World Music ConcertAs part of a first year Music in World Cultures unit in semester one, students performed music for Balinese gamelan, Zimbabwean marimba and Brazilian samba, as well as British Folk and Latin American music to a large audience of friends and family.

2010 PerformancesRequiemIn April the School of Music symphony orchestra and chorale performed in an Artistry concert entitled ‘Requiem’ in Winthrop Hall. The program comprised works by Stravinksy and Brahms, along with motets and partsongs. The performance took place in honour of Anzac Day and the conviction that the human spirit survives mortality.

OperaIn May our vocal studies students performed semi-staged opera scenes from Handel’s Semele and Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Postgraduate student Sharon Chung was the accompanist and repetiteur.

Russian IconsOur wonderful string orchestra performed at the Octagon Theatre in May playing an ambitious program of music by Shostakovich, Tchaikovksy and Arvo Pärt.

Winthrop Singers on TourThe Winthrop Singers have been invited to perform at the World Conference of the International Society for Music Education in Beijing, China, 1–7 August, 2010. Their application was selected from strong international competition, and they are delighted that their first overseas venture is to such a prestigious event. Apart from performing two concerts at the conference, the ensemble has also been awarded a fringe concert in the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Tiananmen Square. They will be collaborating with School of Music postgraduate student Sophie Smith who is currently working in Beijing.

Piano Student RecitalIn May, School of Music piano students participated in a recital concert held in the Callaway Music Auditorium. This event provided students with the opportunity to practice and hone their performance skills under concert conditions. Students’ family and friends attended the concert which received warm praise for both performance and professionalism.

Fireworks for BrassIn the newly completed St Mary’s Cathedral, the UWA School of Music brass ensemble – along with WAAPA students, principal brass players of the WASO and UWA/WAAPA staff – presented a dynamic performance of brass masterpieces. The evening was an uplifting and exciting celebration held in the splendour of the newly restored Cathedral.

Requiem

School of MusicARTS, HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Issue 3, August 2010

www.music.uwa.edu.au

As part of the Winter Arts Festival in July, students performed in the following events:

Percussion Power: Power PerformancesOur excellent UWA percussionist performers, Kaylie Melville and Joel Bass, performed pieces from around the world at two lunchtime concerts. The concerts were followed by short “drumming circles” led by Kaylie and Joel with audience participation.

A Night of Persian MagicVahideh Eisai, a postgraduate student at the School of Music gave a recital on the Persian quanun. This was a rare opportunity to hear the lyrical and haunting melodies of the beautiful quanun (a zither-like instrument) accompanied by the percussion instruments tonbak and daf.

German Baroque Chamber MusicThis baroque concert was directed by German baroque specialist, Jordi Corall, an academic tutor and postgraduate student at the School of Music. The musicians played a program of music by Bach, Telemann and Handel on period instruments.

Auditions for 2011Auditions for 2011 entry into the School of Music will be held from Monday 11 October to Sunday 31 October 2010.

Please visit: www.music.uwa.edu.au/courses/applyingfor information in relation to preparing for the audition and to download an application form. Completed forms should be returned, with the administration fee, to the School of Music by Monday 27 September.

ScholarshipsUWA Music graduate Andrew Cichy has won one of the most prestigious scholarships offered by Oxford University: a Clarendon Scholarship, awarded for three years of doctoral study. Open to international graduate students in all subject areas, these scholarships are highly competitive with a success rate of less than 10%. Andrew will begin his DPhil in the new (northern) academic year. His proposed topic is: “English Catholic Liturgical Music after the Reformation: Behind Locked Doors or on Distant Shores. A study of Repertoire, Style and Musical Practices”. We wish him well in the next exciting phase of his study.

Lorenzo Di Paolo was the successful recipient of the 2009 Friends of Music Travelling Scholarship. The funds will assist Lorenzo as he continues his studies at the Freiburg Musikhochschule in Germany, completing a Master in Performance under Harpsichord Professor Robert Hill and Basso Continuo teacher Michael Behringer. Lorenzo will be returning to Perth at the end of 2011 when he will share his experiences with staff and students at the School of Music.

In August, postgraduate students at the School of Music presented papers for their studies at a Postgraduate Study Day. Topics included:

• John Blacking and his study of the Venda in South Africa. Vahideh Eisaei, MA candidate.

• American Musical Theatre. Brian Dawson, PhD candidate.

• The effects of hand and mute on the French Horn. Natalie Dell, PhD candidate.

• Women as concertmasters and conductors Sarah Wells, MA candidate.

• Britten’s opera “Gloriana”. Jane Peacock, MMus candidate.

