Poon Ho Suet won Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize and Wright State University Piano Scholarship Award

The Winners’ Gala Concert of the 25^th Macao Young Musicians Competition (MYMC), organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government, was successfully held in the Macao Polytechnic Institute Auditorium on July 28. Poon Ho Suet won the MOP$100,000 Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize and the Wright State University Piano Scholarship Award, valued up to MOP$300,000 for four academic years.

During the 25^th Macao Young Musicians Competition held between June 23 and July 5, around 1100 contestants competed for 22 piano categories. The judging panel consists of five renowned pianists and music educators from Shanghai, the United States of America and Hong Kong. 21 first prize winners, 20 second prize winners and 23 third prize winners were selected during the thirteen days of competition.

In order to provide the winners with an opportunity to show their talents and to share the fruit of their hard work, the Cultural Affairs Bureau organized the Winners’ Gala Concert for the winners to perform their winning pieces. During the concert, Cultural Affairs Bureau Vice-Director Alice Wong awarded the Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize to Poon Ho Suet, first prize winner of Piano Works by 20^th Century Composers and third prize winner of Piano Concerto (no first and second prize winners for this category). The Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize is a MOP$100,000 scholarship provided by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government to be awarded to one or more winning participants whose performance the judges consider to have been truly outstanding.

The Wright State University Piano Scholarship Award is a scholarship offered by Wright State University, USA and enables one or more competition winners currently studying grade four in high school or equivalent or above to enrol in an undergraduate programme of Piano Performance, Music Education or Music History and Literature at the university. This year, winners for this award include Poon Ho Suet, and Lou Cheok Lam and Igor Filipe do Amaral, second and third prize winners of Piano Solo, Advanced Level.

This year’s Talented Prizes are respectively sponsored by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and the Macao Polytechnic Institute. The Talented Prize sponsored by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited is a MOP$30,000.00 scholarship awarded to one or more winners under the age of 18, which shall be used to attend short-term overseas music courses. Winners for this scholarship include To Ching Yin, first prize winner for both Sonatina for Piano and Piano Works by 20^th Century Composers (Intermediate Level), Iu Lok I, first prize winner for both Piano Solo, Level 5 and Piano Works by Macao Composers (Elementary Level) and Chan Sin, first prize winner for Piano Works by Chinese Composers (Intermediate Level) and second prize winner for Piano Solo, Level 7.

The Talented Prize sponsored by the Macao Polytechnic Institute is a MOP$30,0000.00 scholarship awarded for the winner to attend a Bachelor Degree in music in the Institute. This scholarship was awarded by the institute’s Director of School of Arts Dr. Dai Ding Cheng to Poon Ho Tung, first prize winner for both Piano Solo, Level 8 and Piano Works for Four Hands (Advanced Level).

The successful organization of the 25^th Macao Young Musicians Competition was made possible in large part by the following organizations and sponsors: Macao Polytechnic Institute, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Tom Lee Music, the University of Macau, Education and Youth Affairs Bureau and Hotel Ritz Macao.