John Melnyk Trophy

Trophies

John Melnyk Trophy

John Melnyk Trophy

Awarded for the most outstanding performance in a Piano Concerto class, Grade 8 to Honours 

Family and friends donated the John Melnyk Trophy to the Winnipeg Music Festival in 1996 to mark John Melnyk’s 80th birthday and 70th year of association with the festival.  

John Melnyk’s association with the Winnipeg Music Festival began in 1926 as a competitor, and continued as an accompanist and teacher.  During that period his students won numerous trophies, including the Beryl Ferguson Memorial Trophy several times and the Aikins Memorial Trophy on no less than twenty-four occasions.  Several of his students were sent on to represent Manitoba in national competitions.

John Melnyk and his pupils were particularly active in the Piano Concerto classes.  Over many years, Mr. Melnyk provided spirited orchestral accompaniment from the second piano to several generations of students.  He covered virtually the entire piano concerto repertoire and raised the standard of this class to the highest level.

Winners

1996 Darryl Friesen
1997 Jeremy Samolesky
1998 Huong Tran
1999 Nina Zhou
2000 Scott Meek
2001 Dan Clark
2002 Nina Zhou
2003 Yen-Yen Gee
2004 Renate Rossol
2005 Tony Zhou
2006 Rachel Hinton
2007 Sheldon Xu
2008 Tony Zhou
2009 Tony Zhou
2010 Benjamin Wang
2011 Albert Chen
2012 Deborah Tsao
2013 Ryan Wang
2014 Albert Chen

2015 Albert Chen
2016 Kevin Li
2017 Albert Chen
2018 Albert Chen
2019 Seanne Jacob Buenafe
2020 Fan-En Chiang
2021 Angela Suet Kee Ng
2022 Ari Hooker
2023 Fan-En Chiang
2024 Bogdan Shunkov