April 2017

Month: April 2017

Lawrence students win pair of music competitions

Two Lawrence University students finished first in a pair of recent music competitions.

A head shot of Lawrence student Sam Buse
Junior Sam Buse

Sam Buse, a junior from La Mesa, Calif., earned first-place honors in the first round of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) Regional Young Organists Competition conducted at First United Methodist Church in Glendale, Calif. He received $1,000 for his winning performance and advances to the AGO’s regional convention June 10 in Salt Lake City. The competition is open to competitors up to 24 years of age.

Competitors are required to play four selections during a 45-minute performance. Buse played the hymn “In Babilone,” Frank Ferko’s “Mass for Dedication,” J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor “Dorian” and Max Reger’s “Introduction and Passacaglia in D Minor.” He studies with university organist Kathrine Handford.

Jessica Castleberry, a senior from Dillon, Colo., won the 2017 Wisconsin Music Teachers Association (WMTA) Badger Collegiate Performance Competition conducted at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc. She received $200 for her winning performance.

The competition is open to pianists, instrumentalists and vocalists. Each is required to perform three different pieces from three contrasting musical eras.

A head shot of Lawrence student Jessica Castleberry
Senior Jessica Castleberry

Castleberry played Mozart’s “Piano Sonata’ in G major, Chopin’s “Polonaise” in F-sharp minor and Debussy’s “Images Book 1.” Maria Santos, a freshman from Princeton, N.J., and Christian Vallery, a sophomore from Hampton, Iowa, tied for second place in the WMTA Badger Competition. All three study in the piano studio of Professor Catherine Kautsky.

Castleberry is the second straight Lawrentian to win the WMTA Badger Competition after sophomore Neil Krzeski earned first-place honors in 2016.

Ming Hu, a sophomore from Changsha, China, earned honorable mention honors in the piano at the annual Schubert Club Student Scholarship Competition conducted at St. Catherine’s University in Minnesota. The competition features divisions for piano, strings, brass, woodwinds and guitar. Hu is a student of Kautsky’s.

Five other Lawrence pianists advanced to the Schubert competition finals: Gabrielle Claus, Milou De Meij, Xiaoya Gao, Krzeski and Tammy Li.

Liam Mayo, a piano student in the Lawrence Academy of Music from Green Bay who studies with Lawrence Professor Anthony Padilla, won first place honors in the Schubert competition’s high school division.

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 book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.”  Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

The Garden of Humanity: Lawrence International Cabaret celebrates the beauty of diversity

The beauty and richness of the world’s diverse heritage will be celebrated April 8-9 in two performances of Lawrence University’s 41st annual International Cabaret.A photo of Japanese dancers in traditional clothing.

Representing more than 30 countries, 125 Lawrence students showcase their native cultures through dance, music and fashion in performances Saturday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 9 at 3 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center. A free reception follows Sunday’s performance at 5 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center.

Tickets, at $10 for adults, $5 for students/children (age four and under are free), are available online  or through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749. In addition to its normal hours, the box office will be open one hour prior to Sunday’s performance.

This year’s theme for Cabaret, “The Garden of Humanity,” reflects the organizers vision of people of different races and cultures as flowers, each uniquely beautiful in their own individual way.

A black student singing wearing traditional African clothing.“For the international community at Lawrence, Cabaret gives us an incredible opportunity to show a little glimpse of where we are from and encourage others to learn more about it,” said Tamanna Akram, a junior from Dhaka, Bangladesh and current president of Lawrence International.

“Everyone involved puts in an enormous amount of time and effort to share a piece of their culture,” Akram added. “It’s amazing to see how involved everyone is as they work together as a team for months to make this show a success. It is a collaborative effort by Lawrentians with different interests and backgrounds, but when they take the stage, they have one goal: to make Cabaret a success.”

In addition to a pair of fashion shows featuring traditional clothing from the students’ home countries, Cabaret will include 14 performances.

Among this years acts will be “Ode to Beauty,” a dance that will transport the audience to the beauty of the southern Yangtze River in China, a singer-pianist duo performing a German song that incorporates lyrics from many famous songs, Nepalese dances that fuse folk, traditional and modern styles, a song that melds elements of classical Indian music with modern, fast-paced rhythms, the totem birds dance, which celebrates the rich history of the Vietnamese agrarian society and the always-popular K-pop dance showcasing modern Korean dance.

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 book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.”  Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.