Jane
Nhamo: Finalist in the Berlin International Masterclass
and Competition, July 2001
Email from Stuttgart from Jane Nhamo, Zimbabwean Violinist studying with Radu Bozgan
JANE NHAMO IS A FINALIST IN INTERNATIONAL
COMPETITION
She writes:
"Okay, the competition is called the Berlin International Masterclass
and Competition. The lecturers are Vivien Hoffmann and Jennifer
Huntley. The jury consists of prominent people on the music scene
in Germany, I don't have any names yet, though. It will be taking
place in the Freizeitforum Marzahn in Berlin. For the first round,
applicants had to send in a video recording of 2 works of different
styles. There are 4 age groups, from 9 - 21 The prizes include money,
medals and Italian Master Violins which are provided to the winners
for an unlimited time period by the Maggini Foudation in Switzerland.
Vivien Hoffman plays a violin from this foundation. The activities begin
on the 22nd (masterclasses) with the final concerts being held on
Sat 28th.
{Good luck Jane, we're all waiting to hear how you do in the finals..!
}
Jane was awarded 2nd place in this competition and is now preparing for a concert in Berlin .
JANE NHAMO (in Stuttgart)
writes...
{This is an 'excerpt' from an Email from Jane Nhamo, who AEL readers will
know has been studying with Violin Maestro Radu Bozgan in Stuttgart for the
last 2 years. As a Zimbabwean aspiring international musician in Europe,
just read this to see what she is up against...! :}
"Hi there
Just a little note to fill you in on what's going on. Last Wednesday I had
my first of four auditions. This was at the Leopold Mozart Konservatorium
in Augsburg (about 40kms from Munich). Well, I got there and to my absolute
shock and horror there were only Asians auditioning. "Great stuff!"
I
thought. Well, Asians in the music world are like Asians in sports like
table tennis and stuff.....unbeatable. I (stupidly) listened to some of
them auditioning from outside the hall, and was even more discouraged. I
was to play in the afternoon in the second session. Well, as the morning
went on some Russians and eastern Europeans came along. "Go home, you're
wasting your time and precious DM here." I was psychologically in
the lowest of lows. I mean, music is a god for these people. They ALWAYS
practise, they're so stressed, a lot of them are on drugs, they smoke like
chimneys and there's also a lot of sick stuff going on behind the scenes
like doing favours for professors etc. So I kind of thought that maybe it's
just not the thing for me anyway.
Well, the audition itself was such a traumatic experience. First, the
accompanist started the Mozart sooo fast I was just in shock. You're
supposed to stick to your own speed and the accompanist goes with you, but
it's just all so stressful, especially if you're like me and you don't take
your own accompanist with you, so it just has to gel from the first moment,
and you've only got 10-15 mins to make a good impression. So. Mozart I was
stressed as hell. Sheiße, that's supposed to be my best. Then Bruch.
I
suppose it was my own fault for never having played it with piano
accompaniment before. I've played the accompaniment myself so I know what
it's like, and I've practised with orchestra on a CD, but it's not the same.
Second disaster of the day....then my study (Rode number 7) By then I was
so mad and upset, I was just waiting for them to chuck me out. They asked
me a few questions about the teaching I did at PE last year, but I didn't
think they were really interesteddd. Usually they just ask you a couple of
questions to see how your German is.
Well, after that I was soooooo furious. "You're defnitely not through
to round 2 at the end of the afternoon,"I thought, "especially not
with all
those Borises and Vladimirs and Hung Wa Kangs around" Like I said, I
was
fuming! I was cursing myself, cursing the stupid music world, cursing all
those robots who just practise and practise. I stormed out of the
conservatory and went into the first café I saw and ordered a double
sambuca. I mean, I was convinced I wouldn't have to play later anyway.
After that I had a sandwich and went for a walk. Augsburg is actually
really pretty. I went back to wait for the 2nd round list to go on the
blackboard. Eventually at about 1530 it was up. I went and looked and I
could not believe it. My name was there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yes!!!!!!!!!!!
I KICKED BUTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So then I had half an hour to frantically practise piano. That one was
fine and so now I'm through to the last round on the 22nd June (theory and
aural)
Oh boy, I was convinced I wouldn't get that far so I actually stopped
practising piano about 5 days before my audition and stopped learning theory
about 3 weeks ago. So now I'm frantically learning all my harmony and
stuff, esp when I'm on the train from Ditzingen to Stuttgart. I've also got
to revise all the german terminology and stuff. I mean, round one (violin)
is the hardest and it would be a pity to get thrown out just because I can't
write a good cadence or do dictation or whatever.
So now I'm all encouraged again, which is nice for a change, especially
after my disastrous audition in Stuttgart last year. I'm especially pleased
because this year I joined a rowing club in Stuttgart and .........
.....Well, I'll be busy playing and auditioning 'till the end of July,
then I'll be in Zim for about 4 weeks in August."
Jane Nhamo