For the second year running the Moon Stars have won Best Performance of an Original Work at the National Chamber Music Contest.
Composer Emma Moon’s Balkan Dance piece was created to complement the skill set of the players in the group, who competed on Wednesday at the Raye Freedman Centre in Epsom. It follows on from Emma and the group’s success with Serbian Dance in the same competition last year. The musicians so enjoyed working on that piece last year that they asked her to compose something in a similar style with strong and irregular Balkan rhythms.
HoD Music Milica Moon said, “This comes to Emma naturally, since she is ¾ Serbian. She has composed this for the specific skills of the players, and students have enjoyed working on this every morning from 7am until beginning of school.
“They have become a close group of friends, too. One comment from some musicians in the audience was that they are the only group where everyone looked so happy and unstressed, and that they enjoyed playing music together.”
The Moon Stars are: Gary He – 1st violin, Emma Moon – 1st violin, Grace Duan – 2nd violin, Kate Ploeg – viola, Anvilly Huang – cello, Lars Landicho – Double Bass, Amitai Aharon – Percussion, Stefan Moon – Percussion.
MAGS’ Chamber Orchestra will also perform Balkan Dance at the KBB Music Festival in August.
