ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Concerto Finals This Week

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31596, 6 February 1968, Page 9

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Concerto Finals This Week

A week of orchestral music-making In Christchurch will end with .the finals of the Christchurch

Civic Music Council’s concerto competition on Friday and Saturday evenings. The six finalists, who will perform with the Christchurch Civic Orchestra conducted by Dobbs Franks, are: David Bloom (flute), Christine Cuming (piano), Pauline Drain (clarinet), Martin Lamb (piano), Suzanne Purnell (piano), and Joan Wallace (cello). Three concertos will be played each evening. The judges will be Arthur Fiedler, Dobbs Franks, and Wilfred Simenauer. The finalists were chosen from the 35 contestants in the preliminary stages bf the competition in December.

David Bloom was born in Chicago in 1944. He began his flute studies there, and played with the Chicago Civic Orchestra before his university studies. During this time he studied with Walfrid Kujala, a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. After completion of high school, he attended Indiana University, the Juillard School of Music (New York), and the Mannes College of Music (New York). His teachers in this period included Julius Baker, first flute of

the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Samuel Baron, flautist with the Bach Aria Group. He also studied conducting with Jorge Mester and Cart Bemberger. Since 1966, Bloom has been sub-principal flautist in the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in a studio recording as a soloist with the orchestra. He will play Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 on Friday.

Christine Cuming was a pupil of Sister Mary Enda at St Mary’s Convent in Hamilton until 1964, when she began study with Janetta McStay at Auckland University on a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council bursary. In 1965 she completed her B.E. degree. While a pupil of Sister Mary Enda she passed her L.T.C.L. examination, and last year passed her L.R.S.M. She was a soloist with the Auckland Junior Symphony Orchestra, in 1966, and last year with the Symphonia of Auckland and the Hamilton String Players.

She is a member of the Grafton Trio which won the New Zealand Chamber Music Federation’s competition at the end of the year, and will go with this group to the Easter Festival of Chamber Music at Mittagong, N.S.W., this year. In 1967, she was awarded a

Queen Elizabeth H Arts Council scholarship to enable her to study overseas later Ahls year. She will play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 on Saturday.

Pauline Drain was a foundation member of the Christchurch Civic Orchestra, and played with the Christchurch Ybuth Orchestra for eight years, before joining the National Youth Orchestra in 1960..

She has been a member of the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra since July, 1966. Her teachers have been Mr Utheridge of Christchurch and Frank Gurr of the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra. Miss Drain intends to leave for London next July to study the clarinet at the Royal College of Music. She will play Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1 on Saturday.

Martin Lamb is the youngest of the six finalists, by five years, being still a pupil at Christ’s College. He started learning the piano at the age of six from Miss T. M. Lewin. He then studied under Ernest Empson, and when passing grade 8 with distinction, was awarded the Violet Ward Prize. As well as gaining first places and cups in the Christchurch Competitions, he was awarded the Christchurch Civic Music Council’s scholarship and the George Russell memorial scholarship for the most promising boy under 18. Martin also plays the violin in the Christ’s College Orchestra and took part in the 1967 schools chamber music contest.

He is a member of the Christchurch School of Instrumental Music, playing in its Symphony Orchestra. He will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto K 466 on Saturday.

Suzanne Purnell began her piano studies at the age of five and has studied under Miss Ella Thomson, Ernest Empson and Maurice Till. She has passed the L.T.Q.L. and L.R.S.M. examinations. In 1965 she gained second place in the “Auckland Star” Concerto Competition, and in 1966 gained first place, playing in the finals with the Symphonia of Auckland. In 1966 she was in one of the four groups in the finals of the national chamber music competition, and in 1967 was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant to continue her studies at the University of Canterbury in 1968, when she hopes to complete her B.A. degree and diploma of music in piano performance.

Later, she intends to study overseas, either at Indiana University or in Vienna, with a view to a musical career including both concert performances and academic teaching. She will play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on Friday.

Joan Wallace has been taught by Dorothy Wallace and William Clarke of Dunedin, William Pleeth of London, and Wilfred Simenaur, the co-principal cellist of the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra. She has passed grades 2, 4,6, and 8, Trinity College and Royal Schools of Music, and A.G.S.M., London.

She studied with a Queen Elizabeth II Art Council bursary from 1962 to 1968, and gained the Guildhall School of Music Cello Prize (Toussant Award) in 1965. Miss Wallace was a member of the National Youth Orchestra for three years before going overseas, and was a member of the British Students’ Orchestra touring Europe in 1965.

She has been a member of the N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra since 1966. She will play Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in B flat on Friday.