a tempo summer2007

Student News

Irina Arbatskaya

Irina Arbatskaya, certificate candidate from Odessa (Maxim Mogilevsky) won the college piano division of the 47th Annual Young Artist Competition sponsored by the Lima Symphony in April 2007. She will solo with the orchestra next season as part of the award. She was a finalist in the 2007 Iowa International Piano Competition in March and she won the Leo Sirota Memorial Award and third prize at the 2007 Corpus Christi International Competition in Corpus Christi, Texas, in February.

Megan Bell, master’s candidate from Columbus, (Myra Merritt) won second place in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs Competition in the voice student division in March.

Nathan Douds, percussion, master’s candidate from Newcastle, Pa., (Dr. Roger Schupp) played on the recording The Surprise of Being-Live at Birdland, released in December 2006. The album was recorded in June 2006 at the end of a four night-stint at the world-renown jazz club in Manhattan. Also performing on the release is Director of Jazz Activities Russell Schmidt.

Elizabeth Hanson, ’05, ’07, master’s candidate from Loveland (Myra Merritt), and Daniel Weber, senior from Bowling Green (David Okerlund), participated in a 10-day tour of Sweden with the Alumni Chamber Choir in June 2007. The group was directed by Dr. Mark Munson.

Octavio Más-Arocas

Octavio Más-Arocas, doctoral candidate from Spain (Dr. Emily Freeman Brown) won the Thelma Robinson Award at the Conductors Guild Conductor Training Workshop for his participation in the Cabrillo Festival Guild Workshop in January (see his full story elsewhere in a tempo).

Mihai Popean, master’s candidate from Romania (Dr. Elainie Lillios) was the first place winner of the 2007 Young Composers Competition sponsored by Craig’s Pianos & Keyboards and the University of Toledo. His piece titled Artemis and the Red Dragon was performed at the 30th Annual Spring Festival of New Music in April at UT.

David Wegehaupt, senior from Glendale, Ariz., (Dr. John Sampen) was awarded a Fulbright Full Scholarship for study with Jean-Michel Goury in Paris next year (see his full story elsewhere in a tempo).

Fifth International Summer Academy & 
Festival (Corfu, Greece) was attended by Irina Arbatskaya; Denielle Buenger, freshman from Holland; Adam Liddle, sophomore from Upper Arlington (Dr. John Sampen); Peter Oehrtman, freshman from Napoleon (Maxim Mogilevsky); Tatiana Shustova, master’s candidate from Russia (Maxim Mogilevsky), and Anton Zotov, freshman from Ukraine (Maxim Mogilevsky).

Charles Bindis, trumpet, sophomore from Garfield Heights (Charles Saenz), and Sarah Roth, trumpet, senior from Akron (Charles Saenz) participated in the 10th Annual National Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall in May 2007

KaCee Booth, Joel Crawford, Charles Saenz, Stefan Stolarchuck, Clinton Webb and Joshua Thompson in Athens

KaCee Booth, master’s candidate from Huntington, W.Va. (Dr. Andrew Pelletier); Joel Crawford, master’s candidate (Charles Saenz); Stefan Stolarchuk, senior from Ann Arbor, Mich. (Dr. William Mathis); Joshua Thompson, master’s candidate from Fairborn (Charles Saenz), and Clinton Webb, junior from Paulding (Timothy Olt), traveled to Greece in Janaury to participate in the 2007 Exploring Brass in Greece Workshop in January. Charles Saenz, performance studies (trumpet) accompanied the students.

Stinj De Cock, senior from Belgium; Tatiana Shustova, and Ilya Blinov, master’s candidate from Russia, were selected for the 2007 Toradze Concerto Institute and Festival in South Bend, Ind., May 7–13. They will also participate in a PBS documentary being produced about the Toradze Piano Studio during the weeklong festival. All three study with Maxim Mogilevsky.

The Estraneo Quartet (Erika Durham, senior from Berea; Emily Bair, master’s candidate from Mandan, S.D.; Carl Wiggins, senior from Clarksburg, Md., and Jessica Simms, senior from Columbus) performed a guest recital on the 2007 U.S. Navy Band Saxophone Symposium at James Madison University in Virginia in January. Members of the quartet study with Dr. John Sampen, Distinguished Artist Professor.

