Solo Music Competition 2015

How do you compare a pianist to a violinist, a singer to a saxophonist, a cellist to a flautist or clarinettist? Clearly not without a huge amount of deliberation - and a great deal of understanding about the technical aspects of a solo musical performance!

A stellar line up of twelve of the College’s best musicians dressed in their finest last night to compete for the title of this year’s Solo Music Champion. Selected through earlier audition, the finalists performed to an appreciative audience in one of four categories: Piano, Strings, Voice or Wind.

Unlike the many other musical performance opportunities during the course of the year, this event put each individual player in the spotlight under the watchful scrutiny of our three guest judges for the evening: Catherine Blomfield, who works for the Auckland Philharmonia; Old Collegian, Nelson Lam, who is an avid musical performer and composer; and Nicholas Forbes who currently teaches music at King’s College.

As the winners were announced, the judges conveyed the difficulty of their decision.  They were most complimentary about the level of technical and musical proficiency of our musicians but indicated that at competition level, it was not just about playing the piece but the total performance from the time they stepped onto the stage and the connection they made with their audience. They said there were moments of breath-taking ability and control of technique from each of the students but in this evening of exceptional talent, one performer stood out and they were universal in their decision to award saxophonist, Daniel Ng the title of Overall Solo Music Champion. For string and voice finalists, Ryan Tong and Sid Chand, this was the second year that they have won their section title. Iris Lee was a first time finalist and winner of the piano section with her exceptional performance.

This is now the ninth consecutive year that this competition has been run. Judge and Old Collegian, Nelson Lam was a finalist himself in 2009. He thoroughly enjoyed his return to College and said he felt truly humbled by the calibre of the performers. We would like to offer our sincere thanks to Nelson, Catherine and Nicholas for sharing their time and expertise to make the evening such a success.

OVERALL WINNER
Daniel Ng - Saxophone

Piano Finalists
Yu Chen Dong
William Xu
Iris Lee

Piano Winner: Iris Lee

String Finalists
Emily Young – Cello
Joshua Pan – Violin
Ryan Tong – Violin

String Winner: Ryan Tong

Voice Finalists
Lili Taylor
Aaron Leng
Sid Chand

Voice Winner: Sid Chand

Wind Finalists
Ethan Blight - Clarinet
Daniel Ng – Saxophone
Annelise Katz – Flute

Wind Winner: Daniel Ng

ADJUDICATORS:

Catherine Blomfield comes from an education background, having taught for 25 years in the Primary sector. On leaving the teaching profession she completed a Masters degree in Arts Management. Catherine is also heavily immersed in choral Music and sings soprano in various Auckland-based choirs and has coordinated both The Kids Sing and The Big Sing competitions for school choirs. At present, Catherine works for the Auckland Philharmonia where her duties include managing the annual APO Orchestral Summer School, APO Dance Project and various community events involving interaction with the orchestra.  Catherine also enjoys programming and managing APO 4 Kids and Kiwi Kapers education concerts.

Nelson Lam completed a BMus/BSc conjoint degree at the University of Auckland under the tutelage of Eve de Castro-Robinson, John Elmsly and Leonie Holmes. He has been awarded various scholarships and prizes including the Senior Scholar award for the Creative Arts and Industries faculty. Outside of the university, Nelson has received commissions to write for chamber orchestras and string ensembles and has had several of his works featured on Radio New Zealand. Aside from composing, Nelson is an avid performer. He is a flautist and a previous member of the Auckland Youth Choir. Nelson is an Old Collegian of Saint Kentigern College (2005 – 2009), and was a finalist for the inaugural Solo Music Competition in 2009.

Nicholas Forbes was originally from Christchurch where he was a chorister and organist at Christ Church Cathedral. He studied historic keyboard and choral conducting at the University of Auckland with James Tibbles and Dr. Karen Grylls. He is currently the organist and a Music teacher at King’s College, where he conducts the school’s choir All The King’s Men and Premier Concert Band. Nicholas is the Musical Director of the North Shore Chorale and Assistant Organist of St Patrick’s Cathedral, as well as a member of Voices NZ chamber choir and Age of Discovery vocal ensemble. From 2012-13 he was the assistant conductor of Musica Sacra and is a member of the Symphony Australia Conductor Development programme.

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