Wednesday, August 1, 2012

June Emerson Wind Music 2012 Launchpad Prize


We are absolutely thrilled and extremely proud to announce the winners of the 2012 June Emerson Wind Music Launchpad Prize. They are:

Royal Northern College of Music
Lekker Quintet
The Lekker Quintet is an exciting wind ensemble, formed in Manchester in 2011.  Formerly studying at the University of Manchester, all players have studied at the Royal Northern College of Music.

The Quintet tour the UK performing a varied repertoire at a variety of venues; including the Bridgewater Hall, St. Martins-in-the-Field and the Carol Nash Recital Room.  Musical education is close to the group's ethos and they enjoy giving educational recitals and workshops.

The ensemble have participated in the North West New Music Festival (2011), the Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Festival (2012) and the Per Nørgărd and Hans Abrahamsen festival (2012).  This coming October the quintet have been asked to perform as part of the Malcolm Arnold Music Festival in the Midlands.  The Quintet are regularly coached by Matthew Hunt, Malinda Maxwell, John Miller and Tim Reynish.

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Anime Duo

The Animé flute and guitar duo formed in 2010 while studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. It was here that they established their shared passion for ensemble performance, finding a particular enthusiasm for the music of the 20th and 21st Centuries. The duo aim to bring the music for this unique combination of instruments to a wider audience in an engaging and approachable style.  

Animé were accepted onto the Live Music Now scheme in April 2012, a charity which aims to organise concerts for those who may have limited access to live music. They went on to be selected by the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for the June Emerson Launchpad Prize  The duo have also performed in a number of recitals around Wales and the rest of the UK, including a performance at the Arcomis International Flute Festival held at the Wales Millennium Centre.

Royal College of Music
Echo Trio


The Echo Trio, formed in 2011 at the Royal College of Music (RCM), is an exciting combination of saxophone (Amy Green), violin (Radu Ropotan) and piano (Alexandra Zlatior).

They participated in the Chamber Music and Woodwind Ensemble competitions at the RCM in 2012, winning the June Emerson Launchpad Prize.

Based in London, they have performed in the concert series at St Mary Abbots Church, High Street Kensington, and in St John’s Church, Notting Hill, in conjunction with the Music Chamber series. This engaging trio enjoy working together and performing a diverse range of music.

About the Launchpad prize
The Launchpad Prize was an idea that began as a desire to help young musicians in some significant way. With our limited financial resources it was difficult to come up with something that would make enough of a difference to make it worthwhile. The idea of sponsoring a prize at one of the UK music colleges was something we just couldn’t afford, and we also felt that we’d like to be able to offer something to more than just one college and be a little more ‘hands on’. We eventually decided that we would assist one young (predominantly) final year wind ensemble from each of the major UK music colleges to launch themselves onto the professional circuit.

The Launchpad Prize consists of practical help including: a substantial JEWM music voucher; dedicated space on the JEWM website; publicity at any time through our online media channels (JEWM blog, Twitter, Facebook etc); editorial coverage wherever possible; unlimited free advertising flyers in JEWM music orders in order to publicise themselves; exclusive access to the JEWM shop with use of all music and facilities; complimentary copies of any existing and future Emerson Edition titles which fit their instrumental line-up; anything else we can think of.

We’d like to wish the 2011 winners all the very best for a successful future. Please support them by going to hear their performances - they’re all incredibly talented ensembles and you won’t be disappointed! They are: Les Trois Canards, Vesuvio Wind Quintet, Kudo Saxophone Quartet, Hafren Quintet, HMS Quintet and Bells Up!

UPDATE
Follow the link to see two more Launchpad Prize winners for 2012.

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