Olga Tylman, a graduate voice performance student, walked away with thousands of dollars in music scholarships following a gruelling competition last weekend. [read W.N. update for Aug.2]

Backstage the air is alive with excitement, anticipation, adrenalin and nervous tension.

Competitors try to maintain their focus, sensing the next few minutes could change their lives. The audience is full of hopeful parents and friends – and four expert judges.

This is Western Idol, classical music style.

Saturday, March 5, 15 music students vied for final places in the London Music Scholarship Fund competition. Round two of a unique Canadian opportunity took place in the afternoon, the finals at night.

Nowhere else in Canada, perhaps North America, is a chance offered for scholarship based simply on a performance.

More than 20 years ago a group of prominent music lovers formed the London Music Scholarship Foundation to support excellence in performance through annual competitions.

In 1996, the assets were given to the University to take advantage of the provincial government’s matching funds program. Interest from the approximately $600,000 fund provides scholarships and pays expenses of the competition.

For students it begins long before their nervous backstage warm-up. They must submit a recording in January that is reviewed by divisional co-ordinators. This year more than 60 students entered. Of those, 15 were chosen for the next round.

“It occurs at a time of year when the students are preparing for their final juries and recitals so they are ready,” said James McKay, Chair of the Department of Performance in Music Studies.

External jurists adjudicate rounds two and three. They listen for talent, musicianship, technical ability, interpretation of the repertoire, sound and potential for the future. Discussion can be direct, occasionally brutal, and heated.

The prizes are scholarships to Western, open to any returning student, undergraduate or graduate. The eight finalists each receive $1,500. The first, second and third-place prize winners are given an additional $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000.

First-place winner soprano Olga Tylman is a graduate voice performance student studying with Ted Baerg.

“I treated it like any performance but I thought there was a big difference in my round two and three performances. I had a lot more energy in the final, as if the afternoon was a warm-up,” she said.

Tylman sang an aria from Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte that she had just performed in the UWOpera production. Her other choice was Aaron Copland’s settings of two poems by Emily Dickinson.

“I wanted to show off my voice to the maximum – the range, the coloratura – and also the dramatic qualities of the pieces.”

Second-place winner Liza McLellan had not competed before either. She is a cello student in Thomas Wiebe’s studio and described the day as “wonderful and exhausting. It takes real stamina to do two rounds in one day. It was a struggle to keep my concentration, focus and energy.” Having the flu didn’t help. But Dvorak’s Cello Concerto was a piece she had always wanted to perform.

Laura Bellhouse, violin, placed third. Other finalists included Sarah Smith, flute; Meiyen Lee, piano; Laura Rodie, alto saxophone’ Sherry Steele, soprano; and Greg Gallagher, cello.

For those who love the thrill of competition, the next chance is April 3 when the concerto competition gives two to five winning students a chance to win a solo performance with the orchestra, chamber orchestra or wind ensemble next year.

[read W.N. update for Aug.2]

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