Category: Music Competition

Browsing: Music Competition

Isidore String Quartet, 2022 BISQC

By Bill Rankin on 2 October 2022 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Music Competition

The Isidore, none of whose members is older than 23, has only been together since 2021 before winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) on Sept. 4. The Juilliard students did play together a little in 2019, before the pandemic, but violist Devin Moore said at first there was little chemistry. The musicians were still focused on their individual career directions. String quartets were not yet a priority. “We were the right people at the wrong time,” said Moore. “But when we decided to try it again, everything sort of clicked.” In the summer of 2021, the four players…

Rose Naggar-Tremblay, Contralto, 2021 OSM Competition, Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques

By Eva Stone-Barney on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Vocal

Although she is still but poised on the precipice of a career full of promise, contralto Rose Naggar-Tremblay has been charming audiences for many years. The Montreal native began her musical studies at 12 years old, and went on to receive a degree in vocal performance from McGill before joining the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal in 2017, where she sang the role of Zora in their 2018 Opus Prize-winning production of Ana Sokolovic’s Svadba, as well as Getrude Stein in Twenty-Seven, and Gabrielle in the première of La nuit est ma femme. More recently, her work as an…

Matthew Cairns, Tenor, 2022 Met Opera Auditions

By Gianmarco Segato on 2 October 2022 Art Song, Classical Music, Music Competition, Opera, Vocal

Tenor Matthew Cairns’s star has been rising for a few years now, but his promise was given the ultimate seal of approval when he became one of the winners of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition this past spring. When asked to share the secret of his success, Cairns said: “I think you need to sing what you feel most comfortable singing, and what is also a popular piece. The audience loves an aria that is full of emotion and drama. Ultimately you need to show the audience who you are, and the right aria will do…

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Violin, Opus Discovery Prize

By Marie-Claire Fafard-Blais on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Strings, Violin

In the three years since graduating from McGill, Marie Nadeau-Tremblay is well on her way to success, as shown by a pair of distinctions she netted recently: first Radio-Canada’s revelations prize in 2021 and now the Opus Discovery prize. Add to these a number of prizes and bursaries previously received, and it all points to one fact: she is off to an impressive start. Music has been in her blood from the day she picked up a violin at age 4. But now she dedicates herself solely to its baroque counterpart, a switch she made upon discovering the instrument after…

Simone McIntosh, Mezzo-Soprano, 2022 CMIM Aria Division

By Eva Stone-Barney on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Vocal

Canadian mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh has no shortage of impressive accolades under her belt already. The Vancouver native is a graduate of both UBC and the Schulich School of Music, where she was awarded the prestigious Wirth Vocal Prize. She recalls the moment following her Wirth Prize and COC victories, saying: “I sat down and said, I can do this.” And she certainly could! McIntosh went on to participate in both the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio program, as well as the San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowship program. This year, McIntosh will relocate to Zurich, where she will be a member…

Meredith Wohlgemuth, Soprano, 2022 CMIM Art Song Division

By Adrian Rodriguez on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Vocal

La Scena discovered American soprano Meredith Wohlgemuth’s crystalline soprano and soaring high notes when our panel prepared our predictions for the CMIM 2022 (see the April/May 2022 issue). We predicted that she would win first prize in the Art Song division. Fast-forward to June 2022, when Wohlgemuth was clearly the jury’s unanimous choice for First Prize in the Art Song Division as well as the Joseph Rouleau Career Development Grant ($50,000), Normand Beauchamp Winner’s Tour Grant ($15,000) and the French Mélodie Art Song Award with her duo partner, Jinhee Park who took home the $5,000 John Newmark Prize for Best…

Yunchan Lim, Piano, 2022 Cliburn Piano Competition

By Paul E. Robinson on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Piano

This past June in Fort Worth, Tex., 18-year-old Yunchan Lim became the youngest person to ever win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. His performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 during the final round was remarkable by any standard and convinced the members of the jury that he deserved the highest award. But it is likely that he had already separated himself from the other contestants with stunning performances of Liszt’s monumental Transcendental Études and Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2. Yunchan Lim was born in Siheung, South Korea, and began piano lessons at the age of 7.…

Robert Conquer, Trombone, 2022 Michael Measures

By Zenith Wolfe on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Winds

In 2022, young trombonist Robert Conquer has an outstanding accomplishment to show for his decades of musical training: the Michael Measures First Prize, available annually to one exceptional musician enrolled in the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) summer training program. Though he has only been part of the NYO for four years, it has quickly become one of the most influential parts of his musical career. “The NYO Canada program is, hands down, one of—if not the—best orchestral training (opportunities) one can receive in Canada,” he said. “It’s been a musically transformative experience every time I’ve participated in it.” The key…

Wilhelm Magner, Viola, 2022 Prix d’Europe

By Robert Rowat on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Strings

For the first time in its 111-year existence, the Prix d’Europe was awarded to a violist in 2022. “This was quite an accomplishment for me,” said Wilhelm Magner, whose prize comes with $50,000. “It would not have been possible without the support of my teacher at McGill, André Roy, during the past three years.” Magner is heading to Yale University this fall, to begin his master’s in Ettore Causa’s viola studio. Like many violists, Magner began playing violin. “As a child, I first wanted to play the flute, but after watching Fiddler on the Roof, I decided I had to play…

Vivian Kukiel, Violin, 2022 Canadian Music Competition’s Stepping Stone

By Robert Rowat on 2 October 2022 Classical Music, Music Competition, Strings, Violin

Toronto’s Vivian Kukiel first appeared on our radar in 2018 when she won the Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition in Budapest, Hungary. Her comet re-entered our skies in June when she won the Canadian Music Competition’s Stepping Stone final—“one of the most exciting but also nerve-racking experiences of my musical journey so far,” she said. “When (executive and artistic director) Marc David announced that I had won the whole competition, I was so overjoyed I think I went into a state of shock.” One month earlier, Kukiel and the other three members of the Holt Quartet recorded Johannes Brahms’s Piano Quartet…