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Irish Heritage Confirms Two Music Bursaries for 2019/20
Bursaries for Performance and Composition to be Awarded Again
Irish Heritage, confirmed on 21st June that it will award two music bursaries, one for Performance, the other for Composition, during its 2019/20 season.
The Music Bursary for Performance was first awarded in 2015 and already has a distinguished list of recipients. The bursary, worth £5,000, is awarded to an Irish student (first or second generation) continuing her or his music education in Britain. Students are nominated by this country’s leading music conservatoires to attend auditions held in the Wigmore Hall in London.
The 2019 auditions will take place on Thursday 7th November before a panel of adjudicators chaired by John Gilhooly OBE, Director of the Wigmore Hall.
The performance bursary also includes valuable performance opportunities among them one with Irish Heritage in London and the other at the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival in Lismore in Ireland.
The Music Bursary for Composition was introduced last year and was warmly welcomed by young composers and tutors. The Bursary is open to young Irish (first and second generation) composers studying at recognised music conservatoires and other colleges in Ireland and Britain. The recipient of the successful composition will receive an award of £3,000 to be used in furthering their artistic and professional development.
The panel of adjudicators, will again consist of leading, current professional performers and academics drawn from Ireland and Britain. The winning composition will be premiered at an Irish Heritage event in London during the season.
The continuation of this bursary has been made possible through the generous support of the Ireland Fund of Great Britain.
Confirming that the two bursaries will be presented, Audrey McKenna, Irish Heritage’s Artistic Adviser - Ireland said, “The need to encourage and support young Irish performers and composers is as great as ever. The growing interest in our bursaries provides ample evidence of the demand from students for financial support and performance opportunities. Happily, thanks to the success of our fund-raising efforts and the support of the Ireland Funds, we are able to confirm that our bursaries will be awarded again this coming season.”
Full details about both bursaries will be available during the summer.
Young Performers Required for New Outreach Programme
Irish Heritage would like to hear from performers, especially young, Irish music students studying at the London conservatoires, interested in taking part in a new outreach programme being undertaken during the autumn in collaboration with the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith.
The initial programme will consist of a series of three, one hour long afternoon recitals to be delivered in the Centre’s auditorium.
The recitals are aimed at people, especially the elderly, who enjoy music but are unable to attend evening performances.
Performers will be paid a fee. All proceeds from the series will be donated to the ICC’s piano fund.
Anyone interested should contact Irish Heritage at contact@irishheritage.co.uk in the first instance, ideally before 31st July.
Kevin Jansson awarded the 2019 RDS Music Bursary
Amy Gillen receives the RDS Jago Award
Kevin Jansson is the recipient of the 2019 RDS Music Bursary. Valued at €15,000, the RDS Music Bursary is the single largest annual classical music award in Ireland and one of the largest in Europe.
The RDS Jago Award of €5,000, the second of the RDS Music Bursary prizes, was awarded to flautist Amy Gillen.
Eighteen-year-old Kevin is currently studying piano in CIT Cork School of Music with Mary Beattie. He will use the prize money to help fund his studies at the prestigious Juilliard Conservatoire in New York where he has been accepted with a scholarship to study piano with Dr Veda Kaplinsky.
Kevin was the winner of three prizes in the 2019 Feis Ceoil, including the Morris Grant Bursary which is one of the qualifying competitions for the RDS Music Bursary.
He made his London debut in April performing in Irish Heritage’s “Showcase Ireland” concert in the Princess Alexandra Hall in the West End. He receives another London performance opportunity with Irish Heritage as part of his RDS prize.
“We are delighted to award Kevin Jansson this year’s Bursary, he really impressed the judges and undoubtedly is a performer with a very exciting career ahead of him” said RDS Chief Executive Michael Duffy. “Classical music has a strong tradition within the RDS. By backing talents such as Kevin and Amy we are supporting classical music performance in Ireland and encouraging others to reach their musical potential.”
Winner of the 2019 RDS Jago Award of €5,000 is flautist Amy Gillen, who is a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and is currently studying for a master’s in music performance in Flute at the Royal College of Music in London. She has won numerous awards including in 2018 Irish Heritage Music Bursary for Performance.
In the 2019 Feis Ceoil she won the McCullough Cup and the RTÉ Lyric FM bursary of €1,500. Amy plans to use the prize money from the RDS Jago Award, which also comes with a performance opportunity with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, towards the purchase of a new professional quality instrument.
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