Tune in Thursday at noon when guest host Chris Wolf will share Claudia Garcia de la Huerta's phone interview with the competition winner who is performing Sunday afternoon as part of the Women's Musical Club of Winnipeg concert series.

Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté was a virtuoso composer, pianist and violinist who wanted to encourage emerging musicians to play works by contemporary composers. It was in her name that an annual prize was created to fullfill her lifelong dream that the music of contemporary composers could make its presence felt by young musicians on the threshold of their careers.

Today, the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition is a major contemporary music competition that rewards the most talented young artists in the categories of piano, voice and strings. And it's been doing so for 42 years.

This past April six of Canada’s best emerging pianists gathered at the School of Music, Brandon University for the 42nd Eckhardt Gramatté National Music Competition (E-Gré) in Piano. 
All six competitors played two final round recitals; each program was required to include at least 50% Canadian music, as well as this year’s commissioned work: Far Beyond
Things Finite by Brian Current.

The first prize of $8,000, a Canadian tour and a three-week residency at the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival in Italy was awarded to Bryn Blackwood, a solo and collaborative pianist from Toronto, Ontario.

This Sunday afternoon Bryn will be a guest of the Women's Musical Club of Winnipeg. The programme will include music by Canadian composers Jean Coulthard, Brian Current, Jacques Hetu and Alexina Louie as well as modern masterworks by Samuel Barber, George Crumb, Leo Ormstein and Toru Takemitsu. That’s Sunday afternoon 2 o’clock at the Winnipeg Art Gallery

There will be a reception following the concert. 

Tickets can be purchased online through Eventbrite or at McNally Robinson Booksellers – Grant Park. Tickets will also be available at the door. For a season brochure or to order a subscription by phone – call 204-944-9431.