Following a process that began several weeks ago, the Romantic/Modern/Contemporary Concerto Competition of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music has crowned flutist Aram Mun the winner of the 2023-2024 edition, in the section devoted to brass, woodwinds and percussion. Mun stood out with an impressive performance of Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra FS 119. With her expansive vision, rich sound and fluid, easy technique, the young artist won the highest accolade from the jury, which included Simon Aldrich, Alexis Hauser, Trevor Dix, Jacinthe Forand and Kristie Ibrahim. Personally, I was also impressed by the evening’s other flutist, YuLai Guo, who played Jacques Ibert’s concerto, and above all by percussionist Charles Chiovato Rembaldo in a spectacular performance of Peter Eötvös’s Speaking Drums. The fourth candidate, trumpeter Christopher Keach, demonstrated beautiful sonorities, but largely insufficient technical mastery, in a concerto by Oskar Böhme. Too many missed notes and missed attacks, leaving a lot of burrs, certainly sunk the young man. If you’re a fan of up-and-coming classical musicians, you should know that the piano section of this same competition will have its preliminaries on February 12, followed by the finals on February 14.
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