GROUP

Equal First Prize:

The Revellers Enter by Matilda Pamment / TRIJOK ENSEMBLE

From Czech Republic

A word from the Trijok Ensemble:

Trijok Ensemble is new project of experienced musicians, the first rehearsal was in January 2023, until now we played three concerts, more scheduled for 2024. We’d like to explore possibilities of combining two recorder players with the top jazz drummer / percussionist who is open to many different styles as well. Our programme combines early and contemporary music, the only useful original composition that we found for our lineup was The Revellers Enter... by Matilda Pamment. We are enjoying basic 7/8 meter and rhytmical changes, which enables to work with dynamics and expressivity.

As Kamil never sticks to written part, he goes much beyond the score –  every performance is different and exciting, both recorder players interpret the written text almost without changes. When I‘ve heard about the Virtual competition we already played he piece twice in public, so it was good reason to shoot the video :-).

The recording was very interesting for us – the sound engineer works differently then we know from classical music recording sessions, several microphones, mixing, finding right colours and proportions in postproduction, we are very happy with the sound! But almost no edits – as we have no time and money for complicated video editing.  

If you like, listen and look at our small Youtube playlist or follow our Facebook @trijokensemble  

We’d like to encourage composers to write some challenging pieces directly for us – so if anybody has some ideas, please, let us know.

Equal First Prize

Journeying by Diana Blom / Uccellini Recorder Ensemble

From Canberra, Australia

"We really enjoyed putting together our video submission - in particular the opportunity we created to workshop our chosen piece with Australian composer (Diana Blom).

Not to say though that the recording itself wasn't an interesting challenge.  We were on a tightrope of combining together six players across four parts for a 7 minute piece - with minimal mistakes, and before our room booking ran out!  After Take #5, Kelli-Ann suggested one more take, just for fun, since we already had one reasonable recording 'in the bag'.  We ended up submitting our Take #6 which we were so pleased with!

To other ensembles - do consider submitting an entry in the Orpheus competitions.  It provides a great focus for a group, as well as being a lot of fun.

And our thanks go to Orpheus Music for continuing to create these wonderful opportunities."

Third Prize

Rainforest Waltzes by Lance Eccles / The Brisbane Recorder Ensemble

From Brisbane, Australia

Solo

First Prize

Asiadeh by Racheal Cogan / Teresa Deskur

From New York, USA

I really enjoyed the process of learning and recording "Asiadeh" by Rachael Cogan for this competition. This was my first experience playing an Orpheus Music publication, and I loved getting to delve into a style of music that was new for me!

The set of pieces in this short suite include several different dances. The piece that I recorded is a kursilama, a Turkish dance traditionally set in 9/8. I practiced this piece by playing along to recordings of kursilama drum patterns, and the rhythms are so incredibly cool and interesting!

As a teacher, I always encourage my students to step out of their comfort zones and try something new, so I greatly appreciated this chance to do that myself. Congratulations to everyone who participated!

Second Prize

Franklin River by Malcolm Tattersall / Benji Kentwell

From Melbourne, Australia

Third Prize

Snave's Violetta Tango, by Winsome Evans / Clara Kennedy

From New Zealand

The musical instruction for Snave's Violetta Tango simply said 'Passionately (drawing her last breath)'. When playing this piece, I like to imagine a dramatic solo dance. On the last high note, she sinks to the ground having spent the last of her final, graceful breath.