The Ninth Annual
Student Competition Awards in the LaGrange Area
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Callaway Auditorium, LaGrange, GA
The Awards
Five awards of $300.00 will be made, one in each of the performance categories. The awards have been given to honor four young LaGrange musicians who have demonstrated significant musical achievement.
The Ashley Hawkins Award for Keyboard/Percussion Performance Ashley Hawkins, Assistant Conductor for the Young Singers of LaGrange, continues to contribute to musical life in LaGrange as a member of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, as a popular accompanist, as a church organist, and as a piano teacher and solo performer. After graduation from Troup County High School and piano study with Barbara Malls and Wayne Helmly, Ashley completed a degree in music education at Columbus State University where she studied with Betty Ann Diaz. During the summer of 2000 she attended sessions in piano and vocal accompaniment in Salzburg, Austria.
Donors of the award are members of Ashley 's family: her parents, Mike and Susan Hawkins; Max and Marion McCord; and Randy and Stacey Hardigree.
The Emily Wentworth Landa Award for Vocal Performance
After graduating from LaGrange High School where she studied with Marty Davis and, privately, with Anne Duraski, Emily Landa attended Boston University, graduating cum laude, majoring in music and participating in the opera performance program. During the summers, she took part in music programs at Chautauqua, New York, at Tanglewood in Massachusetts, and in the Opera North program at Hanover, New Hampshire. She was twice winner of the Barbara Mallis Award in the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. The mezzo-soprano received a master's degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.
Donors of the award are her parents, Scott and Sue Landa.
The Kathryn Mercer Merrill Award for Wind Instrument Performance
A charter member of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, Katie Merrill played with the Symphony during her junior and senior years at LaGrange High School from the first concert in 1990. A recipient of Governor's Honors and a member of the Georgia All State Orchestra, she participated in summer programs at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, music camp at West Georgia State University and the Southeast Music Center sessions in LaGrange. After high school graduation, the talented oboist attended the University of Florida, pursuing a degree in Telecommunications and Music and playing with the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra. She is presently a reporter/anchor for AOL Time Warner News 14 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Donors of the award are her parents, Taylor and Judy Merrill.
The Emily Katherine Smith Award for String Performance
Emily Katherine Smith played violin in the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra from the fall of 1990, when she was thirteen, to 1995, attending Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan as a violin major during the summers of 1991 through 1995. After graduating from LaGrange Academy, where she was a charter member of the LaGrange Academy Youth Orchestra, she attended the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, on a music performance scholarship. There she played with the Wooster Symphony Orchestra and the Wooster Chamber Orchestra, studied violin with Thomas Wood and earned a degree in Music Therapy. Emily is currently a board-certified music therapist with the Fulton County School System in Atlanta, Georgia.
Donor of the award is Emily's grandmother, Dorothy Hallett Smith. Her parents are Scott and France Smith.
The winners of the SCALA Audition will appear
with the LaGrange Symphony Youth Orchestra
In Concert on Monday, March 7, 2011
in Callaway Auditorium
Eligibility
• Any music student under the age of 19 on the day of the competition who is a resident of the area including Troup, Chambers, Heard, Harris and Meriwether Counties is eligible to apply for the competition.
• Performance may be in the categories of piano, percussion, voice, winds or strings.
Performance Requirements
• The student's selections(s) should display the range of his/her musical ability.
• The student's performance should be no longer than 10 minutes.
• All music should be memorized.
• The student is required to provide his/her own accompanist. An accompanist can be provided for a $25.00 fee.
• One copy of the student's music should be provided for the judge's use.
Application Procedures
• Complete the application form.
• Enclose a non-refundable application fee of $15.00, plus the $25.00 accompanist fee if applicable. The check should be made payable to LaGrange Symphony Orchestra/SCALA.
• Mail completed application and check to: SCALA LaGrange Symphony Orchestra P.O. Box 2321 LaGrange, Georgia 30241
• Postmark Deadline is January 14, 2011
For more details, call 706.880.8351 or e-mail asellman@lagrange.edu
About the Student Competition Awards in the LaGrange Area
In sponsoring this competition, the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra seeks to encourage high standards of musicianship by offering the music student an opportunity
• to perform for judges recognized for their expertise in teaching and performing,
• to receive constructive comments about his/her performance, and
• to compete for an award honoring outstanding performance.
Competition Founder
Dr. Barbara Connally Kaplan
The founder of the Student Competition Awards in the LaGrange Area (SCALA) is Barbara Connally Kaplan, an active member of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors from 1992 to 2005. A LaGrange native, Dr. Kaplan (Professor Emerita, Auburn University) brought to the board thirty-seven years of teaching experience, over seventy years of performance, and extensive experience as a writer and editor of publications in the field of music and music education.
Dr. Kaplan holds the Bachelor of Arts in French with a performing certificate in Voice from Agnes Scott College, a Master of Arts in Music Literature and Voice from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, a Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of South Florida, and the Ph.D. in Music Education from Florida State University. Her performance experience includes several seasons with the Chautauqua Opera Company in New York, roles with the Tampa Lyric Theater and appearances in oratorio and recital through the United States. She has sung under the batons of such notable conductors as Randall Thompson, Pablo Casals, André Kostelanetz, and Wiley Housewright.
*****
Previous Winners
2011
Jieun Jang - The Ashley Hawkins Award for Keyboard/Percussion Performance
Meagan Sharp - The Emily Wentworth Landa Award for Vocal Performance
Leah Bolden - The Kathryn Mercer Merrill Award for Wind Instrument Performance
Christine Yin - The Emily Katherine Smith Award for String Performance
2010
Christine Yin
The Ashley Hawkins Award for Keyboard/Percussion Performance
Philip Botica
The Emily Wentworth Landa Award for Vocal Performance
Roberto Evans - Education Award
The Kathryn Mercer Merrill Award for Wind Instrument Performance
Libby Criswell
The Emily Katherine Smith Award for String Performance
2009
Ashley Hawkins Award - Pearl Kim
Ashley Hawkins Award (Honorable Mention) - Ryan West
Emily Wentworth Landa Award - Brandon Mays
Emily Katherine Smith Award - Lydia Lee
Kathryn Mercer Merrill Award - Leah Bolden
2008
Ashley Hawkins Award - Christine Yin
Emily Landa Award - Brian Anderson
Emily Katherine Smith Award - Leah Farrar
2007
Ashley Hawkins Award - Zack Wright
Emily Katherine Smith Award - Shama Eller
2006
Ashley Hawkins Award - Julia Turner
Emily Katherine Smith Award - Emily Miller
Emily Wentworth Landa Award (tie) - Sharon Coffey & Tyler Brock