• Performance practices in the Twentieth Century Early Music Movement. Eva-Marie Middleton, PhD Candidate.

• The roles of composer and conductor. Daniel Masmanian, DMA Candidate.

Finally, Francis Greep, postgraduate student and Head of Music at West Australian Opera presented his DMA lecture-recital “Vocal Coaching Demystified”. Francis is soon to take up a new and extraordinarily prestigious position at Houston Opera – one of the world’s leading opera houses. The School of Music is very proud of the association that has been developed with WA Opera over the past few years through Francis – notably his musical direction and coaching of last year’s student performance of Offenbach’s Orfeo. We wish him well and offer him our heartfelt congratulations on his new appointment.

UndergraduateRecent School of Music students were awarded no less than 11 out of the 55 full scholarship places for 2010 at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne, Australia’s premier institution for training young classical musicians. All candidates undertake a thorough, rigorous and highly competitive national audition process for these scholarships and the School of Music is extremely proud to recognise the following students’ achievements:

Violinists Benjamin Caddy and Alexandra Isted, cellist Anna Pokorny and clarinetist Liam Kinson joined violinists Christina Katsimbardis, Anna O’Hagan, Susannah Williams, Kathryn McKay, cellist Jarrad Mathie, flautist Taryn Richards and Academy Fellow and clarinetist Ashley William Smith all of whom have taken up places at the Australian National Academy.

First-year cellist Jeremy Huynh was selected to perform in a public masterclass on 28 April given by international cello soloist, Jian Wang and sponsored by WASO. Jeremy performed a movement of the Prokofiev Cello Sonata with accompanist Martina Liegat-Wilson.

In March/April 2010 the University Dramatic Society presented the musical The Devil Downtown. Ashlee Clapp, a fourth year composition student at The School of Music, co-conceived the play with writer David Meyer. Ashlee was also the Musical Director, writing the original musical score, as well as conducting and directing. The Devil Downtown played eight sold out performances at the Dolphin Theatre, UWA. One impressed concertgoer used adjectives such as “amazing, brilliant and wonderful” to describe Ashlee’s music.

Congratulations to Siang Ching Ngu (piano), Ellaine Cheong (violin) and Osborn Fong (cello) for winning first prize, against a tough field in the Fremantle Eisteddfod, with their performance of a movement from the Arensky Piano Trio.

School of Music pianists Siang Ching Ngu and Sharon Chung won 1st and 2nd place respectively in the special 10th Anniversary WA Pianists’ Competition held on 3 and 4 July. Being an

Student Achievementsanniversary event, the competition for the generous prize money was fierce and both pianists received high praise from the adjudicators.

A work by Mark Holdsworth, a third year composition major at the School of Music, has been selected for the Australian String Quartet’s National Composer’s Forum in Adelaide. He is one of only six student composers selected nationwide. Next month, Mark will fly to Adelaide where his string quartet, “Frida Kahlo Portraits”, will be performed.

In news from London, UK, undergraduate students Kiran Phatak and Jessica Armstrong, and postgraduate student Catherine Betts, performed at the prestigious BBC Proms on 30 July at The Royal Albert Hall. Under the direction of world famous conductor Sir Mark Elder, and as part of the Australian Youth Orchestra, these students performed works by Shostakovich, Mahler and Brett Dean.

PostgraduateSophie Smith, an Honours student, is currently studying in China under a Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Undergraduate Award. Sophie, a student in Music and Asian Studies, received the award from former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. She will take classes in anthropology and sociology at Beijing University and will study Chinese music at the Beijing Conservatorium.

Doctor of Musical Arts student Daniel Masmanian´s orchestral work “Scurrilous Words” has been selected for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s Composer’s School in September. Daniel is one of five composers selected nationwide.

Congratulations to clarinetist Ashley William Smith for winning the ‘Other Instruments Final’ at the recent 2010 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards. Ashley, who trained with Allan Meyer (Principal Clarinet with WASO), graduated from the School of Music in 2008 with 1st class Honours before going on to study at the Australian National Academy of Music. For his winning performance Ashley played the Clarinet Concerto by Ross Edwards. Ashley has also recently won a highly prestigious scholarship to Yale University, USA, where he will continue his studies.

School of MusicThe University of Western Australia M413, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009Tel: +61 8 6488 2051Fax: +61 8 6488 1076Email: music@uwa.edu.auWeb: www.music.uwa.edu.au

Editors - This newsletter was edited by Assistant Professors Robert Faulkner and Jonathan McIntosh. Compiled by Danielle Loiseau.

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Clockwise from left: Kiran Phatak, Sharon Chung and Osborn Fong