Music Competition - my/maSCENA

Editorial (October 2024)

By Wah Keung Chan on 10 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition

Welcome to the October 2024 national issue of La Scena Musicale, which features our annual October special on Rising Stars with profiles of 10 promising musicians (pp. 22-25), along with our annual Competition Guide (p. 18). Our French cover story is about pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, whose recent international victories in Montreal (MIMC) in May and Leeds in September make him the latest Canadian to shine in the piano world. Our English cover spotlights the Azrieli Music Prizes and its gala concert in Montreal on Oct. 28. This year’s edition focuses on choral music in works by Josef Bardanashvili, Yair Klartag,…

Pennell, bass-baritone Nicholas Murphy, soprano Chelsea Kolic, mezzo-soprano Ilanna Starr, soprano Olivia LaPointe, baritone Mikelis Rogers (All photos submitted by artists).

Seven New Opera Singers Selected as Finalists of COC’s Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition

By Newswire on 9 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Newswire, Opera

Toronto – Seven of Canada’s most talented new opera singers have been named as finalists for the Canadian Opera Company’s Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition on October 30, 2024 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The annual fundraiser and vocal competition showcases the very best in emerging opera talent, with all proceeds supporting the COC’s prestigious artistic career development program, the Ensemble Studio. “It is an immense privilege each year to hear so many emerging singers across the country and to witness their exceptional level of artistry,” says Dorian Cox, Director of the Ensemble Studio. “Centre Stage is…

Dabin Zoey Yang.

Dabin Zoey Yang (violin) – Prix d’Europe

By Kaitlyn Chan on 9 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Violin

Violinist Dabin Zoey Yang is this year’s winner of the Prix d’Europe, an annual scholarship that has bolstered many artists’ careers since its creation in 1911. Yang is currently pursuing her master’s of Musical Arts at Yale School of Music under the guidance of Prof. Augustin Hadelich. Her love of music began at a young age when she realized how she could use her own hands to make beautiful sounds. “I loved implementing my (own) musical ideas into my music,” says Yang, as she continues to work toward creating a unique sound in her playing. Yang embraces her shortcomings and…

Ryan Zhu.

Ryan Zhu (piano) – Sylva Gelber

By Kaitlyn Chan on 9 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Piano

Pianist Ryan Zhu is a lover of learning. As the recipient of the 2024 Sylva Gelber Music Foundation award and the Walter Prystawski Prize, it is impossible to deny Zhu’s skill. However, Zhu does not allow himself to plateau at his current standard of excellence. He finds inspiration and lessons in every aspect of his musical journey from the advice of his early teachers to the way nervousness can highlight “wonderful nuances” in a piece. This willingness to be open to life’s lessons has allowed Zhu to carve out his musical identity, helped by the many muses and educators surrounding…

NOVO Quartet. Photo: Maya Matsuura

NOVO Quartet (string quartet) – Geneva Competition

By Kaitlyn Chan on 9 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Strings

The NOVO Quartet made a lasting impression at the 2023 Geneva International Music Competition, earning first prize alongside four other awards. This recent achievement follows many others for the ensemble as they continue to showcase their years of dedication to music, which for each member began at ages 6 through 8. A unifying factor for the ensemble—violinists Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard and Kaya Kato Møller, violist Daniel Śledziński and cellist Signe Ebstrup Bitsch—is their belief in the connectivity of music. Some of their most satisfying experiences have been witnessing the excitement of audiences less familiar with classical music, and then meeting…

Meagan Milatz. Photo: Antoine Saito

Meagan Milatz (piano) – Prix Opus Discovery

By Kaitlyn Chan on 9 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Piano

Pianist Meagan Milatz’s ambition is undeniable as she adds the 2024 Prix Opus “Discovery of the Year” to her accomplishments. When asked about future goals, Milatz can list several as she continues to push herself to new limits at every opportunity. She says she is most excited about the concert series HausMusique @ Le 9e Grande Salle, which she and cellist Cameron Crozman launched in Montreal as Co-Artistic Directors. The next concert date is set for Nov. 5. Milatz grew up on a grain farm in southeast Saskatchewan and attributes her inspiration to pursue a career in music to Cherith…

Leland Ko. Photo: Tam Lan Truong

Leland Ko (cello) – OSM Competition

By Kaitlyn Chan on 9 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Strings

Leland Ko, winner of the 2023 OSM Competition, has a wonderful capacity for reflection. The Chinese-Canadian cellist is open to what life has to teach him, and says what he enjoys most about his art form is the listening: “When we listen to others on stage with us—to people performing as we sit in the hall, or to ourselves play—I think we have the chance to find out something about ourselves or about others.” Despite claiming not to have a particular this-is-when-I-fell-in-love-with-cello moment, Ko can still pinpoint many joyful and moving memories connected to music. One of his favourite experiences…

Justin Saulnier. Photo: Anastasia Krachkovskaya

Justin Saulnier (violin) – Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition

By Kaitlyn Chan on 9 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Violin

Violinist Justin Saulnier started learning to play his instrument when he was 4 years old. Despite his many years of dedication to the art form, however, Saulnier admits the thought of pursuing a career in music did not really come into play until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Then, he started to use his free time to improve his knowledge and skills, and his teacher at the time, Donnie Deacon, guided him toward university auditions. Saulnier now studies at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music under the tutelage of Andrew Wan. Saulnier is the winner of the 2024 Eckhardt-Gramatté National…

Jingjing Xu. Photo: Tam Lan Truong

Jingjing Xu (mezzo-soprano) – Mirjam Helin Competition

By Kaitlyn Chan on 8 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Opera

McGill graduate Jingjing Xu is the 2024 winner of the prestigious Mirjam Helin Competition held in Helsinki, Finland. The Montreal-based, Chinese mezzo-soprano says that competition selections such as Saariaho’s “Attente” and Ravel’s “Le paon” maximized her opportunity to demonstrate different styles and vocal colours. The first song “contains long notes that must be performed straight-tone and with long crescendi or decrescendi, (in order to) depict stillness and loneliness,” she notes. In a completely different vein, the Ravel required her to narrate the courtship of a peacock! Xu approaches singing from an imaginative standpoint, celebrating how “it creates a spiritual world…

Henry From.

Henry From (piano) – Shean Competition

By Kaitlyn Chan on 8 October 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Piano

Winner of the 2024 Shean Piano Competition, Henry From is a budding pianist and composer with a passion for music’s power to move, whether that be emotionally or intellectually. “I love music’s ability to convey emotions and feelings that are hard to put into words,” he says, “and I love the way it gives us a portal into past periods and the extremely complex minds of great geniuses of the past.” From also says that he hopes to “help bring works outside the standard repertoire canon” into the spotlight, allowing listeners to access composers whose works have hitherto been neglected.…

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