Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: Cat Hope  

The AMC's represented artists Greg Schiemer, Cat Hope and Nicholas Ng are among the winners of the inaugural Space Time Concerto Competition, organised last weekend at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, University of Newcastle. With two main categories, 'Innovative' and 'Historical, the competition aimed at embracing artists from different genres, from classical instrumentalists to composers, sound and media artists. The competition was open to undergraduate, postgraduate or international students, and alumni of Australian tertiary institutions.

The $15,000 first prize in the Innovative category went Orbis Tertius (Warwick Lynch, Tim Wickham, Nicholas Ng and Kieran Smits) and their Trial of the Ignorant Truth Concerto. The winner of the historical category was Sonja Schebeck, with her performance of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 (2nd and 3rd movements). Three of the 11 finalists were awarded Vice Chancellor's Prizes: Schebeck, Sydney-based composer Greg Schiemer (for his work Transposed Dekany, 2012, featuring an iPhone gamelan), and the Melbourne-based audiovisual artist Robert Jarvis (for his Concerto for Light Sculpture).

Perth-based sound artist Cat Hope was awarded in the 'Friends of the University of Newcastle People's Choice - Networked music performance' category. Hope's Black Emperor Concerto for two pipe organs, string orchestra and laptops (2012) took advantage of the unusual opportunity, provided by the competition, to bring together a group of performers from different countries using the internet.

'This competition provided me with a fantastic opportunity to try out my music in a collaboration with five different countries over the internet, even with traditional Chinese Urhu players! This competition was a great way to recognise the diversity of music being made by university graduates from Australia. Winning the People's Choice Award was great - as an experimental artist that doesn't happen often!' Hope said.

People's Choice awards also went to Orbis Tertius (Innovative category) and pianist Liesl Scheman (Historical category).

The total prize pool of the competition was $50,000, with first prizes of $15,000 in the two main categories, and $10,000 divided among winners of the People's Choice and Vice Chancellor's Prizes. Initiated by the University of Newcastle, the competition was a collaboration with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Waikato University in New Zealand and Ars Electronica in Austria.

Further links

Cat Hope - AMC profile
Greg Schiemer - AMC profile
Nicholas Ng - AMC profile
Space Time Concerto Competition website