SIX James Morrison Academy students will be vying for scholarships when more than 5000 young musicians arrive in the city for this year’s Generations in Jazz (GIJ) festival.
The annual competition attracts some of Australia’s most outstanding young jazz musicians and has served as a launch pad for some of the country’s greatest jazz artists.
This year’s vocal scholarship will be an all-female affair with James Morrison Academy student Ella Keysell among the six female finalists, while Jackson Van Ballegoyen, Jayden Blockley, Lachlan Glover, Sam Newman and William Pethick will represent the academy among seven finalists vying for the instrumental scholarship.
GIJ chairman James Morrison said the standard of talent during the nation-wide selection process was incredibly high.
“The scholarships are one of the most vibrant and exciting aspects of GIJ and our young musicians are just getting more and more talented,” he said.
“We usually narrow it down to six instrumental finalists, but this year we have seven soloists short-listed for the prestigious James Morrison Jazz Scholarship and six incredible contenders for the GIJ Vocal Scholarship.”
The recipient of the James Morrison Jazz Scholarship will receive a $10,000 grant to assist in career development, which is sponsored by Melbourne philanthropist Andrea Evans and family in recognition of the late Ron Evans’ wish to encourage jazz talent.
The scholarship winner will also receive a day recording at the ABC Studio in Sydney donated by ABC Jazz.
The winner of the vocal scholarship will receive $5000 sponsored by The Border Watch.
Selected as an instrumental finalist for his second consecutive year, Jayden Blockley said he was humbled to be nominated among his fellow students and roommates.
“We all started at the academy last year and before that we were all taught by the same instrumental director at Carey Baptist College in Perth,” he said.
“Four of us from Perth live together in Mount Gambier during the semester.
“I am happy to be nominated again and looking forward to having my friends in the competition with me this year.”
Each scholarship finalist will appear at two public concerts during the festival with both performances evaluated as part of the adjudication process.
“This year we will open to audiences outside of the normal festival dates, with a powerful concert on May 3 in the heart of Mount Gambier at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre marking the beginning of our celebrations,” Mr Morrison said.
“This concert will form part one of the scholarship adjudication, with tickets available from the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre box office.”
A second scholarship adjudication concert will be held on May 5 at the Barn Palais from 9pm, with this year’s judging panel set to include Grammy Award-winning vocalist Patti Austin, Cologne-based trombonist, vocalist and composer Shannon Barnett and American alto saxophonist and multi-reed instrumentalist Jeff Clayton.
Both scholarship adjudication concerts will feature special appearances from a number of guest artists, as well as performances from all 13 finalists.
The scholarship winners will be announced on May 6, where they will take centre stage during the finale concert and awards ceremony from 11am.
Visit www.generationsinjazz.com.au to purchase tickets.
