendel.
The concerto category of the competition was open to all the candidates.
This round of the competition was hosted on Saturday, 1 August by the Rhodes University music department in the Beethoven Room.
The standard was so high that the adjudicators, Prof Hubert van der Spuy and Bridget Rennie Salonen opted to select eight instead of the intended six contestants to perform with the Rhodes Orchestra in October.
Of the eight contestants selected four are Rhodes students Jacques du Plessis (age 21, East London), Cathy Hodgson (age 19, Grahamstown), Wayne Greenberg (age 23, Johannesburg), Mia Pistorius (age 21, Pretoria), one is from St Andrew’s College (Tim Abel age 18) and three are visitors who also won prizes in the solo section: Cindy Ju, Inge Lubbe and Pieter Crathorne.
