The Elora Festival has announced the eight finalists of its TD Canada Trust festival competition.
From 47 entries, the judges have chosen Emily Belvedere (harp) from Richmond Hill, Alberta Brown (flute) from Toronto, Daniel Cabena (countertenor) from Montreal, Robyn Hang in Cho (clarinet) from Toronto, Sarah Kramer (soprano) from Guelph, Jacqueline Leung (piano) from Toronto, Kaili Maimets (flute) from Toronto, and Alaxander Seredenko (piano) from Richmond Hill.
The Elora Festival encourages young musicians on the threshold of professional careers by offering strong competition, assessment by informed judges, financial support, and the opportunity to perform at a major festival. The final round of its three-step competition will take place on July 23 at 8pm, at St. John’s Church, in Elora.
The top three finalists will receive cash prizes of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000, with the top finalist also receiving a future engagement with the Elora Festival.
Competitors must be born in, reside in, or study in Canada and be between the ages of 17 and 27.
The competition is open to musicians in: voice, piano, strings, woodwind, and brass. Application forms for the 2009 TD Canada Trust Festival competition will be available on-line in September.
In 2007, an additional prize was added to the competition. Prior to this, the finalists were chosen by the judges, but now the audience has an opportunity to be a part of the decision-making process with the Kathleen Deters Audience Favourite award.
Tickets to the final round of the competition are $15, and are available at the festival office, 33 Henderson Street, Elora, by phone, 519-846-0331, or toll-free 1-888-747-7550, or visit www.elorafestival.com.
