Thursday, March 31, 2016

2016 SAMRO OVERSEAS SCHOLARSHIPS COMPETITION



Deadline: May 16, 2016

The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) invites applications for the 2016 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition for Instrumentalists. Musically gifted Southern Africans are encouraged to take this opportunity to compete for a scholarship to further their postgraduate studies or attend master classes overseas.

The SAMRO Foundation is an independently registered non-profit company that manages the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programmes on behalf of SAMRO, including this competition which rotates between instrumentalists, composers, keyboard players and singers.

Over the past 54 years, the SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition has produced a gallery of illustrious alumni including internationally acclaimed performers and composers such as Abel Moeng, Magda de Vries, Kesivan Naidoo, Tutu Puoane, Ben Schoeman, Kesivan Naidoo, Vuyo Sotashe and Bokani Dyer. The previous scholarships for instrumentalists (2012) were won by trumpeter Darren English (Jazz) and violinist Avigail Bushakevitz (Western Art Music).

The competition has two main awards, one for Jazz and one for Western Art Music (classical). These two awards are currently valued at R200,000 each, and there are a number of subsidiary prizes also available for exceptional candidates. The combined prizes amount to just under R600,000.

To participate in the 2016 competition, you must be a music student or professional instrumentalist (excluding keyboards), between the ages of 20 and 32 (born after May 15, 1983), and a citizen of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho or Swaziland.

To enter, aspiring candidates must download the regulations and the application form from the SAMRO Foundation website (www.samrofoundation.org.za). Applications should be emailed to anriette.chorn@samro.org.za on or before May 16, 2016.

The competition takes the format of three rounds which will culminate in a final round in the form of a public concert at the Linder Auditorium on August, 20.

(This information is published in full on the Arts & Culture Trust’s blog – see http://www.act.org.za)