Call for applications: SAMRO Overseas Scholarship

University of Cape Town (UCT) graduate Vuyo Sotashe was always earmarked for great things. Even before winning the jazz singing category in the 2011 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships competition, Vuyo had performed with George Benson at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and had received a South African Music Award (SAMA) for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album with his church’s worship band, Proxy. In 2012, he was selected to sing with the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band at the Joy of Jazz festival in Johannesburg before touring Sweden with the band. Vuyo was subsequently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to further his studies in the USA and has also taken lessons with the likes of Maria Schneider and Grammy-nominated vocalist Gretchen Parlato.

Vuyo and numerous other young music luminaries-in-the-making have used their SAMRO scholarships as a springboard to greater things, and now the sky is certainly the limit for them – as will be the case for this year’s winners.

Every year since 1962, the SAMRO Foundation – which manages music education and corporate social investment programmes on behalf of the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) – offers South Africa’s gifted music students the opportunity to win one of two lucrative scholarships to further their postgraduate studies overseas. One of these is awarded in the Western Art (or “classical”) music genre and the other is presented for excellence in jazz music. The scholarships operate on a four-year cycle, alternating among instrumentalists, composers, keyboard players and singers.

In 2015, the SAMRO Foundation is inviting applications from music students majoring in vocal performance at a South African university. Applicants must be citizens of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho or Swaziland, born after 15 May 1982.

The two main overseas scholarship awards are currently valued at R170 000 each, with a number of subsidiary prizes also available for exceptional candidates. The total prize pot for this highly regarded annual music competition amounts to almost R500 000.

The scholarships competition takes the format of three rounds, adjudicated by a panel of music experts and culminating in a public gala concert at the Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg. There, the two top candidates in each category will be required to perform a number of prescribed and individually selected compositions, accompanied by professional musicians.

Prospective candidates for the 2015 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships for singers are invited to download the regulations and the application form from the SAMRO Foundation website. Applications should be submitted to: SAMRO Foundation, 20 De Korte Street, Braamfontein, 2017, before Friday 15 May 2015. Enquiries may be directed to anriette.chorn@samro.org.za.