‘photo reproduced with permission’

On Tuesday 14th January in the Royal Over-Seas League’s beautiful Princess Alexandra Hall, in the presence of a highly distinguished audience, Xiaole Zhan, a brilliant young composer from New Zealand was awarded the first-ever Commonwealth International Composition Award for her highly original composition.

……speech having its way again, I gave a cry…..

Adjudicators Judith Robinson, Duncan Chapman, Bushra El-Turk, Barbara Law and Orphy Robinson were deeply impressed by Xiaole’s work

Xiaole herself says

“ I’m always in awe of the power of music. Consider this, here we all are, strangers from all over the world brought together as a community by music. I feel so honoured to be among this community of inspiring young composers and musicians. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels incredibly encouraged by this award. It’s not always easy sharing oneself through a medium like music which demands absolute transparency. This award has made me feel braver in sharing these shards of myself. In fact, the word ‘courage’ is in the word ‘encourage’. Thank you, sincerely, for this opportunity, and may we all continue to courageously forge global communities through sharing our music”.

Xiaole has won some excellent prizes, including a cash prize and fully-funded composition lessons with a tutor of her choice. She will be offered a new commission for the celebrated young concert pianist and winner of the 2014 BBC Young Musician of the Year, Martin James Bartlett. The Commonwealth Resounds, the ABRSM and the Purcell School hope that New Zealand’s cultural organisations will help us to give Xiaole plenty of publicty and accolades for this really outstanding achievement.

Please let us know if you would like any more information about Xiaole or the Commonwealth International Composition Award

Alison Cox OBE, Founder and Chair of Trustees, The Commonwealth Resounds – alisonresounds@gmail.com

Publicity and Marketing – Jane Hunt – janeresounds@gmail.com

Philip Dutton – Composition Award Manager cicompositionmanager@gmail.com