Neale-Silva Young Artists

Tag: Neale-Silva Young Artists

Pianists, Saxophonists Share Top Honors in State Music Competition

Performances by Lawrence University student musicians earned four of the five first-place honors awarded at the 16th annual Neale-Silva Young Artists competition conducted March 20 in Madison.

Piano soloists Daniel Kuzuhara, a freshman from Madison, and James Maverick, a junior from Baton Rouge, La.; the piano duo of Dario LaPoma, a senior from Eugene, Ore., and Hazim Suhadi, a senior from Jakarta, Indonesia; and the saxophone quartet of David Davis, a senior from Sussex, Phillip Dobernig, Will Obst, a junior from St. Paul, Minn., and Sumner Truax shared top honors with violinist Daniel Kim of UW-Madison in the state competition sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio. Each musician received $400 for their winning performances.

Dobernig, a sophomore from Mukwonago, and Truax, a senior from Chicago, Ill., are both Neale-Silva repeat winners, having previously earned first-place honors as soloists in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Last fall, the LaPoma and Hazim piano duo and the saxophone quartet were named co-winners of the annual Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. The saxophone quartet will join the orchestra as guest performers at its May 21 concert.

This was the sixth consecutive year and 11th time in the past 13 years that Lawrence students have won or shared top honors in the Neale-Silva event.

The competition is open to instrumentalists and vocal performers 17-26 years of age who are either from Wisconsin or attend a Wisconsin college. Lawrence musicians accounted for six of the competition’s 15 finalists. Also representing Lawrence in the competition was saxophonist Jake Crowe and pianist Max Feldkamp.

All eight Lawrence musicians will reprise their winning performances Sunday, April 17 at 12:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison. The concert will be broadcast live statewide on the Classical Music Network of WPR and can be heard locally at 89.3 FM.

The Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition was established to recognize young Wisconsin performers of classical music who demonstrate an exceptionally high level of artistry. It is supported by a grant from the estate of the late University of Wisconsin Madison professor Eduardo Neale-Silva, a classical music enthusiast who was born in Talca, Chile and came to the United States in 1925.

Pianists, Saxophonist Share Top Honors in State Music Competition

Lawrence University student musicians accounted for three of the five winners at the 15th annual Neale-Silva Young Artists competition held March 27 in Madison.

Pianists Marshall Cuffe and David Keep and saxophonist Sumner Truax shared top honors with trumpet player Ansel Norris, a senior at Madison East High School and clarinetist Matthew Griffith, a senior at Sheboygan North High School, in the state competition sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio.   Each received $400 for their winning performances.

This was the fifth straight year and 10th time in the past 12 years that Lawrence students have won or shared top honors in the Neale-Silva event.

The competition is open to instrumentalists and vocal performers 17-26 years of age who are either from Wisconsin or attend a Wisconsin college.  Lawrence musicians accounted for seven of the competition’s 13 finalists, who were selected from 15 entrants. In addition to the three winners, also advancing to the finals were pianists Laura Hauer, Dario LaPoma and Karly Stern, and oboist Cayden Milton.

Cuff, Keep and Truax will reprise their winning performances Sunday, April 11 at 12:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison.  The concert will be broadcast live statewide on the Classical Music Network of WPR and can be heard locally at 89.3 FM.

For the April 11 concert, Cuffe, a sophomore from Salem, Ore., will perform Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy” and “Fantasy on Themes from Wizard of Oz” by William Hirtz while Keep, a junior from Traverse City, Mich., will play three movements from Alberto Ginastera’s“Sonata No. 1.” Both are students in the studio of Anthony Padilla.

Truax, a junior from Chicago, Ill., will perform “Buku”by Jacob Ter Veldhuis and “Tableaux De Provence I, II & III”by Paule Maurice.  He studies with Steven Jordheim and Sara Kind, a 2004 and 2006 Neale-Silva Young Artist winner herself.

The Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition was established to recognize young Wisconsin performers of classical music who demonstrate an exceptionally high level of artistry.  It is supported by a grant from the estate of the late University of Wisconsin Madison professor Eduardo Neale-Silva, a classical music enthusiast who was born in Talca, Chile and came to the United States in 1925.

Five Lawrence University Musicians Earn Top Honors in State Music Competition

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University student musicians accounted for three of the six winners at the 14th annual Neale-Silva Young Artists competition conducted March 22 in Madison.

The percussion trio of Felicia Behm, David Ranscht and Stacey Stoltz, along with bass-baritone Derrell Acon and pianist Leonard Hayes shared top honors with clarinetist Ching-Chieh Hsu and violinist Elias Goldstein, both from the UW-Madison and saxophonist Phillip Dobernig of Mukwonago High School in the state competition sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio. Each received $400 for their winning performances.

Lawrence students have won or shared top honors in the Neale-Silva event four years in a row and nine of the past 11.

The competition is open to instrumentalists and vocal performers 17-26 years of age who are either from Wisconsin or attend a Wisconsin college. This year’s competition attracted a total of 23 soloists and ensembles, 14 of which advanced to the finals. In addition to the three winners, Lawrence had two other finalists: pianist Dario LaPoma and the piano trio of Laura Hauer, Anna Henke and Megan Karls.

