Cape Town - Three young musicians triumphed in the 2021 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) held recently at a gala concert in the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre in Parow.
Six finalists competed against each other with the accompaniment of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Brandon Phillips.
Gerhard Joubert 19, a pianist and second-year music student at UCT, walked away with the R30 000 first prize and the gold medal.
He also bagged the first prize of the piano category, plus two additional prizes, as well as R5 000 for the best performance of a concerto in the final round.
The silver medal and R12 500 prize went to the 19-year-old viola player, Eike Coetzee, a matriculant at the Musikgymnasium Schloss Belvedere in Weimar, Germany.
Coetzee was the strings category winner and also won R5 000, together with Gerhard Joubert, for the best performance of a concerto in the final round.
Coetzee also received the Polina Burdukova prize of R5 000 for the best performance by a string instrumentalist of a work by a Russian composer.
Flautist Daniël Spies, 15, from Roodepoort took the bronze medal and R8 000 prize money. He also won the woodwind category, palming in a silver medal and R5 000.
Kyrah Adams, 15, a Paarl Gymnasium pupil, was the winner of the other orchestral instruments category, playing the xylophone/marimba.
The NYMC this year celebrated 37 years of music excellence. A record total of 26 contestants competed from December 6 to 11 over four rounds.
Each had to perform a vast repertoire of works from different style periods, adjudicated by eight esteemed music experts.
“Despite the ominous cloud of the global Covid-19 pandemic, these rising stars have raised the bar for the competition. Every participant – all 26 – excelled in their own right,” said Michael Maas, founder of the competition and National Youth Music Foundation chairperson.