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International Student in NZ Chosen for Prestigious Music Competition
Monday, 20 September 2010
Two Waikato University cellists, including an international student from Colombia, have been selected for a major international music competition in Beijing.
(via University of Waikato) Twenty-year-old Edward King and 15-year-old Santiago Canon-Valencia are the only two from southern hemisphere music schools to be selected among the 44 cellists competing at the Beijing International Music Competition in October.
Both the students are Sir Edmund Hillary Scholars and part of Waikato University’s soloists’ programme where, to be eligible, students must have won or gained a placing in a major New Zealand or international competition and need to have played a concerto with a professional orchestra.
Santiago Canon-Valencia from Colombia has performed extensively since he was 12, and Aucklander Edward King won first prize at the New Zealand National Concerto Competition in Christchurch earlier this year. He has recently returned from touring the UK as part of the Leonari Trio after winning the Pettman/Royal Overseas Chamber Music Competition.
To be selected for Beijing they each had to submit a 20 minute unedited recording of their playing. Once at the competition they will have to play a range of works as they compete to make it through the early rounds. The University, with assistance from the Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship programme for high achievers, is providing financial support for the trip.
Canon-Valencia, who is in the first year of a Bachelor of Music, says he likes competitions. “Yes they are stressful, but they are also fun. You want to do your best to succeed so you push yourself to the limit. The work you have to do before it isn’t always fun, but it’s all worth it.”
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