The Estraneo Quartet and saxophonists Jeffrey Heisler, doctoral candidate from Lapeer, Mich.; Joel Diegert, master’s candidate from Vestal, N.Y.; Erika Durham, senior from Berea, and Emily Bair, master’s candidate from Mandan, N.D., all performed on the Region V North American Saxophone Alliance Convention at Vandercook College in Chicago in February. All study with Dr. John Sampen, Distinguished Artist Professor.

Stephen Slivka, senior from Bowling Green (Charles Saenz); Steven Walker, senior from Washington, D.C. (Chris Buzzelli), and Tim Cieplowski, senior from Garfield Heights (Dr. Roger Schupp), participated in the 2007 Ohio IAJE Intercollegiate Jazz Ensemble at the OMEA Professional Conference in February in Columbus.

Graduate String Quartet clockwise from the left: Jesse Griggs, Paris Paraschoudis, Maria Bessmeltseva and Heather Scott

The Terpsichore String Quartet (Graduate String Quartet) composed of violinist Maria Bessmeltseva, master’s candidate from Russia (Vasile Beluska); violinist Paris Paraschoudis, master’s candidate from Greece (Vasile Beluska); violist Jesse Griggs, master’s candidate from Olathe, Kansas (Csaba Erdélyi), and cellist Heather Scott, master’s candidate from Muncie, Ind. (Dr. Alan Smith), were semi-finalist in the 2007 Plowman Chamber Music Competition in Columbia, Mo., in March. Dr. Penny Thompson Kruse and Csaba Erdélyi coached the ensemble for the competition.

Winners of the 2007 Chamber Music Competition in April

Undergraduate Division

• First Place: BGSU Percussion Ensemble Pangea (coach Dr. Roger Schupp)—
Chris Spivey, freshman from Kettering; 
Danny Klohn, freshman from Sandusky, 
and Chris Lennard, freshman from Samaria, Mich.

• Second Place: Floot Loops (coach Nina Assimakopoulos)—
Andrea Avers, sophomore from Clyde; 
Kristen Hoverman, freshman from Van Wert; 
Chelsea Koziatek, freshman from Corning, N.Y., and 
Kelsi Milam, freshman from Newport, Mich.

Graduate Division

• First Place: à tre (coach Dr. Laura Melton)—
I-Chen Yeh, piano, doctoral candidate from Taiwan (Dr. Laura Melton); 
Alina Istic, viola, master’s candidate from Romania (Csaba Erdéyli), and 
Michael Hsin-en Liu, flute (Nina Assimakopoulos)

• Second Place: Rubix Saxophone Quartet (coach Dr. John Sampen)—
David Babich, senior from Amherst; 
Michael Van Pelt, master’s candidate from Maineville; 
Chris Chmielewski, senior from East Lyme, Conn., and 
Susan Poirier, master’s candidate from Wintersville

Audience Choice Awards

• Undergraduate Division: BGSU Percussion Ensemble Pangea (coach Dr. Roger Schupp)

• Graduate Division: Rokoko (coach Dr. Laura Melton)—
Yeji Kim, master’s candidate from China (Nina Assimakopoulos); 
Ovidiu Corneau, senior from Romania (Dr. Susan Hatch Tomkiewicz), 
and Jiung Yoon, master’s candidate from Seoul (Dr. Laura Melton)

Winners of the 2007 Dr. Marjorie Conrad Peatee Art Song Competition in March

Undergraduate Division

• First Place: Sarah Flammer, soprano (Commerce, Mich.) and Stijn De Cock, piano (Belgium).

• Second Place: Marcus Bedinger, tenor (Trotwood) and Casie Dietrich, piano (Genoa).

• Third Place: Jenny Meggitt, soprano (Temperance, Mich.) and Stijn De Cock, piano (Belgium).

Graduate Division

• First Place: Courtney Cleveland, mezzo-soprano (Louisville, Ky.) and I-Chen Yeh, piano (Taiwan).

• Second Place: Elizabeth Hansen, mezzo-soprano (Loveland) and Meggie Young, piano (Chaska, Minn.).

• Third Place: Marlayna Maynard, soprano (Dunlow, W.Va.) and Yee Von Ng, piano.