SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition 2019 to conclude this Saturday

Jazz singers Daniëlla Hart and Keorapetse Kolwane and western art vocalists Thembinkosi Magagula and Palesa Malieloa will compete for cash prizes that will go towards their music studies abroad. The winners in the Jazz and Western Art categories will take home R200 000 ($13 000) each.

The four made Saturday's final after going through the semi-finals at the same venue on 15 August.

The three-legged competition is held annually and rotates between singers, composers, instrumentalists and keyboard players. The winning vocaliats in 2015 were Levy Sekgapane and Zoë Modiga.

Johannesburg-born Hart is a Tshwane University of Technology graduate with a BTech degree in jazz and popular music. She is also a composer and music teacher. Her accomplishments include receiving second place in the jazz category at the 2017 Unisa National Voice Competition.

Kolwane is a songwriter, composer and bandleader and has performed at several festivals including the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Red Bull Music Festival and the Oslo Jazz Festival in Norway.

Western Art finalist Magagula, an applied vocal studies masters student, is known for her powerful portrayals of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. She recently performed with Sinfonia Rotterdam.

Her rival, Malieloa, hails from Kroonstad in the Free State province. Malieloa holds a bachelor of arts degree in music and society from the North West University School of Music and Conservatory. Her accolades include first prize in the 2016 ATKV-Muziqanto singing competition. She is currently focusing on her master of performance studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in Germany under Prof Josef Protschka.

The winner in each category will take home R200 000 ($13 000). The recipient of the Prince Bulo Composer’s Award will also be announced at the event. Previous SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition winner Prince Bulo has pledged to donate R10 000 from his SAMRO royalties to the SAMRO Foundation income every four years.

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