Winners of SAMRO's scholarships competition announced

In the Western Art Music section, top honours were contested between Bushakevitz, who recently graduated from New York's Juilliard School of Music, and cellist Jacques-Pierre Malan, a University of Pretoria graduate who has also studied at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in the USA.

In the Jazz/Popular Music category, it was two trumpeters from the University of Cape Town who made it through to the finals - Mandla Mlangeni and English. Both trumpeters, accompanied by the jazz trio of Melvin Peters (piano), Shaun Johannes (bass) and Kesivan Naidoo (drums), had to play a new, specially commissioned composition by Concord Nkabinde called Waltz the Talk.

Individual interpretation

Accompanied by Elna van der Merwe on piano, Malan and Bushakevitz were both required to perform a new work commissioned by the SAMRO Foundation, Péter Louis van Dijk's Breakpoint.
The performances by all four finalists set the venue alight, as each brought his or her own individual interpretation and flair to the prescribed works and the compositions of their own choosing.

"As South Africa continues to bask in the glow of Olympic glory, we can be equally proud of these dazzling young cultural ambassadors who have shown a similar dedication, determination and tenacity in their pursuit of excellence," said André le Roux, executive general manager of the SAMRO Foundation.

The winners of the two R170 000 scholarships will now be able to further their music studies at an accredited international tertiary institution or to attend master classes under the tutelage of world-renowned musicians.

Prizes for runners-up

The runners-up each receive R40 000. Malan was also presented with the SAMRO/Eve Gettleson String Study Award, valued at R75 000. Bushakevitz received an additional R5 000 for the best performance of a prescribed work in the Western Art Music section, while Dylan Tabisher, a marimba player who was a semi-finalist in the competition, received the R5 000 SAMRO/Bonhams instrumental music study award and the R10 000 merit award.

In the Jazz/Popular Music category, English's performance of the prescribed work was judged the best, netting him a further R5 000. Two semi-finalists in the category also walked away with honours - flautist Monique van Willingh received the SAMRO/Bonhams award of R5 000, while Benjamin Jephta won both the SAMRO/De Waal Award of R6 500 and the R10 000 merit award.