Top English prizes to N.Z. musicians

Press, 22 July 1976, Page 7

Top English prizes to N.Z. musicians

Two young New Zealanders captured much of the limelight at the annual prize-giving of the Royal College of Music in London last week.

They were Julie Taylor, aged 23, of Petone, Wellington, who won a total of eight prizes for both violin and piano, and Gregory Rogers, aged 20, of Mangere, Auckland, who won top prize in the college for violin. Both received glowing praise from the director of studies (Mr G. Matthews), who said they had done “extremely well” and had very bright futures as musicians.

Gregory is the younger son of Mr and Mrs H. S. Rogers. A former pupil of St Peter’s College, Epsom, he has just completed his fourth and final year at the London College, where he has been studying the violin under Carl Pini. He came to London at the age of 16, after being awarded a scholarship by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In Auckland he studied violin under Heather Smith, and piano under Donald Bowick.

On Thursday Gregory was presented with the Stoutzker prize for violin, which is the leading violin prize in the top grade at the college. Assisted by a grant from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, he will spend next year on further studies in London, tutored by Jaroslav Vanecek.

During his summer holidays, which began this week, Gregory will, among other things bebusking with a fellow student in Canterbury, England — a surprisingly lucrative method of fundraising for musicians in Britain.

A quiet, friendly boy who is popular with his fellow students, he takes an active interest in chaplaincy work at the college, and has recently taken to cycling as one way of beating London’s traffic. Julie, whose parents, Mr and Mrs H. Taylor, live in Korokoro, is a former pupil of Heretaunga College. For four years she was a trainee, and then a violinist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Tn 1974 she was

awarded a scholarship by the Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music, which enabled her to attend the Royal College of Music.

Her achievements in this, her second year at the coliege, were described by a spokesman as “quite remarkable.” She has gained entry to the top grade in both violin and piano, and at Thursday’s prize-giving, she received eight prizes — four for violin, and four for piano. She has been studying under Sylvia Rosenberg (violin) and Angus Morrison (piano) and has led the college’s second chamber orchestra during the year. Next year, with the help of an Arts Council grant, she will continue violin and piano tuition at the college. Julie finds that maintaining a competitive standard in both instruments keeps her busy, but her popularity with the students can be gauged by the fact that she is a member of the Student’s Council. She is also, when she finds the time to get away from music, an enthusiastic amateur photographer. The New Zealand voungsters said recently that one of the problems during the college examinations this year had been caused by the very high temperatures. They said that the examinations were held during the hottest week of the year, and, apart from the “sweat pouring down their faces, they had to keep retuning their violins, because the heat stretched the strings.

Both said they missed New Zealand, and hoped to return when their studies were complete.