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Overseas Scholarships Winners

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SAMRO crowns SA’s top young composers


Keith Moss (23) and James Bassingthwaighte (28) were named the winners of SAMRO’s 2010 Overseas Scholarships for composers following a hard-fought music contest at the UJ Arts Centre on Saturday night.


From L to R: Kingsley Buitendag (Runner-up, Jazz/Popular); Keith Moss (Winner; Western Art); Angie Mullins (Runner-up, Western Art); James Bassingthwaighte (Winner, Jazz/Popular)

 
Each young composer walks off with a scholarship to study music abroad worth R170 000, in this prestigious competition that has been run by the Southern African Music Rights Organisation since 1962. On a four-yearly cycle, it alternates between awarding singers, instrumentalists, keyboard players and composers of exceptional promise.

The packed Arts Centre at the University of Johannesburg witnessed renditions of indigenous compositions by the vibrant Wits Choir, and the audience was also treated to acclaimed jazz duo Paul Hanmer and McCoy Mrubata performing a thrilling set of Hanmer’s music.
These quality choral and jazz performances set the tone for a lively evening celebrating South Africa’s musical diversity, variety, creativity and originality. It was made all the more special by the lifetime achievement award presented by SAMRO chairman Annette Emdon to eminent composer, arranger and recently retired SAMRO vice-chairman, Professor Mzilikazi Khumalo, who continues to serve on the SAMRO Board.
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Meet the four SAMRO scholarship finalists

Young, bursting with talent and poised to revitalise South African songwriting – meet the four composers competing in the 2010 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition at the UJ Arts Centre on Saturday, 28 August 2010.

Johannesburg: Hosted by SAMRO’s Endowment for the National Arts since 1962, the annual competition enables two young South African musicians to further their music studies overseas, with each receiving a scholarship package worth R170 000. The competition rotates on a four-yearly basis between awarding instrumentalists, singers, keyboard players and composers.
This year is the turn of composers, and the finalists in the two categories are:  Keith Moss and Angie Mullins (Western Art Music) and James Bassingthwaighte and Kingsley Buitendag (Jazz/Popular Music). Their original compositions – ranging from Latin-inspired works to choral pieces – will be performed during the final round of the competition on 28 August.
Bassingthwaighte says he has been waiting to enter the competition for four years, “so to finally be here and be selected as a finalist really feels like a successful end to a long journey”. His piano composition, a Latin solo prescribed by the competition organisers, is called Un Asunto Familiar con los Valdes and is based on his love for the music of the Valdes family from Cuba, particularly revered jazz pianist Chucho Valdes.
His African jazz quartet is called Song for Sam. “It was written in the famous ‘Tuku’ style of Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe and is named for his son, Sam, who was tragically killed in a car accident a short while ago,” he explains.

 


James Bassingthwaighte
Kingsley Buitendag
Keith Moss
Angie Mullins

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Second International Composition Competition

 “Gitarrentage für Kinder im Saarland
 
 There are many children who start learning  how to play the guitar, but few of them continue to practice as eagerly and enthusiastically as they do in the beginning. There are various reasons for it. Certainly one of them is lack of time to practice due to the time consuming work for school. Whatever the reasons may be, lecturers have to find a way to arouse the interest of their pupils so that the joy of making music will prevail. Here, chamber music represents an exceptional chance because it allows one to play meaningful and complete pieces in a group with only a few technical means.   With this in mind we had organized the first and second "Gitarrentage für Kinder im Saarland" 2009 and 2010. Due to the big success of the past events and the increasing demand even for participants who were beyond the age limit, we are proud to announce the "Dritte Gitarrentage für Kinder und Jugendliche im Saarland" (Third Days of the Guitar for children and teenagers), taking place from the 20th to the 23rd of April 2011.
 
In the context of this event, and on the basis of the demand for high quality compositions for guitar ensembles for children, we will host the  Second International Composition Competition “Gitarrentage für Kinder im Saarland”.
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MUSIC ICONS TO JUDGE 2010 INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING COMPETITION (ISC)


Peter Gabriel, Tom Waits, Steve Winwood, Kings of Leon, Rihanna, Ben Harper, Train, Timbaland, McCoy Tyner, Kelly Clarkson, and Many More Celebrities Team Up With High-Profile Music Industry Executives To Choose 2010 ISC Winners


July 12, 2010 - The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) has put together the most high-profile and prestigious judging panel in its nine-year history. Known for its high caliber of judges, ISC offers songwriters and artists the unprecedented opportunity to have their music heard by some of the world's most iconic and successful recording artists, as well as many major and indie record label presidents.

Now accepting entries for the 2010 competition, ISC gives away more than $150,000 in cash and prizes (shared among the 66 winners) including an overall Grand Prize consisting of $25,000 (US) cash and $20,000 in prizes.

To enter, go to http://www.songwritingcompetition.com
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Call for Scores ISCM World New Music Days, Croatia 2011

 

The next World New Music Days festival takes place in Zagreb, Croatia from 7-17 April, 2011 and the theme of the festival will be Mirabilia Memorabilia. We are looking for works by South African composers to represent South Africa at the festival. The South African jury will select up to three pieces that will be sent to the International jury of the ISCM for consideration.
 
The jury will be chaired this year by Peter Klatzow. 
 
