Lawrence University students Alenka Donovan, Kelly Eshbaugh and David Keep earned first-place honors Saturday, Oct. 23 in the 2010 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Wisconsin state competition conducted at Lawrence.
Donovan, a violin performance and history major from Washington, D.C., won the young artists (19-26 years of age) strings division. She is a student of Wen-Lei Gu.
Eshbaugh, a trombone performance and music education major from Greenfield, won the young artists brass division. She studies in the studio of Nick Keelan.
Keep, a piano performance major from Traverse City, Mich., won the young artists piano competition. Keep is the 11th Lawrence piano student in the past 13 years to win the Wisconsin MTNA piano competition. He is a student of Anthony Padilla.
Donovan, Eshbaugh and Keep advance to the MTNA’s five-state East Central Division competition January 7-9 at Ball State University. Winners at the division competition advance to the MTNA’s national competition March 26-30 in Milwaukee.
The Lawrence saxophone quartet — senior David Davis (soprano), Sussex, senior Sumner Truax (alto), Chicago, Ill., sophomore Phillip Dobernig (tenor), Mukwonago and junior Will Obst (baritone), St. Paul, Minn. — was the only entry in the chamber music division and also was selected to represent the state at the division competition. The quartet studies with Steven Jordheim.
Other Lawrence student recognized in the state competition included:
• Junior violinist Gina Bordini, De Pere, alternate in the young artists strings division.
• Freshman Anthony Capparelli, River Falls, alternate in the senior (15-18 years of age) piano Division.
• Junior clarinetist Kinsey Fournier, Conway, Ark., alternate in the young artist woodwinds division.
• Junior James Maverick, Baton Rouge, La., alternate in the young artists piano competition.
• Sophomores Andrew Kim, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Alex Hurlburt, Wausau, honorable mention honors in the young artists piano division.
Musicians selected as alternates will attend the January division competition if the winners are unable to. A total of 23 students from around the state participated in the competition.
