Feast of young talent in competition

By WILLIAM DART

History will be made this weekend when Auckland hosts the semifinals of the 2004 Young Musician of the Year Competition. It is the first time in 22 years the event has taken place outside Wellington and, when the finalists are announced at the end of Sunday night's concert, three will go on to play with the Auckland Philharmonia on March 21.

A list of the past winners is a roll call of our finest musicians - pianists such as Katherine Austin (1982) and Chenyin Li (1997), violinists Sam Konise (1990) and Natalia Lomeiko (2000), and cellists Ashley Brown (1995) and Victoria Simonsen (2002).

The eight contestants who will play in the Concert Chamber this weekend are the best of their generation and some may be familiar. In 2000, Simeon Broom won the first University Concerto Competition with the Elgar Violin Concerto, and last year Malavika Gopal did the same with Sibelius. Guitarist Owen Moriarty already has a CD to his credit.

Television producer Robert Hagen is the force behind the competition and was in Auckland during the weekend filming the Kiri Te Kanawa Gala Concert, which he describes as "the first of many arts events that Television New Zealand is talking of doing".

Hagen was one of the forces behind the much lamented Opus television programme which "always tried to put our best artists on screen and compare them with the best overseas".

For Hagen, the competition is "all about giving some national exposure to our fine young musicians and letting them have the opportunity to play with a top-flight symphony. We are looking for that spark which shows this person has the potential to succeed."

The concerts offer some enterprising repertoires, including New Zealand music. Hagen feels it is only right local composers are represented "when we are spending public money and trying to promote New Zealand talent".

His main worry is getting an audience. "I like the hall to be full to show New Zealanders are concerned about our young talent."

Hagen has no shortage of wonderful memories, from the poise of Natalia Lomeiko in 2000 to 2002's winner, Victoria Simonsen, "who was able to get this emotion coming out on the end of the television camera lens that was just amazing. Not only did she play but she performed."

Further back, 1990 provided a poignant memory. "Sam Konise was wonderful. It was in the Michael Fowler Centre and we'd got to the end of the competition.

"My vision mixer, my PA and I were all having a bet as to who would win. We all thought it would be Sam.

"One of the cameramen said, 'Well, do you want me to get this shot of Sam's mother?' Sam did win, and we got this lovely image of his mother in the balcony with a tear in her eye looking down at him.

"If it hadn't been for my proactive cameraman that wouldn't have happened."

The future is looking better for the arts on television, and so it should, Hagen feels. He believes the national broadcaster has a social responsibility to develop the culture of New Zealand in a whole range of things.

"Before TVNZ became a state-owned enterprise there was a lot of arts coverage. We had the time to tell decent stories, put our performers on the screen and make programmes that challenged the audience.

"We have not done that for years. We have taught a whole generation that what we do now is good but most of it is dross, unfortunately."

Performance

* What: Young Musician of the Year Semifinals

* Where and when: Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber, Saturday and Sunday, 8pm