The Coast Recital Society has awarded a series of scholarships to young music students.
Thirteen awards totalling $2,950 were made through the Society's own competition, based on auditions held March 12 and 13, and an additional four awards of $200 each were decided by adjudicators at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts in May.
Awards from the Society's auditions were presented to: Nadia Behji (piano); Maya Broeke (violin); Esmé McLaughlin-Brooks (violin); James Flemming (violin); Brison Geue (piano); Simon Gidora (voice); Olivia Kingsbury (piano); Axel Loitz (guitar); Erin Macdonald (viola); Breanna Picard (flute); Stephanie Schweighardt (piano); Julie Shibasaka (piano); and Anthony Wilmer (guitar). Festival winners were Oliver Gidora (strings); Oliver Gidora (voice); Robin Maser Housden (percussion/woodwind/brass); and Stephanie Schweighardt (piano).
Erin Macdonald was also recognized as the Allan Crane Award winner, a special award for a student who has demonstrated outstanding musical merit and achievement; and Maya won the annual Ross Brougham Award as the applicant who received the highest marks from the scholarship adjudicators. These awards are named for Crane, the founder of the CRS, and for Brougham, long-time chair of the scholarship committee and former treasurer of the Society.
CRS scholarships are open to Sunshine Coast music students 25 years of age and younger, and the competition is held each March. In 2011 the Society changed its format to live auditions, and a record 29 applications were received. Adjudicators were impressed by the talent and dedication of all the applicants. Applications for the next competition will be welcomed in January and February, 2012.
- Submitted
