Last-minute rehearsals

Press, 18 February 1978, Page 4

Last-minute rehearsals

The three finalists in the national concerto competition last evening had final rehearsals with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

For the first time since the national concerto competition began 11 years ago, all three finalists are girls. The three are Alison Catanach, aged 16, of Christchurch, Rachel Skinner, aged 18, formerly of Christchurch but now living in Melbourne, and Wilma Smith, aged 21, of Auckland.

The final will be held in the Town Hall this evening, and it will be judged by Mr Keith Field, a member of the music faculty of the Victoria College of Arts, Melbourne. Alison Catanach, a student at Burnside High School, be-

gan her musical training in 1969 at the Christchurch School of Instrumental Music where she learnt the piano. She studied the recorder for a year with Rolf Just before beginning her studies on the flute with him six years ago. Rachel Skinner began learning the flute with the Instrumental School of Music in Invercargill. When her family moved to Christchurch in 1974, she studied with Tony Ferner and then with Rolf Just. She has played in Christchurch orchestras as well as the National Youth Ochestra. In 1975, Rachel was offered a place in the Victoria College of the Arts by the dean of the faculty of music, John Hopkins, and she has just completed the

second year of a three-year course. Wilma Smith studied for two years at the University of Auckland Conservatorium of Music. She later moved to Wellington to study the violin with Peter Schaffer, and at present plays in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

The concerto competition, which carries a first prize of $BOO, a second prize of $4OO, and a third prize of $2OO, caters in alternate years for pianists and players of nonkeyboard instruments. It has become the most important of its kind in the country, generating considerable public interest. It is expected that the Town Hall auditorium will be packed for the final this evening.