Four Christchurch ensembles dominate the line-up of finalists for the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest National Final in August.

Four Christchurch ensembles dominate the line-up of finalists for the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest National Final in August.

The eight finalist groups have been selected following three weeks of regional contests in 15 cities with more than 2000 students involved, and hail from three cities– four groups from Christchurch, two from Auckland and two from Hamilton. The National Final takes place at Christchurch Town Hall, on Saturday 1 August at 7pm.

Finalists for the 2009 contest are, from Christchurch From Belljung (two percussion and two piano), Waldchen Trio (flute, harp and viola), saxophone quartet The Knight Quartet and last year’s national contest winner string quartet The Bedrich Quartet; from Auckland, piano trio Apasionados and piano trio Leidenschaft; and two piano trios from Hamilton, Psyrtos and CHALYK. The Knight Quartet, Apasionados and Psyrtos were the winners of their respective district contests.

The winner of the composition section is Dunedin student Corwin Newall with his piece 57 Octaves Below.

“This piece is youthful, lively and creative and, at the same time, sophisticated and mature in its technique,” says composition adjudicator Anthony Ritchie. “It demonstrates a very good understanding of chamber music, with all three parts having meaningful and interesting roles to play.”

57 Octaves Below will be performed at the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest Final and Corwin will receive the SOUNZ prize of $500.

The New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest, run by Chamber Music New Zealand, is now in its 44th year, and is the only nationwide chamber music competition for young musicians and composers.

Chamber Music New Zealand chief executive Euan Murdoch says he is delighted at the increase in numbers in this year’s contest. “Chamber music is very much alive and well in New Zealand.”

He adds that this year’s National Final will be particularly exciting. “Christchurch has been very dominant in this competition and this year’s Christchurch district final was very tough to judge. We’re expecting a very high standard at the National Final.”

The contest is well-known for nurturing young musicians who go on to successful musical careers – iconic New Zealand pianist Michael Houstoun competed in the event when he was a school student, and more recently, acclaimed pianist John Chen was a past winner and went on to win the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition and the 2003 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition.

Each of the eight finalist groups will perform at the National Final in August and compete for the James Wallace Arts Trust prize of $1000 as well as the Arthur Hilton Memorial prize of a relevant musical text.

The National Final of the New Zealand Chamber Music Contest on Saturday 1 August at 7pm at the James Hay Theatre, Christchurch is open to the public and tickets are available from Ticketek.

In presenting the 2009 New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest, Chamber Music New Zealand acknowledges major funding from the New Zealand Community Trust and Creative New Zealand, and support from the James Wallace Arts Trust and SOUNZ (centre for New Zealand Music).

Finalists in the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest 2009

 Apasionados (Auckland)

Stella Kim (Violin); Sally Kim (Cello); Sara Jung (Piano)

All Westlake Girls High School

 The Bedrich Quartet (Christchurch):

Emma Yoon (Violin) Burnside High School; Salina Fisher (Violin) Burnside High School; Bryony Gibson-Cornish (Viola) Rangi Ruru Girls’ School; Jay Lee (Cello) Burnside High School

CHALYK (Hamilton)

Helen Yang (Violin) Hillcrest High School, Charlotte Ketel (Cello) Tauranga Girls College; Andrew Leathwick (Piano) Hillcrest High School

From Belljung(Christchurch)

Briana Walley (Percussion); Andrew Bell (Percussion); Bina Jung (Piano); I Chen Sun (Piano)

All Burnside High School

The Knight Quartet (Christchurch)

Gemma Knight (Soprano Saxophone); Nicky Soonthornyanakij (Alto Saxophone); Sam Jones; (Baritone Saxophone); Bryn Roberts (Tenor Saxophone)

All Burnside High School

Liedenschaft (Auckland)

Esther Kim (Violin) St Cuthbert’s College; Minji Kang (Cello) Westlake Girls High School; Tina Kim (Piano) Epsom Girls Grammar School

Psyrtos (Hamilton)

Hilary Hayes (Violin); Yotam Levy (Cello); Cherry Ngan (Piano)

All Hillcrest High School

Waldchen Trio (Christchurch)

Anita Huang (Harp); William Frost (Flute); Kate Oswin (Viola)

All Burnside High School