08.10.2014  In what can be described as Night of the Pianists, pianists ruled the roost at the final round of the 2014 SAMRO Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition for fledgling instrumentalists in Cape Town on Friday 3 October.

However, it was 13 year old cellist Alexander Whitehead from Johannesburg who walked away with Gold.

From the initial 65 competitors in the first two rounds and 25 in the third, the eight finalists were Beate Boshoff (13, from Betlehem);  Iman Bulbulia (12, Johannesburg); Jacqueline Choi (12, Durbanville); Leo Gevisser (11, Newlands, Cape Town);  Leo Huan (11, Pretoria);  Ah-Young Moon (11, Stellenbosch);  Louis Nel (13, Pretoria); and Alexander Whitehead (13, Dunkeld). 

Apart from Whitehead on cello, all the finalists were pianists.  Choi, Moon and Whitehead also reached the final last year.

Eventually the gold medal and the substantial Johanna van der Spuy Prize went to Alexander Whitehead, a student of Takao Mizushima who teaches Alexander from Australia via skype.

Two students of Mario Nell, the pianists Iman Bulbulia from Johannesburg and Ah-Young Moon from Stellenbosch, claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Category prizes went to Ah-Young Moon (Piano), Alexander Whitehead (Strings) and Kyra Burnett from Birdhaven, Johannesburg (Woodwinds). 

The individual winners in the category for development groups were Busisiwe Mashita from Soshanguwe (Strings) and Roshnay Britz from Kalksteenfontein (Woodwinds).

Best performance prizes were presented to Alexander Whitehead (Baroque 1st round), Leo Huan from Pretoria (Classical 2nd round) and Jacqueline Choi from Durbanville (Romantic 3rd round).

The best performance prizes for South African compositions went to Leo Gevisser from Newlands, Cape Town for “Moments of Night” by P Klatzow ; Louis Nel from Pretoria for “Jazz Impromptu 1” by A Johnson and Alexander Whitehead for “Scherso” by A Stephenson.

Violinist Juliette Roux from Rondebosch won the prize for the most promising candidate (ten and younger). The most promising candidate from the development projects was considered to be Roshnay Britz from the most successful development project Kalksteenfontein, Cape Town.

Two special prizes in honour of the late Leon Hartshorne, were presented, one to Beate Boshoff as the highest scoring student of a national SASMT member, and the other to her teacher, Jenny Reed.

UNISA prizes were awarded to the winners of the various categories.

The national competition for fledgling instrumentalists was introduced in 1989 by the Tygerberg branch of the SA Society of Music Teachers (SASMT) and Sanlam as sponsor. The SAMRO Foundation came on board four years ago.

The participants had been selected after auditions in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Durban and Cape Town. They competed over two rounds before being narrowed down to 25 semi-finalists for the third round on Thursday and eight finalists for the gala concert on Friday night. 

Full particulars about competition at:
http://www.samrohubertvanderspuy.wordpress.com

Photo: Iman Bulbulia, Alexander Whitehead, Ah-Young Moon.
Photographer: Suzette Vorster van Acker