Eastman School of Music students and ensembles have garnered prestigious national honors and awards at several annual competitions.
In July, saxophonist Keenan McKoy (BM ‘14) won the national level of the NANM Competition in Los Angeles, Calif., and doctoral student Phil Pierick received third prize in the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition in Bangkok, Thailand.
In the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Performance Competitions, the Finja Quartet, which features saxophonists Ainsley Kilgo (BM ’15), Daniel Stenziano (BM ’15), Tyler Wiessner (BM ’15), and Kevin Zhao (BM ’15), won First Place in the Chamber Music Wind Ensemble division. In that same competition Yiou Li (BM ’17) was awarded First Place in the Senior Performance division for piano, and Thomas Steigerwald (BM ’15) took Third Place in the Young Artist Performance division for piano.
Bassoonist Ivy Ringel (BM ’16) won the 2014 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium.
James Peyden Shelton (DMA) received First Place in the 2014 Blackburn Trumpets Graduate Division at the 2014 National Trumpet Competition.
At the 2014 North American Saxophone Alliance Collegiate Solo Competition, two students earned top honors: Myles Boothroyd (MM ‘15) won First Prize, and Jonathan Wintringham (MM ‘14) won Third Prize.
Saxophonist Alexa Tarantino (BM ’14) was recognized at the Jazz Education Network’s fifth annual conference with the Mary Jo Papich Co-Founder Women in Jazz Scholarship, which acknowledges dedication, talent, leadership, and service within the field of jazz.
Three Eastman guitarists swept the top three places at the 2014 Great Lakes Guitar Competition. Daniel Nistico (DMA), Kahil Sarikey (DMA), and Austin Wahl (BM ‘15) won First, Second, and Third Prize, respectively.
The Eastman Guitar Quartet was selected to perform at the Guitar Foundation of America Convention in California on June 21. This group formed at Eastman, and is comprised of four current graduate students: Sungmin Shin (DMA), Kahil Sarikey (DMA), Michael Mendoza (MM ‘14), and Michael Klein (MM ‘14).
Doctoral students Jason Thorpe Buchanan and John Liberatore were awarded ASCAP’s 2014 Morton Gould Awards. Buchanan received the award for his word “Asymptotic Flux—Second Study in Entropy” for ensemble, and Liberatore was recognized for his work “She rose, and let me in” for solo piano.
Graduate student Su Hyun Kim was a First Place Winner at the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition.
Several students in the Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards Department won competitions which they entered. DMA student Amanda Mole received first prize in two major events, the Arthur Poister National Organ Competition and the John Rodland Memorial National Organ Competition.
DMA student Tom Mueller won first prize in the 2014 Schoenstein Competition in Hymn Playing at Christ Church Cambridge, Mass.
Master’s degree student and organist Thomas Gaynor was awarded first prize in the 2014 Fort Wayne National Organ Playing Competition.
The first prize winner of the West Chester University International Organ Competition was DMA student Brian Glikes.
The 2014 Westfield International Organ competition was won by master’s degree student Malcolm Matthews.
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