The deadline for applications for the Samro Foundation Overseas Competition has been extended to Friday, 27 May 2016.
The deadline for applications for the Samro Foundation Overseas Competition has been extended to Friday, 27 May 2016.
Which means it is not too late for jazz and western art instrumentalists, younger than 32 years old, to apply for this postgraduate music study award, which enables the recipients to enroll for career-furthering postgraduate studies or master classes at international institutions.
Every year, rotating on a four-yearly cycle between composers, singers, keyboard players and instrumentalists, the Samro Foundation awards two scholarships worth R200 000 each – for jazz and western art music, respectively. This year, instrumentalists will have the chance to demonstrate their mettle.
The Samro Foundation Overseas Competition has changed the lives of numerous young musicians, and winners of this competition have been making waves as their careers go from strength to strength.
After winning the 2015 Samro Scholarship, tenor Levy Strauss Sekgapane went on to win the 2015 Monserrat Caballe International Singing Competition in Spain. He is currently in Germany participating in various operas and completing his three-year scholarship in Dresden.
Darren English, winner of the 2012 Jazz Scholarship for instrumentalists, has just released his first album. "Imagine Nation" features Kenny Banks Jr, Billy Thornton, Chris Burroughs, Carmen Bradford, Greg Tardy, Russell Gunn and Joe Gransden.
To be eligible to compete in the 2016 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition, candidates must be a music student or professional instrumentalist between the ages of 20 and 32, and a citizen of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho or Swaziland.
The competition takes place over three rounds:
• A preliminary round between, 15 – 22 June 2016: A panel of adjudicators will arbitrate the recorded performances of candidates online to select the six jazz and six western art music semi-finalists;
• The semi-final round, Thursday, 18 August 2016: Live performances of 12 semi-finalists at Johannesburg’s Linder Auditorium. A panel of adjudicators will select two jazz and two western art music finalists as well as subsidiary award-winners;
• The final round, Saturday 20 August 2016 at the Linder Auditorium, which will take the form of a public concert and feature performances by the four finalists.
To enter, aspiring candidates must download the regulations and the application form from the Samro Foundation website (www.samrofoundation.org.za). Applications should be emailed to anriette.chorn@samro.org.za on or before Friday, 27 May 2016.
