Category Archives: student news

Trombone Student Adam Bell Performes with Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific

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Adam Bell, music performance trombone senior, performed with the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific (SOAP) June 18 – July 5. SOAP is held in the picturesque seaside town of Powell River, on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, approximately 80 miles north of Vancouver. Participants play in the festival orchestra under the baton of maestro Arthur Arnold, study with renowned players from some of the world’s top orchestras, and participate in master classes, private lessons, and audition training. Adam was also selected to perform on a chamber music program with faculty members from the festival.

(Submitted by Bill Mathis)

Li Kuang, trombone major, wins International Trombone Association Frank Smith Competition

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Li Kuang, trombone major and graduating senior, is the winner of the International Trombone Association Frank Smith Competition. Kuang was named a finalist in the competition last spring and performed in the final round at the International Trombone Festival in Nashville on June 22, 2011. As first prize winner, Kuang will receive a custom made S. E. Shires trombone. Li is pictured here with competition judge and previous Frank Smith winner Jeremy Wilson, second trombonists with the Vienna Philharmonic.

The Frank Smith competition began in 1975 and is open to any trombonist twenty-five years and younger. Past winners include many who have gone on to prominent careers in professional orchestras and teaching positions throughout the United States and abroad. Li will begin his master’s degree in Music Performance at the University of Michigan in the fall.

(Submitted by William Mathis)

Masters’ Student Jing Lin Places Second in the Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition

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Masters’ Student Jing Lin placed second in the Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition, held on April 16, 2011, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. She was awarded $8,000.

Judges for the competition were three-time Tony Award nominee Rebecca Luker, Broadway and Encores! music director Rob Berman, and the Artistic Director of the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, Germany, Michael Kaufmann.

The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, which sponsors the competition, distributed a record $58,000 in prizes this year. Now in its 14th year, the Lotte Lenya Competition recognizes versatile singing actors, aged 19-30, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide variety of musical theater styles. For the 2011 competition, each contestant presented a diverse program that included an aria from the opera or operetta repertoire; two songs from the American musical theater repertoire (one pre-1968 and one from 1968 or later); and a theatrical selection by Kurt Weill. After a preliminary round of auditions by video submission, twelve finalists were selected from a group of thirty semi-finalists who auditioned in New York City for adjudicator/coaches David Loud, Carolyn Marlow and Vicki Shaghoian.

Previous winners continue to land roles on major opera and theater stages around the world. In the past year, they have performed on Broadway (Zachary James, Morgan James, The Addams Family), at the Metropolitan Opera (Ginger Costa-Jackson, Nixon in China), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Rebecca Jo Loeb, Die Zauberflöte, La Traviata), Houston Grand Opera (Rodell Rosel, Madama Butterfly; Liam Bonner, Peter Grimes), New York City Center Encores! (Lauren Worsham, Amy Justman, Analisa Leaming, Where’s Charley?), Arena Stage (Ariela Morgenstern, The Light in the Piazza), Goodspeed Musicals (Lauren Worsham, Carnival!), Opera Theater of St. Louis (Christopher Herbert, A Little Night Music), Santa Fe Opera (Jonathan Michie, Albert Herring), the Kurt Weill Fest (Alen Hodzovic, Rebecca Jo Loeb), and in the 25th anniversary tour of Les Misérables (Richard Todd Adams, Cooper Grodin). Upcoming performances include featured or starring roles at the Spoleto Festival USA (Rebekah Camm, The Magic Flute), Wolf Trap Opera (Anthony McGee, Margaret Gawrysiak, Edward Mout, Sweeney Todd), Tanglewood (Margaret Gawrysiak, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9), Glimmerglass Opera (Ginger Costa-Jackson, Carmen), Opera Theater of St. Louis (Liam Bonner, Pelléas et Mélisande), Houston Grand Opera (Rodell Rosel, Ariadne auf Naxos), Geva Theatre Center (Analisa Leaming, The Sound of Music), TheatreWorks (Ariela Morgenstern, The Light in the Piazza), and on Broadway (Morgan James, Wonderland).

(Submitted by Richard Kennell )