WMC presents its annual concert featuring the six exceptional young Manitoba-educated musicians who won a total of $11,500 through WMC’s scholarship program in May 2024.
Here’s our chance to hear all six in the same concert, performing the repertoire that set them apart and earned them this distinction. Be sure to read their bios and listen to their interviews below! Tickets at Scholarship Winners Concert | Wmcwpg.
WMC Scholarship $3000: Angela Suet Kee Ng is in her third year at the University of Toronto as a recipient of the Alice and Armen Matheson Entrance Scholarship, a full tuition scholarship awarded to top undergraduate applicants in piano performance. She was a Grand Prize winner in the Canadian Music Competition in 2017, and recipient of many trophies with the Winnipeg Music Festival, including the Aikins Memorial Trophy in 2021. Recognized as an emerging powerhouse, Angela was a Grand Prize winner in the Canadian Music Competition (2017), making her orchestral debut with the Orchestre de la Francophonie and the same year performed in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as part of the first prize winner ceremony for the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition. She is grateful for her teachers Ludwig Lee, Jane Petroni, David Moroz and, currently, Jamie Parker and Lydia Wong who have inspired her to reach her goals as a musician and sharing the joys of music. Here is Angela in conversation with Chris Wolf of Classic Radio 107, discussing her studies, her performance selection, and WMC's impact on her career as an emerging pianist.
WMC Scholarship $2500:
Featured in the CBS’s top 30 hot classical musicians under 30, River Sawchyn is a violinist and composer from Winnipeg, Canada. He currently attends the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. River is a passionate student of chamber music, working with members of the Cavani, Emerson and Ehnes string quartets and enjoys performing chamber music throughout the year. Also busy writing music, River is studying composition at the Townsend School of Music with Christopher Schmitz, where he records and performs original works regularly. Recent projects include his debut EP Cycles and Stars and a premiere by the MusicaNova Orchestra in Phoenix, Arizona. River enjoys his summers attending various summer institutes across North America including the Rome Chamber Music Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Orford Music Academy and Scotia Fest. An avid collaborator, River appreciates music in all forms and enjoys performing in a wide range of venues. Here is River in conversation with Chris Wolf of Classic Radio 107, talking about his path as a young musician and composer. Listen to River enthuse about the impact WMC has had on his journey.
Madeleine Gauvin Scholarship $2000:
Originally from Yellowknife, NWT, soprano Diana Rockwell has been a passionate performer since the age of 6. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the University of Manitoba, studying with Tracy Dahl. Claiming the Rose Bowl trophy with the Winnipeg Music Festival in 2024, Diana was also the First Prize winner in the 2023 CFMTA National Vocal Competition. Most recently appearing as Erste Dame with the UofM in their production of Die Zauberflöte, she has also sung the roles of Frederic from The Pirates of Penzance, La Contessa from Le nozze di Figaro (excerpts) with University of Alberta, and Phoebe Dy’Squith in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder with NUOVA Vocal Arts, and has worked with both Edmonton Opera and Manitoba Opera as a member of the chorus. Diana is a proud graduate of the BMus Vocal Performance program at the University of Alberta, where she studied with Canadian tenor John Tessier and vocal coach Shannon Hiebert. Diana zoomed with Classic 107's Chris Wolf to talk about her studies, the people who have influenced her, and her upcoming performance on December 27.
Holtby Scholarship $1500: Soprano Hannah Orr is entering her fourth year in the Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance, studying with Monica Huisman at the Desautels Faculty of Music, University of Manitoba. She recently won 1st place in the Lawrence Genser Competition there, as well as 1st place in the Zita Bernstein German Lieder Competition in January. She has sung the roles of the La Grande-Prêtresse in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Adele in Die Fledermaus in excerpts presented by the Opera Theatre Ensemble, and is currently working on the role of Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante. Hannah has won Provincial Music Festivals in Alberta and Manitoba, including the Tudor Bowl with the Wpg. Music Festival. Vocal workshops have included Opera Nuova, the University of British Columbia’s summer vocal workshop, and the University of Lethbridge’s Southern Alberta Vocal Experience. This summer she attended the 2024 Bel Canto Summer Opera School in Tuscany.
Phyllis Ilavsky Scholarship $1500:
Born in Hefei, China, Yanzhi Zhang is currently completing his Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance under the guidance of Dr. David Moroz. He has performed multiple solo recitals at the University of Manitoba throughout the course of his studies, and is a prizewinner in numerous local and provincial competitions. In 2017 and 2020, Yanzhi played the finals in the Aikins Memorial Trophy class, Winnipeg Festival’s highest multi-disciplinary award for the most outstanding diploma-level instrumentalist. In 2022, he advanced to the final round of the U of M Concerto Competition and placed in the Associated Manitoba Arts Festival Provincial Finals where he represented Winnipeg.
Berythe Birse Scholarship $1000:
Winnipeg-born Amanda Robertson is a graduate from the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba, currently completing her graduate studies at the UBC School of Music with renowned clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester. She has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, the Vancouver Island Symphony, and has attended summer institutes at the Orford Music Academy, the VSO Institute in Whistler, PRISMA, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Amanda is a recipient of the Adam N. Leckie Memorial Trophy and the Ihnatowycz Emerging Artist Scholarship at The Glenn Gould School. She is incredibly grateful for the support of the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg.
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