Musicians of all ages are being encouraged to apply for the 2011 Balhausen Bequest Organ Scholarship. 

The successful recipient will receive a year of free organ tuition from Ballarat City Organist Bruce Keck.

Mr Keck was appointed as the City Organist back in 1981 and since then more than 30 scholarships have been awarded. The Balhausen family left a bequest to Council which enabled an organ to be purchased for the Ballarat community, a City Organist to be appointed and an annual scholarship to be available for organ lessons.

Current recipients of the 2011 Balhausen scholarship are Lorraine Brown and Amie Sexton who are both studying music at a postgraduate level and who are Ballarat residents.

A past recipient of the scholarship was Doctor Calvin Bowman. He went on to study at the Melbourne Conservation of Music and then became the first Australian to graduate with a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University.

Applications need to be submitted on an official application form, which is available from Council’s Arts and Cultural Development Unit by contacting 5320 5643 or email teganlang@ballarat.vic.gov.au. Submissions close on Friday 18 November at 5pm. 

The selection process will involve an audition and interview. Nominees need to have reached a standard equal to Grade Five AMEB on a keyboard instrument. Applicants will participate in an interview and perform in front of a panel appointed by the City of Ballarat. Anyone interested in applying for the scholarship can contact Mr Keck on 5338 1130 for more information.