Acon, Hayes, and the members of the percussion trio will reprise their winning performances Sunday, April 26 at 12:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison. The concert will be broadcast live statewide on the NPR News and Classical Music Network of WPR.

For the April 30 concert, Behm, a senior from Monument, Colo., Ranscht, a junior from La Crosse, and Stoltz, a sophomore from Aurora, Ill., will share a single marimba in a highly visual performance of Mark Ford’s “Stubernic” and an arrangement of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” written by Behm. All three study in the percussion studio of Dane Richeson.

Acon, a junior from St. Louis, Mo., will sing “Il lacerato spirito” by Giuseppe Verdi, Howard Swanson’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “All the Little Horses” by Aaron Copland and “Amiamo” by Gaetano Donizetti. He studies in the voice studio of Patrice Michaels.

Hayes, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, will play “Piano Sonata Op. 7 in E- flat Major,” by Beethoven and Olivier Messiaen’s Noel from “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus.” Hayes, who studies in the piano studio of Catherine Kautsky, also will perform as accompanist for Acon.

The Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition was established to recognize young Wisconsin performers of classical music who demonstrate an exceptionally high level of artistry. It is supported by a grant from the estate of the late University of Wisconsin Madison professor Eduardo Neale-Silva, a classical music enthusiast who was born in Talca, Chile and came to the United States in 1925.

Lawrence University Percussionist, Saxophonist Earn Top Honors in State Music Competition

Lawrence University senior Michael Truesdell and 2005 Lawrence graduate Sara Kind shared top honors at the 12th annual Neale-Silva Young Artists competition held Sunday, March 19 in Madison.

Truesdell, a percussionist from Verona, and Kind, a saxophonist from Oshkosh, were named two of the five winners in the Wisconsin Public Radio-sponsored competition. It was the sixth time in the past nine years that Lawrence music students have won or shared top honors in the Neale-Silva.

The competition is open to instrumentalists and vocal performers 17-26 years of age who are either from Wisconsin or attend a Wisconsin college. This year’s competition attracted 49 musicians, including three quintets, two quartets and a trio. Fourteen musicians were invited to perform as finalists.

Lawrence and UW-Madison accounted for all of this year’s competition winners. In addition to Truesdell and Kind, UW pianist Kayme Henkel, violinist Jeannette Jang and a piano quintet also received first-place honors.

Truesdell performed on the marimba for the competition, playing “Three Movements for a Solo Dancer” by Eckhard Kopetzki, “Mirage for Marimba” by Japanense composer Yasuo Sueyoski and Federico Chueca’s “Los Paraguas.” He is a student of Associate Professor of Music Dane Richeson.

Kind, who also earned first-place honors in the 2004 Neale-Silva competition as a member of the Lawrence University saxophone quartet, performed “Fantasia” by Heitor Villa-Lobos. She is currently studying with Professor Steven Jordheim through the Lawrence Academy of Music.

Truesdell and Kind will reprise their winning performances Sunday, April 2 in WPR’s Neale-Silva Concert of Young Musicians at Madison’s Chazen Museum. The concert also will be broadcast live statewide as a special edition of “Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen” from 12:30 – 2 p.m. on the NPR News and Classical Music stations of WPR. In addition, Truesdell and Kind both will receive $300 for their winning performances.

The Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition was established to recognize young Wisconsin performers of classical music who demonstrate an exceptionally high level of artistry and is supported by a grant from the estate of the late University of Wisconsin Madison professor Eduardo Neale-Silva, a classical music enthusiast who was born in Talca, Chile and came to the United States in 1925.

Lawrence University Pianist, Saxophone Quartet Share Top Honors in State Music Competition

Five Lawrence University music students shared top honors in the 10th annual Neale-Silva Young Artists competition held Sunday, March 7 in Madison.

Pianist Ka Man (Melody) Ng and the Lawrence University Saxophone Quartet were named two of the four winners in the Wisconsin Public Radio-sponsored competition. It was the fifth time in the past seven competitions that Lawrence music students have won or shared top honors in the Neale-Silva, which is open to instrumentalists and vocal performers 17-26 years of age who are either from Wisconsin or attend a Wisconsin college. This year’s competition attracted 34 entries, 13 of which were invited to perform as finalists.

Ng, a freshman from Hong Kong, performed Debussy’s “Suite for the Piano” and Liszt’s “Legend of St. Francis of Paola Walking on the Water.” She is a student in professor Anthony Padilla’s piano studio.

The saxophone quartet — junior Sara Kind of Oshkosh, senior Jacob Teichroew of Silver Spring, Md., senior Bryan Wente of Stillwater, Minn., and senior Rasa Zeltina of Edina, Minn. — performed “Tetraphone” by Lucie Robert. The quartet studies under the direction of professor Steven Jordheim.

In addition to receiving first-place prizes of $250, Ng and the quartet will reprise their winning performances Sunday, March 21 at 2:30 p.m. as part of WPR’s “Live from the Elvehjem” series.

The Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition was established to recognize young Wisconsin performers of classical music who demonstrate an exceptionally high level of artistry and is supported by a grant from the estate of the late University of Wisconsin Madison professor Eduardo Neale-Silva, a classical music enthusiast who was born in Talca, Chile and came to the United States in 1925.