Principal Award

Emanuele (Manny) Mamo    

Mani is a Songwriter and Music Educator. His achievements to date include:

• The Allegro Band: Winner of Best Live Entertainment in Victoria
• The Viva Italia: Award Winning Italian Show that has toured America and Australia
• Singer/Songwriter: ARIA Top 5 Charting Artist

Manny is working to ensure youth and aspiring artists can access the right facilities/equipment to be able to achieve their goals.
Many young people find it hard to access facilities and opportunities unless they’re prepared and resourced to travel. They are vulnerable and risk being taken advantage of by unscrupulous operators in the music industry feeding off hopes and dreams.

Manny wishes to develop an innovative program and facility (that is not currently available in Victoria) where students will be able to access a complete package for young aspiring music students. The aim is to create a fully portable music production studio and program that will take a young artist through the entire process; development, songwriting, workshops, recording and production.

The program will enable their work to be distributed by a local independent record label, social media and other formats and will help them achieve their goals.

General awards

Piera Dennerstein

Piera is an aspiring opera performer.  Her achievements to date include participation in numerous, operas, concerts and recitals both locally and internationally.

Piera is trained in German Language Vocal Tuition, has undertaken the Gertrude Opera Young Artist Program, and a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice Performance and a Bachelor of Arts.

Piera has been accepted into the Music Academy International Opera Performance Program in Mezzano, Italy. This is one of the premiere opera training programs administered by a world class faculty, hailing from houses such as Covent Garden and Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The program will provide instruction to develop vocal technique, character development, language and diction, audition preparation and artist management. There will be performances in fully staged and orchestrated operas and concerts. It will help to address the isolation young Australian singers experience in a country that does not have a strong history of opera, and will provide invaluable networking and skills development opportunities essential for an international career in this field.

Simon Baldwin

Bachelor of Music (Honours) – National University of Singapore
Master of Music (Performance) – Melba Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne

Simon’s goal is to become a professional trombonist in an orchestra, such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria.

To develop his skills to the next level, he plans to travel to the US (Colorado) and participate in the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2016 (pictured below).  There he will engage in an intense 9 week music-making program, encompassing orchestral, chamber and solo music, as well as and private lessons with faculty members of the festival.

Encouragement awards

Mira Oosterweghel

Mira has is a talented aspiring artist with multiple degrees in the arts and has worked in paid and volunteer positions in pursuit of her passion.

Mira is producing a new (debut) work (a performance installation) “Falling is Believing”.
This work is part of the group exhibition Primavera 2016, at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney opening on the 28th of September.
Mira plans to develop her professional visual art practice through the development of lasting networks and connections and expose her work to a broad and large audience, with an anticipated 120,000 visitors.

Cameron Searle

Cameron is a track and field athlete whose long term goal is to one day represent Australia on the “big stage” (Olympics and/or Commonwealth Games).  Academically, he has achieved outstanding results which are reflected in numerous high achievement awards. Cameron applied to the MVF for assistance to compete in the under 20 World Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.