PHOEBE ROBERTSON WINS $7,000 NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA BURSARY COMPETITION

OTTAWA, May 27, 2015 — After adjudicating her impressive performance Monday afternoon, a jury of musicians at the National Arts Centre named Phoebe Robertson winner of the 2015 NAC Orchestra Bursary Competition.

National Capital Region music students who are studying for careers as orchestral musicians competed for prizes totaling over $19,000. Over the preceding weekend, eight finalists were selected from the 20 auditions that were heard by a jury of four NAC Orchestra musicians and three special guests.

The NAC Orchestra Bursary Competition winners are:

• 2015 NAC Orchestra Bursary ($7,000) – Phoebe Robertson, flute
• Crabtree Foundation Award ($5,000) – Laura Andrew, flute
• Friends of the NAC Orchestra Award ($3,000) – Rachel Domingue, oboe 
• The NAC Orchestra Vic Pomer Award ($2,000) – Joel Houghtby, percussion
• The Piccolo Prix ($1,000) – Josh Wynnyk, timpani
• The NAC Orchestra Special Prize for the best performance of prescribed orchestral excerpts ($1,000) – Phoebe Robertson 
• Honourable mentions ($225 each) – Allison Miller, Julien Simard, Olivier Brisson

The Bursary Committee and Jury were chaired by Roderick Bell, passionate music lover, former Canadian Ambassador to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and an active volunteer at the National Arts Centre.

ABOUT THE BURSARY AWARD

The NAC Orchestra Bursary was established in 1979 to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the founding of the National Arts Centre Orchestra and to thank the people of the National Capital Region for their support during the Orchestra’s first decade. The first competition took place in 1981.

Eligible applicants are music students aged 16 to 24 who are following a recognized course of music study in preparation for careers as professional orchestral musicians. They must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Their family or principal residence must be in the National Capital Region (NCR), or their principal residence must have been in the NCR for one year immediately prior to applying, or they must have been studying under a recognized teacher of orchestral instruments in one of the music schools of the NCR over that year.

In a new two-year format of rotation inaugurated this year, the 2015 Bursary Competition was open to students of wind, brass and percussion instruments, with students of string instruments and harp eligible beginning in 2016.

The NAC Orchestra Bursary Competition is supported by Corus Entertainment Inc., The Crabtree Foundation, the Friends of the NAC Orchestra, Cavaliere Pasqualina Pat Adamo, the NAC Foundation and individual donors to the NAC Orchestra Trust Fund.

ABOUT THE NAC ORCHESTRA’S MUSIC MENTORING

Pinchas Zukerman, the NAC Orchestra’s Music Director since 1999, pioneered distance learning from the National Arts Centre through the creation of the high-tech real-time videoconference facility named the Hexagon Studio; since 2006, teachers and students around the globe have been connected ‘electronically’ for hundreds of hours of music instruction and mentoring.

SUMMER MUSIC INSTITUTE 2015

In 1999 Maestro Zukerman inaugurated the Summer Music Institute (SMI) with a class of 10 young Canadian and international students. The SMI has since become a world-renowned magnet for the best young classical artists, providing world-class instruction over the past 15 years for over one thousand especially gifted young instrumental and vocal musicians, conductors and composers.

In June of each year, the SMI welcomes remarkable young talented musicians from around the world. The students are selected by audition to participate in this three-week intensive training program with Maestro Zukerman, Patinka Kopec of the Manhattan School of Music, and an international music faculty. Each year, NAC Orchestra Education Department staff customizes the Institute around those young artists and their competencies. Concerts and masterclasses are open to the public, allowing then the chance to observe the high-calibre, performance-based teaching that is offered by the SMI faculty.

Several of the prize winners of previous NAC Orchestra Bursary Competitions have also trained in the Summer Music Institute and performed with the Orchestra – further enriching their development as young artists.

The 2015 SMI schedule runs from June 3-27. A schedule of concerts and masterclasses is available on-line at nac-cna.ca/en/summermusicinstitute/youngartists

 

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INFORMATION

Bobbi Jaimet
Communications
NAC Orchestra
613-878-1858
bobbi.jaimet@nac-cna.ca