James Hargest trio win chamber music contest

A group of James Hargest College pupils is tuning up to compete in the annual New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest after winning the Invercargill competition.

The Invercargill District Contest of the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest was held on Thursday, with trio Retrograde from James Hargest College taking out the top spot.

Retrograde’s members Rebekah Elder, William Swan, and Michael Zhang pleased the judge with their rendition of Sonate en trio Op.11 by Maurice Emmanuel, and will move on to the regional finals of the contest to be held in Christchurch.

This year the Invercargill contest attracted 12 ensembles involving 49 musicians from Southland including two ensembles from Gore and two from Winton.

The Invercargill competition is one of 15 district contests being held nationwide to select the top 12 ensembles to compete in the national finals in Wellington in August.

Throughout New Zealand, 476 ensembles of between three and eight musicians, involving nearly 1800 students, will compete for spots in the national finals.

Chamber Music New Zealand chief executive Peter Walls said he was delighted with entry numbers for the 2015 contest and the numbers showed there was still strong interest and support for chamber music in schools.

The New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest is the longest-running youth music competition in New Zealand and is the only nationwide chamber music competition for young musicians and composers.

This year, Chamber Music New Zealand has introduced a regional finals round to the contest.

The top 12 ensembles from each of the three regions – North, Central and South – will compete again on June 20 and 21 in Auck- land, Napier and Christchurch and the top 12 ensembles from the regional finals will then compete in the national finals in August in Wellington.

Each member of the winning group at the national final receives the James Wallace Arts Trust Prize of $1000.