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Tribune News Network
Doha
The inaugural edition of the Qatar National Music Competition's (QNMC) concert and prize-giving ceremony was an overwhelming showcase of Qatar's spectacular musical prowess at the expansive venue of Katara Drama Theatre recently.
Attended by ambassadors of 16 countries and more than 500 participants from 38 countries, the event saw the handing over of 70 awards.
QNMC was organised by Moving Young Artists (MYA), a Qatar-based non-profit foundation that has been nurturing and inspiring young local talent for more than three years.
The musical spectacle unified the country's young rising stars in view of its objective of"inspiring a deep love and knowledge of music in the Qatari community".
Chiefly sponsored by Vodafone Qatar and in collaboration with Katara and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO), the QNMC, under the patronage of Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, strives to create a competitive platform that encourages the best in music creativity and performance in Qatar.
The memorable evening opened with the rendition of Qatar's national anthem by Evan Pyne and proceeded to offer a combination of a sparkling array of applause-filled performances on various instruments and an exciting prize distribution ceremony featuring 28 different categories which made way for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to the winners of the '11 and under', '14 and under', and '18 and under' categories.
In all, there were 84 prize winners. The biggest award of the lot was the Vodafone Grand Prize, which was designed for the most outstanding performance in the entire competition and was awarded to Tricia Ng for her mastery in violin.
An eclectic celebration of music, culture, education, and unity, the competition was sub-divided according to the participants' age and instrument of choice ” solo piano, solo winds, solo strings, solo vocal, percussion/harp/guitar, and composition. A ton of special prizes were in the offing; such as the one in conjunction with the British Embassy that chose William McChesney and Hala al Emadi to perform at the upcoming British Festival.
Apart from the grand scale of the event, what also set it apart was the keen involvement of several embassies who had devised their unique special prizes. The diplomatic missions that supported the QNMC were the embassies of South Korea, Belgium, Sweden, the UK, Austria, India, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Hungary, France, Russia, Singapore, and initiatives such as the Spanish Business Council, Hungary's V4 Connects, and Institut Francais Qatar.
A total of 18 special awards were presented by the ambassadors of the various embassies; there were also 10 special jury awards to boot.
Sonja Park, co-founder, MYA, said,"We are greatly overwhelmed by the success of this event. This is the very first time that such an event was held in Qatar; an entire week where children from around the globe, including young Qataris, gathered under one roof to make music, focus earnestly, play all kinds of instruments, and learn to be a team player whilst playing in ensembles. This gala concert spelt the end of months of hard work and a week full of exciting performances. However, we do hope this is not an end but just the beginning; the start of a legacy called the QNMC."
Joris Laenen, co-founder, MYA, said:"We, at MYA, believe that music participation is an integral element in the fabric of an enduring society. With the QNMC, we are creating a competitive platform to encourage the finest in music creativity and performance, which runs parallel with Qatar's sport, art, design, architecture, and other goals," Laenen said, adding that the idea was also to get both Western and Arabic music on equal footing and on the same platform by extending to students studying Arabic instrumental and vocal music.
Standing ovations were in no short supply throughout the concert. Among the many highlights of the event were the performances by Qatari countertenor Khalifa al Sada who belted out an impressive Lascia ch'io Pianga by Handel that left the audience stunned, the Doha Youth Choir's soulful performance of Der Br'e4utigam (which means The Bridegroom) by Johannes Brahms, and Jasmine Mercier and her accompanist Patrick Flaneghan performing the Canadian folk song 'This Land is Your Land' to introduce variety into the show.
In his speech, Ian Gray, CEO of Vodafone Qatar, thanked Park and Laenen for putting together the event and expressed his pleasure at the outcome and his excitement to see what positive impact the QNMC will bring about in the future.
