Lawrence University pianist Elizabeth Vaughan earned first-place honors Saturday, Oct. 15 in the 2013 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Wisconsin state competition conducted at UW-La Crosse.
Vaughan, a junior voice and piano performance major from Highland Park, Ill., won the Young Artist (19-26 years of age) competition. She advances to the MTNA’s five-state East Central Division competition Jan. 10-11 at Baldwin Wallace University. Winners at the division competition advance to the MTNA’s national competition March 22-26, 2014 in Chicago.
Vaughan is the 13th Lawrence student in the past 15 years to win the Wisconsin MTNA piano competition. She is a student in the studio of Professor Catherine Kautsky.
Lawrence pianists dominated the competition, which featured a total of 12 students. Besides Vaughan’s first-place finish, senior Thomas Lee, Chicago, Ill., earned alternate (second place) honors while seniors Max Feldkamp, Appleton, Jonathan Gmeinder, Hartland, Daniel Kuzuhara, Madison, and junior Laetitia Lehman-Pearsall, Bainbridge Island, Wash., each were accorded honorable mention honors.
Gmeinder and Laetitia also study in Kautsky’s studio. Lee, Feldkamp and Kuzuhara are students of Associate Professor Anthony Padilla.
The MTNA performance competitions recognize exceptionally talented young artists and their teachers in their pursuit of musical excellence.
About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.
