Sirius Chau flute won the 68th ROSL Annual Music Competition Wind, Brass & Percussion Section Prize on Tuesday 11 February and was awarded £5,000 and a sought-after place at the Gold Medal Final on 1 June 2020. In a line up of exceptional competition, Sirius wowed the audience and judging panel alike.
Five section finalists were chosen from 40 hopefuls during two rounds of preliminary auditions. 2020 was the year of the flutes, with so many excellent players applying to the competition. In the end, not one but three flautists; Emma Halnan, Mark Taylor and Sirius Chau battled it out alongside saxophonist Rob Burton and oboist Katherine Jones for the prize, which made for a very exciting evening of musicmaking. The adjudicators Joy Farrall, Gavin Henderson CBE, Ursula Leveaux and Geoff Parkin had the difficult decision of choosing the section winner and performer who will go onto the Gold Medal Final to compete for the first prize of £15,000.
Hong Kong flautist Sirius Chau was recently named the Musicus Society’s Young Artist in Hong Kong, Tillett Trust’s Young Artist and Manchester Mid-day Concerts Series’ Artist in the UK. Recent highlights have included collaborating with David Chan, the concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan; touring with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Andrew Davies; working with the English National Opera Orchestra and City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; solo debuts at the Wigmore Hall, and Bridgewater Hall; and an invitation to compete in the Carl Nielsen International Competition in Denmark.
Such was the exceptional talent on display, that two additional prizes of £1,000 were awarded to saxophonist Rob Burton who was awarded the Sussex Prize for a Woodwind Player of Promise, while the Elias Fawcett Award for an Outstanding Woodwind Player was awarded to flautist Mark Taylor.
ROSL Annual Music Competition Section Finals take place each Tuesday 7-9pm at Over-Seas House, Park Place, St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1LR:
- 11 February: Wind and Percussion – winner Sirius Chau flute
- 18 February: Singers
- 25 February: Strings
- 3 March: Keyboard
- 10 March: Ensemble A (Strings)
- 17 March: Ensemble B (Mixed)
- 19 March: Overseas Award
- 1 June: Gold Medal Final which will be held at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.
Tickets: £16. To book tickets, visit www.rosl.org.uk/events, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 020 7408 0214 ext 219
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CONTACT AND IMAGES
For more information or press images contact Mark Brierley, Head of Communications on T:020 7016 6905 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. visit www.rosl.org.uk
NOTES FOR THE EDITOR
Founded in 1910, the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) is a non-profit private members' club dedicated to championing international friendship and understanding. ROSL helps artists and musicians across the Commonwealth connect, collaborate and create. Our humanitarian work benefits communities and changes lives.
ROSL supports talented young artists and musicians from the UK and Commonwealth, providing performance and exhibition opportunities which bring their work to the attention of the professional arts community, media and general public.
ROSL ANNUAL MUSIC COMPETITION
The ROSL Annual Music Competition grew out of a series of concerts inaugurated at Over-Seas House in 1947 under the banner ‘Festival of Commonwealth Youth’. The Festival became competitive in 1952, with a first prize of £10. Over the past 68 years the competition has grown in scope and prestige and now awards in excess of £80,000 for solo performers, accompanists and chamber ensembles. Past ROSL prizewinners makes for an impressive alumnus of musicians of the highest calibre who have established prominent careers in the music profession. Find a list of past winners here: https://www.rosl.org.uk/music/music-alumni . To mark ROSL’s centenary in 2010 an appeal was launched to secure the future endowment of the ROSL Annual Music Competition Awards and Commonwealth Music Scholarships, currently worth £125,000 per annum. The funds are held in the ROSL Trust (registered charity 306095). To make a donation contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.