OWEN DALTON WINS THIRD SA COMPOSERS’ COMPETITION

The winner of the 3^rd SA Composers’ Competition run by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra is Owen Dalton, 26, an MMus student at the University of Stellenbosch,  for his piece, Ramblings of the Mind.

The final round of the competition was held at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre on Saturday, March 15, under the direction of Jeremy Silver. 

Dalton wins a cash prize of R20 000 and the title of Composer in Residence with CPO.  Runners up are Chesney Palmer, 29 of Sandton, who won second place and R10 000 for his new work Spectrums of Hues and Obscure Shapes while third place was won by Anthonie Jansen van Rensburg of Somerset West for People, Space, Time. He was a runner up in the inaugural competition and wins R5000.  The other finalists were Caryn Jessica Pretorius, 28, of Gqeberha  (The Watcher of the South) and Hein Roelofse, 23, of Durbanville  (Sunset Hues). 

Dalton was runner up in the previous two competitions.  

He says “Winning this competition is an immense privilege, and it has provided me with an invaluable opportunity for growth as a young composer. I am incredibly grateful to Maestro Silver for his efforts digesting our scores, to the CPO for their time and tremendous playing, as well as everyone else involved in putting the competition together. I look very much forward to next year’s commission and hearing a brand-new set of South African compositions.”

The jury was unanimous in its choice, says Hofmeyr. “All the works were successfully performed with great conviction.  Owen’s piece is remarkable for its original exploration of rich timbres and gestures. It is difficult to use so many gestures and make it convincing and he succeeded. The panel all agreed on that score. “

Dalton follows in the footsteps of previous winners Conrad Asman and Lize Briel, whose commissioned work Tesselation  was performed while the judges were deliberating.   The judges were composers Pieter Bezuidenhout, Amy Crankshaw, Arthur Feder, Clare Loveday and Lise Morrison. The convenor was Antoni Schonken and the non-voting chairman was Hendryk Hofmeyr.

The competition attracted more than 20 entries from all over the country and is, says Louis Heyneman, CEO of the CPO, a sign that classical music continues to flourish across the country with a new generation of talented young composers such as  these.

 “All contestants wrote pieces of up to 15 minutes for orchestra with the use of indigenous instruments as an option. It was interesting to hear how Lise Briel continued developing last year’s piece Echoes and its use of the uhadi to include in Tesselation the use of the kiganda, a marimba-like instrument,” he says.

The concert can be viewed on the MusicScape Youtube channel here