Fifteen young musicians have accepted the invitation to compete in the First Unisa Southern African Wind Instrument Competition, scheduled for 27 June to 06 July 2013 at Unisa main campus in Pretoria.
This national event continues a proud tradition of prestigious music competitions and coincides with the university celebrating 140 years of shaping students’ futures.
The contestants include Liam Burden (saxophone, Cape Town), Justin Carter (clarinet, Cape Town), Cobus du Toit (flute, Pretoria), Renée Hartzenberg (flute, Centurion), Lerienne Joubert (flute, Cape Town), Marli Labuschagne (flute, Johannesburg), Visser Liebenberg (clarinet, Trichardt ), Matthew Lombard (saxophone, Pretoria), Abraham Mennen (saxophone, Pretoria), Luke Newby (clarinet, Johannesburg), André Oosthuizen (flute, Potchefstroom), Myles Roberts (flute, Cape Town), Louisa Theart (flute, Cape Town) Jaco van Staden (French horn, Pretoria) and Braam van Tonder (trumpet, Pretoria).
A panel of experienced adjudicators has been invited by Karendra Devroop, the new Artistic Director of the Unisa National and International Music Competitions. They are Shannon Armer (French horn), Mike Blake (trumpet), Maria du Toit (clarinet), Malané Hofmeyr-Burger (flute), Andrew Moroosi (oboe), and Bridget Rennie-Salonen (flute). Arisa Voges, Director of the Directorate Music at Unisa, will act as non-voting chairperson.
The competition has a total prize money of more than R200 000 that is sponsored by Unisa.
The wind players have passed the qualifying round (DVD only) and will all play the first two rounds of the live event in June 2013. After the second round, 8 semi-finalists will be selected and thereafter 4 finalists.
For more information please call the Unisa Music Foundation at 012 429 3311 or visit the website: www.unisa.ac.za/musicfoundation.