These string players were selected following an incredible semifinal round held on Friday, December 9, 2022 at Pollack Hall where seven semifinalists each performed a 30-minute program of music before only three were selected by a jury to continue through to the finals.
Violist Wilhelm Magner has won the Prix d’Europe 2022.
Contralto Rose Naggar-Tremblay and pianists Christopher Knopp and Felix Hong also win awards at the illustrious competition.
Congratulations to soprano Elisabeth Saint-Gelais, winner of the 2021-2022 Wirth Vocal Prize!
Congratulations to violinist Julia Mirzoev, winner of the 2021-2022 Golden Violin Award!
The award includes a $30,000 cash prize, as well as a smaller likeness of the violin in the form of a 14-karat gold lapel pin. In addition, the winner will perform in the upcoming Schulich concert season and receives 6 hours of career coaching sessions with Marie-Catherine Lapointe of Boulevart Artists’ Management in Montreal.
The Golden Violin Award was established in 2006 by businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich, a year after he donated $20 million to McGill’s Schulich School of Music. His unflagging support of our musicians has, through this award, seen nearly $400,000 given to top Schulich string players. For last year’s 15th edition, the winning prize increased from $25,000 to $30,000, and for this year’s 16th edition the Schulich Foundation has made another substantial investment in our young artists’ futures.
Anna Peletsis, a doctoral piano student of Professor Marina Mdivani, has won the McGill Concerto Competition and will perform next season with the McGIll Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatoire where she with professors Sergey Dorensky, Pavel Nersessian and Nikolai Luganski, she also won the 1st prize of the International Piano Competition "Nikolai Rubinstein" in Paris in 2004. She has participated in the “Jose Iturbi” masterclasses in Valencia, Spain and in a master class of French Music in Paris, France.
Brent Proseus, a student of Professor Richard Stoelzel, Brass Area Chair, has been named winner of the 2016 Schulich School of Music Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion competition. Brent’s first trumpet teacher was his father, Eric and he continued his studies with Gregg Good. Brent was principal trumpet in the Michigan Junior High All-State Band and he was principal trumpet in the Michigan All-state Orchestra as well as the lead trumpet in the Michigan All-State Jazz Band.
The winners of the 2015-2016 Schulich School of Music Chamber Music Competition have been announced.
Exchange visit to the Mozarteum, Saltzburg: Elizabeth Skinner, violin; Jaewon Ahn, cello; Meagan Milatz, piano
Exchange visit to a European ConNext Conservatory: Eric Abramovitz, clarinet; Roman Fraser, violin; Jeremy Ho, piano.
Bruno Roy, a second year Masters student of Ben Heppner, has placed third at the Canadian Opera Company's annual voice competition COC Centre Stage. The competition showcases the next generation of opera stars selected from nationwide auditions for the COC Ensemble Studio—Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals. The competition features the young singers vying for cash prizes ranging in value from $1,500 to $5,000.
Since graduating the Schulich School of Music in 2011, pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin has received a constant stream of accolades. Winner of the Prix d’Europe in 2011, second prize at the Montreal International Musical Competition and the third prize at the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea in 2014, Richard-Hamelin’s latest distinction comes from the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.
Chelsea Barton, a Schulich School of Music organ student of Professors Hans-Ola Ericsson and Hank Knox, placed third in the final round of the International BACH | LISZT Organ Competition, which is organized by the City and Cathedral of Erfurt in cooperation with the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. Because of the diversity and the importance of historic and modern instruments on which the competitors perform, this current competition is of world-wide importance to organists.
Organ student Chelsea Barton, a Schulich School of Music organ student of Professors Hans-Ola Ericsson and Hank Knox, will compete in the final round of the International BACH | LISZT Organ Competition, which is organized by the City and Cathedral of Erfurt in cooperation with the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. Because of the diversity and the importance of historic and modern instruments on which the competitors perform, this current competition is of world-wide importance to organists.
