Awards Day

On Monday, June 8 we hosted the 48th annual Victoria Conservatory of Music Awards day in Alix Goolden Performance Hall. This special event was a chance to celebrate the successes of our students and the incredible work of our faculty. Our students are presented with scholarships, and the audience is treated to amazing musical performances representing each department, including Classical keyboard, voice, strings, winds and brass, and the Contemporary school.

We are thrilled to say that nearly $100,000 in scholarships and awards were allocated to 79 deserving students!

Contributions from people who care about opportunities to learn and perform music make a difference in the quality and scope of music programs the Conservatory can offer. We are grateful to the donors whose generous contributions make these scholarships available.

Victoria Conservatory of Music 2026 Awards Day recipients:

Strings Scholarships

• The Annamaria Bamji Award for Emerging Musicians – Max Francis
• Catharine Gillespie Memorial Scholarship – Viviana Xin and Michaela Yee
• Jamie K. Syer Collegium Scholarship – Andrei Krasnov
• John Dyck Scholarship – Dunqi Liang
• Mai Gillespie Scholarship & Bursary -Joanne Jiang
• Margaret Goater Award – Isabella Nagelbach and Hope Syyong
• Margaret Hendry Scholarship – Carys Yu
• Mary and Gerald Stanick Strings Scholarship Fund – Malak El Ouadghiri
• Nadar Holdings String Award – Alek Brudnicki and Krystian Brudnicki
• Robin and Winifred Wood Scholarship – Adrian Zhang
• Sydney Humphreys Violin Prize – Isidora Uhlman
• The Orval and Blanche Beatty Scholarship for Viola and Chamber Music – Owen Fitzgerald

Voice Scholarships

• Garth Gislason Scholarship – Naomi Wang
• John Murray Memorial Scholarship – Lauren Abhirosh
• Judith Rockwell Prize – Julia Christensen
• Kay Kaminski Vancouver Island Services and Treatment Association Award – Juliana Cooper
• Marilyn Wuis Voice Scholarship – Audrey Hamilton
• Roberto and Mary Wood Voice Scholarship – Laelia Greenaway
• The David and Pep Groos Award – Sophia Camilla Kozlov
• The Liam Munday Memorial Voice Scholarship – Victoria Sanabria

Keyboard Scholarships

• Aundria Dawn Grieve Memorial Scholarship – Theodore Gryba
• B.E. Scholarship – Adrian Joe
• Carl Weiselberger Scholarship – Sophie Sun
• Carol Clark Jesse Piano Scholarship – Amani El Ouadghiri
• David Foster Scholarship – Matthew Holland
• Dr. Robin Wood Piano Scholarship – Lillian Chen
• Gertrude Durand Memorial Scholarship – Averi Kuo and Anna Wautier
• Margaret Baker Piano Scholarship – Easton Roy
• Marjorie Tebo Piano Scholarship – Qing Heng Du
• Millicent Lavoy Piano Scholarship – Ai Ping Chen, Ethan Clark, Lucy Fan, Miranda Godfrey, Ronan Godfrey, Theodore Gryba, Tyler Henderson, Daniel Lum, Andy Niu, Anna Niu, Victoria Sanabria, Jacob Skripnitchenko, Nathan Syyong, and Martin Wang
• Mrs. Pui Jun Wong Memorial Scholarship – Isaac Wei
• Nathan Geminiano Scholarship – Anna Wautier
• The Roy Barnett Scholarship in Advanced Piano – Madison Brecht, Simon Eskildsen, Michelle George, Cindy Jiang, Felicia Ma, Angela Pan, Carey Wang, Natalya Wautier, and Filbert Zhang

Contemporary Scholarships

• Luke’s Gift Scholarship – Audrey Hamilton and Dirk MacKenzie

Winds & Brass Scholarships

• Austin A. Scott Flute Scholarship – Daniel Sanabria
• O. Thomas Webb Memorial Scholarship in Winds and Brass – Bella Zhang
• Prof. Stephen and Dr. Jacquelyn Peitchinis Winds Ensemble Scholarship – Benjamin Sharpe and Lev Zilber-Shlensky

School of Music Technology and Creativity Scholarships

• Recording and Production Project Award for Emerging Artists – Nicholas Croft
• Prof. Stephen and Dr. Jacquelyn Peitchinis Theory Scholarship – Miranda Godfrey and Zhiyang Li
• Prof. Stephen and Dr. Jacquelyn Peitchinis Recording & Production Scholarship – Cale Hernandez

Postsecondary Scholarships

• Alan Macey Scholarship Fund – Benjamin Andrews, Arlo Atkinson, Brendan Durant, Victoria Langmayr, Dirk MacKenzie, and Sterling South
• George Giles Award – Audrey Hamilton
• Prof. Stephen and Dr. Jacquelyn Peitchinis Postsecondary Entrance Scholarship – Morgan Brown, Charles Godfrey, Aya Laforme, Vincent Larochelle, Lucy Lavigne, and Finn Letourneau
• VanHall Fund for the Arts Scholarship – Brayden Barber, Laelia Greenaway, and Nate Williams
• VanHall Fund for the Arts Jazz Scholarship – Arlo Atkinson, Amelia Croft, and Facundo Seijas Berrios
• Victoria Musical Art Society Scholarship – Benjamin Andrews and Beaudin Bennett
• Woods’ International Piano Scholarship – Brayden Barber

Victoria Conservatory of Music/Camosun College Diploma and Certificate Program Graduates

The following students have completed the requirements of the Victoria Conservatory of Music/ Camosun Diploma and Certificate programs in the 2025-26 academic year. We congratulate these students, who received their credentials from Camosun College in June 2026.

CERTIFICATE IN MUSIC CREATIVITY AND PERFORMANCE FOUNDATIONS

• Nicholas Croft – Dean’s Honour Roll
• Audrey Hamilton

DIPLOMA IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE

• Eli Cameron-Crone – with Distinction
• Carter Dagg
• Jaytrai Tipakornkarn
• Katrice Cooper
• Christopher Newman – with Distinction

Congratulations to our Faculty!

The recipients of these awards are from the studios of:

Alexandra Berg, Cory Balzer, Kyron Basu, Jayden Beaudoin, Daniel Brandes, Roger Buksa, Müge Büyükçelen, Mary Byrne, Anna Cal, Wes Carroll, Rachel De Greeff, Michael Dias, Colin Doroschuk, Michael Drislane, Colleen Eccleston, Cathy Fern Lewis, Edwin Gnandt, Melissa Goodchild, Ingrid Henderson, Robert Holliston, Yoomi Kim, Patricia Kostek, Tatiana Kostour, Daniel Lapp, Guyonne Le Louarn, Ed LeBarron, May Ling Kwok, Linda Low, Arin Sarkissian, Sahara Sloan, Danuel Tate, Matheus Leite-Terra, Jennifer Turner, Jan van der Hooft, Maria Wang, Crystal Wiksyk, and Brian Yoon