Yamaha Education News

Yamaha UK announces strings winner for Ireland's 2010 YMFE scholarships

Pictured here: Sarah Joyce, final year student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, winner of the Republic of Ireland's 2010 Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe scholarship (strings)

The annual Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe (YMFE) scholarship in the Irish Republic was won this year by cellist, Sarah Joyce, a final-year student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin. She is awarded a prize equivalent to £2,000 (sterling) to help her complete her studies and take her first steps in her professional career.

The judges for this year's event were Elizabeth Csibi, head of strings at the RIAM, and Adrian Petcu, professor of strings at the Cork Institute of Technology's Cork School of Music (CSM). The four highly talented finalists, Sarah Joyce (cello, RIAM), Hugh Murray (violin, CSM), Denice Doyle (violin, RIAM) and David Kenny (viola, CSM), were made very welcome by the event's host, Pianos Plus in Dublin, and each gave a 30-minute recital in the Pianos Plus recital hall to show the judges a varied repertiore and present their performing skills at their best. Each performer in turn presented some very impressive performing strengths, programming and interpretative flair, which made the judges' selection incredibly difficult, resulting in some heated but good-natured discussion before Sarah Joyce was announced as this year's winner for Ireland.

In each year the scholarship competition, open to full-time music students who must be under 25 and studying in the host European country, chooses a different discipline on a rotating basis. Year 1 is piano; year 2, brass and woodwind; year 3 alternates between strings, percussion and voice. Currently some 25 countries currently take part, awarding 37 much-appreciated scholarships to Europe's most gifted and talented young musicians as they complete their full-time education and embark on their professional careers.

The 2010 YMFE Ireland winner, Sarah Joyce, gave a short video interview on the impact of her success, just after her win had been announced. You can view it here.

Yamaha UK's education liaison manager, Bill Martin, attended the event and told us: "This was my first time attending the YMFE scholarship finals in Ireland and we were treated to highly accomplished recitals from four extremely talented young string players. Our distinguished judges were highly professional and gave some excellent feedback to all four finalists before making what must have been an incredibly difficult decision in choosing just one winner, cellist Sarah Joyce. We wish Sarah all the best in her continuing studies and in her future career and offer our sincere thanks to Elizabeth and Adrian."

Pictured below: YMFE Ireland 2010: Left to right: Elizabeth Csibi (judge, RIAM), David Kenny (viola), Hugh Murray (violin), Sarah Joyce (cello, winner), Denice Doyle (violin) and Adrian Petcu (judge, CSM).

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(Posted 10 February 2010)