Five young musicians from the National CapitalRegion took home awards in the 2017 National Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary Competition.
The students aged 16-24 competed on May 14 for the prizes totalling more than $20,000.
This year’s winners are:
• 2017 NAC Orchestra Bursary ($7,000): Nicolas Richard, bassoon
• Crabtree Foundation Award ($5,000): Heather Jonasson, flute
• Friends of the NAC Orchestra Award ($3,000): Emilia Segura, clarinet
• The NAC Orchestra Vic Pomer Award ($2,000): Rachel Domingue, oboe
• The Sturdevant Orchestral Excerpts Prize ($1,500): Rachel Domingue, oboe
• The Piccolo Prix ($1,000) – Alec Joly Pavelich, percussion
• Honourable mentions ($250 each): Peter Perez, clarinet; Renz Eulrich Adame, oboe; Eric Prodger, bass trombone.
The competition has existed for more than three decades and is a central part of the centre’s music education program.
The students played short orchestral excerpts and movements from a concerto or sonata for their instrument. The competition was open to students of winds, brass and percussion instruments, and on alternating years strings and harp.
A jury selected the finalists who performed on May 14. The jury included competition chairman Roderick Bell (non-voting), five NAC Orchestra musicians, Ross Francis of the Friends of the NAC Orchestra (non-voting) and two special guest jurors André Massicotte, former Radio-Canada producer and Andrew Tunis, head of the piano program at the University of Ottawa.
The Bursary was created in 1979 by members of NACO in appreciation of the support of the community during the orchestra’s first decade.
