The finals of the Conservatorium Talent Award 2021 took place on the 30th of October in Den Bosch. Seven jazz students from different conservatoires in the Netherlands competed for two prizes which were awarded that evening. The Conservatorium Talent Award 2021 and the Mingus Prize for the best composition.

Luca Warner, who graduated last year from the Royal Conservatoire as a jazz vocalist, was awarded the Mingus Prize for her composition Never Lose Hope. Her composition voiced the 5 stages of a recent personal grieving process.

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The jury consisting of Aad van Nieuwkerk, Kika Sprangers, Tom Trapp, Guy van Hulst en Mischa Andriessen took several criteria into account among them the form of the composition, the quality of the musical themes, the presence of a surprise element, but most of all they chose the piece which touched them the most.

As part of the 10-years anniversary, the finalist had the chance to perform their pieces together with the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw in an arrangement of Rob Horsting.
For Luca, this felt like a dream coming true.
'It was a huge honour to make music together with the orchestra. For me, the rehearsal already felt like heaven. This prize is of course amazing, but that I am allowed to perform my own music, with my own story with The Jazz Orchestra, that is the best. I wanted to make universal themes sensible, therefore I even asked the men of the orchestra to sing with me. '

The Prize consists of a sum of 1000 euros which Luca will use for future compositions. On the 21st of november her debut EP Huub releases as part of Take A Moment For Loss. Luca dedicated this EP to her dad, just like her award-winning composition Never Lose Hope.

If you want to learn more about Luca and her projects, take a look at her website: lucawarmer.nl