Cape Town Opera's Christine Bam Wins A FMR Bursary Trust Award

Mezzo Soprano Christine Bam, a member of the Cape Town Opera Chorus, was named as a winner in the Classical Voice section in the the recent Fine Music Radio (FMR) Bursary Trust Awards held on 10 May 2023 at the Baxter Theatre.

The FMR Bursary Trust Awards competition celebrates the very best of classical, jazz and African music. The competition started in 2009 and was established by the Rolf-Stephan Nussbaum Foundation with the purpose of providing scholarships, bursaries or awards for students studying for a performance diploma or degree in music. According to FMR, this years standard was again very high and the judges had a difficult time selecting winners across the various sections. The organisors were also pleased with the wonderful audience turnout in support of the talented young singers and musicians.

Says Christine who lives in Kuils River, "I am so grateful to FMR and the Rolf-Stephan Nussbaum Foundation for their generosity in hosting this bursary competition and supporting artists continuously and I'd also like to thank my voice teacher Violina Anguelov-Hobbs. " Christine's impressive repertoire included works by Massenet, Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Johann Strauss and she was accompanied by Dr. Lisa Engelbrecht on piano. Other winners at the FMR Bursary Trust Awards Competition are: Classical Instrumental- Esihle Mthethwa (flute), Carly Barendilla (Jazz voice) and in the African Music Section - Siyabonga Kawana (Uhadi, Ngungwe-Nyungwe and Voice). Earlier this year Christine won 2nd prize at the Friends of Opera in Cape Town competition that was also held at the Baxter. Christine can next be seen onstage in Cape Town Opera's upcoming TOSCA in September 2023 and in LA TRAVIATA in October 2023, both at Artscape.

The Classical Instrumental and Classical Vocal section of the competition Finals will be broadcast on FMR on 4 June 2023 at 2pm.

Photo Credit: Jesse Kramer