In addition to your score, we recommend the inclusion of recordings and programme notes with your application.
 

For further information about the festival and the categories of ensemble which will be considered, please visit www.iscm.org http://www.iscm.org  and http://www.mbz.hr/eng/

 
This call is open to all composers of South African nationality and there is no charge for submission of applications. We particularly welcome submissions by composers from designated groups. If you have not sent in a score before, now is the time!

  
Please send scores and recordings to: 

Prof. Peter Klatzow
Professor of Composition
South African College of Music,
Faculty of Humanities,
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch
7700 SOUTH AFRICA 

 

Or electronically to  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  (pdf scores preferred; Finale 2005 or Sibelius scores accepted)   

Please see below for accepted categories.


Don’t delay! Deadline for applications: Tuesday 20th July 2010

 

Categories: 

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ROYAL VISITS…

 Prof Mzilikazi Khumalo, Board Member of SAMRO & Nkwenkwezi Languza, Head of Sound Preservation:, National Film, Video & Sound Archives

 

In February this year Mr. Languza paid the SAMRO Music Archive a visit, to share with Prof Khumalo a very unique recording of VUKA, VUKA, DEBORA!  This recording was made on 1 March 1947 when the British Royal Family first visited South Africa. En route to Johannesburg, the Royal Family was entertained by a choir from the University of Fort Hare, conducted by Prof. D.D. T Jabavu. The song they sang, Vuka, Vuka, Debora!  was recorded by a BBC journalist who accompanied the entourage. Former Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan, became interested in the recording and alerted the Deputy National Archivist, Ms. Mandy Gilder. Nkwenkwezi Languza and other officials of the National Film, Video and Sound Archives made enquiries to a number of South African institutions including the Willem Cullen Library and the SABC. When this drew a blank, the British Library, EMI Archives (UK) and the BBC were contacted and finally with the assistance of Dr. Janet Topp Fargion (Curator: World and Traditional Music, British Library), obtained a copy from the BBC for their collection.

Incidentally, Prof. Khumalo also sang to the royal family (as a fifteen year old youngster) in the Fred Clarke Secondary School choir in Nancefield Soweto. The school choir was asked to line up along the streets in Orlando, where the royal entourage would pass!  

Composer of Vuka, Vuka, Debora!, John Knox Bokwe, grew up near Lovedale. He is also the composer of Plea from Africa, which was written in Scotland between 1900 and 1901 while he studied towards his Presbyterian ministry. He returned to South Africa and passed away in Lovedale in 1922. These two songs both appear in the SAMRO Scores publication, South Africa Sings Volume 1, which is obtainable from the Music Archive, SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts.

Contact details: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or +27 11 712 8308

 

 

UNISA compositions by South African composers


Four South African composers were commissioned by SAMRO last year to write prescribed works for the recent "Fifth UNISA International String Competition 2010" namely, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Paul Hanmer, Péter Louis van Dijk and Matthijs van Dijk.


 
Bongani Ndodana Breen
 Peter Louis van Dijk

 
Paul Hanmer
 Matthijs van Dijk
   
   


 The Baltimore Sun (01-19-2010) wrote the following about a performance of the Ndodana-Breen work, by one of the UNISA candidates: Hans Kristian Goldstein.A cellist with a future: Hans Kristian Goldstein

Of course it's insane to predict any musician's career, but what the heck. I say that cellist Hans Kristian Goldstein, the Peabody student who won the 2009 Yale Gordon Competition at the conservatory, will make it. He seems to me to have everything it takes to develop a career -- not just the raw talent, but the keen artistic impulses.         Oh yes, the Norwegian player, barely into his 20s, also has some marketing assets, which can't be discounted in the era of the superficial -- boyishly handsome looks and a rather evocative name.               

Goldstein gave an impressive recital Sunday afternoon for the Music in the Great Hall series at Towson Unitarian; it also turned out to be a warm-up for a competition he has been accepted into in South Africa. That connection generated the sole contemporary item on the program, a brief, appealing, rhythmically propulsive romp by 35-year-old South African composer Bongani Ndona-Breen, "Jozi Dreamtime."
 

Composer Clare Loveday

 

 SAMRO composer-member, Clare Loveday, recently clinched two overseas performances for her work Duodectet I  and II. This magnificent composition for 12 Saxophones (2 soprano, 4 alto, 2 tenor, 2 baritone, 2 bass) was selected for performance at the World New Music Days in Sydney, Australia. Clare was on the NMSA jury that chose the official South African submissions, and so entered her work as an individual (non-ISCM section). Duodectet I and II will be performed on May 3 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and will be broadcast on ABC Classic FM. On May 6 a second performance of the work takes place at the Royal College of Music in London!

 

Surendran Reddy (1962-2010) by Prof Christine Lucia


 Pianist-composer Surendran Reddy died on 22 January 2010 after a long illness, in Germany. He is survived by his parents Y.G. and Leela Reddy, his brother Rajen, and daughter Leela. After the cremation ceremony in Konstanz on 3 February Surendran’s ashes will be flown back to Durban where his family are holding a private ceremony. Later this month there will be a public celebration of his life and work in Durban.
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Non-profit-making • No share capital • Limited by guarantee • Affiliated to the International Confederation of Copyright Societies (CISAC) Registration Number 1961/002506/09.

 

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