NEWS
Congratulations to Sam Collins the winner of the Susan Williams TSO Friends prize for 2022*. Sam receives this award for the highest TCE Music results in 2022 and is now studying French Horn at the Tasmanian Conservatorium, where she is also the recipient of the conservatorium’s Hedberg Scholarship. Having previously studied music at Collegiate, Sam is now studying a Bachelor of Music and after the completion of this three-year course, she will look to completing her honours, perhaps further afield than Tasmania. Her long-term goal is to be a professional Orchestral musician.
Sam has celebrated other recent achievements such as the Elizabeth Parsons Award for most promising horn player at the recent Hobart Eisteddfod. She has experience playing in the Tasmanian Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, Island Brass Academy and occasionally the Derwent Symphony Orchestra and Derwent Concert Band. While studying at the Con, Sam says she aims to “learn as many new pieces as I can, especially by Australian composers! I’ve been lucky enough to play in four pieces by Australian composers so far, including “Let’s Dance!” said the Crocodile for five horns by Emma Gregan, a professional horn player in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO), and Cat and Mouse for horn and piano by Adrian Hallam, a professional horn player and composer based in Sydney.”
Sam with her mum Debbie
Overall, Sam’s favourite piece of music to play is Nocturno by Franz Strauss and she also loves the dramatism of Mahler’s 9th Symphony. Aside from classical music, she listens to electro swing and music by Louie Zong. Her idol is Sarah Willis: “her playing is phenomenal, and I love her music (especially her album Mozart y Mambo)! In particular her low playing is amazing, and I’d love to meet her someday”.
The prize money Sam received ($450.00) has gone towards airfares for Sam to attend the Adelaide Horn Jam in July. This workshop includes a week of tuition with expert musicians such as Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Solo Horn, Katy Woolley.
Sam definitely sounds like one to watch! We wish Sam all the best with her future studies and her trip in July!
* About the Susan Williams Prize
Susie Williams was a former President of the TSO Friends and a member of the TSO Board for many years. She was also a beloved educator at The Friends’ School,as well as in the Tasmanian community, and was held in extremely high regard for her contribution to the TSO and to the theatre and performing arts community in Tasmania. The prize is awarded from the TSO in memory of Susie to the individual student with the highest examination score in TCE Music (MSM315115) who then enrolls to the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music the following academic year.
