On behalf of the Department of Music at the University of Alberta, we wish to congratulate Oliver Munar (voice) and Kyungrok Moon (violin) on their winning performances last week at the Alberta Baroque Ensemble Scholarship and Kathy Hogan Award competitions!
Oliver Munar, a first year Masters of Music (MMus) student in vocal performance, is the newest recipient of the Alberta Baroque Scholarship. For his audition, he performed Domine Deus, Rex coelestis" from Vivaldi's Gloria, "Un momento di contento" from Handel's opera Alcina, an excerpt for tenor soloist from Handel's Messiah, and "Qui tollis peccata mundi" from J.S. Bach's Mass in G minor.
Kyung Rok Moon, an MMus student in violin performance, performed the Leclair Violin Concerto Op.7 No.3 in C major for her Kathy Hogan Award competition audition.
Bravo to these fine musicians and wishing them all the best in their studies!
About Kyung Rok Moon
Born in South Korea, Kyung Rok Moon began violin and piano lessons at the age of seven. She is currently studying at the University of Alberta's MMus program in violin with Professor Guillaume Tardif. Before she moved to Canada, she studied at the Mannes College of Music in New York City with Lewis Kaplan and I-Hao Lee.
Kyung Rok was also the member of Busan Symphony Orchestra and University of Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She is the recipient of Beryl and Barns Barns scholarship and Queen Elizabeth II scholarship, and attended the Salt Spring Chamber Music and Shanghi Music festivals.
About Oliver Munar
Oliver completed Grade X studies in piano from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto in 1993. He also sang in the Calgary Boys' Choir for four years, which instilled in him a sense of musicality from an early age. He attributes much of his present passion for music to Douglas Parnham, founder of the Calgary Boys' Choir and the teacher who guided him through his early piano studies.
He credits the piano lessons as having awakened a fascination with the works of Mozart, Beethoven and especially J.S. Bach. For almost 15 years, he would only sing in church and the odd karaoke competition, while pursuing a career in journalism and corporate communication. But in 2009, he was coaxed back into the Calgary choral scene by the professional ensemble Voicescapes, who hired him to sing countertenor for a production of Handel's Acis and Galatea, which starred soprano Tracy Bessette-Smith and tenor Benjamin Butterfield.
Praised for an instantly likeable voice (Darryl Edwards, University of Toronto) with gorgeous, spinning tone (Karen Jensen, University of Manitoba), Oliver hopes to use his MMus training in voice to embark on a singing career with particular emphasis on Early, Classical and Baroque repertoire. He has particular love of the works of J.S. Bach, Handel and Mozart.