BOWLING GREEN, O. -- Ryoichi Tamaki, a master's degree candidate at Bowling Green State University's College of Musical Arts, has won the national 2003 Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Brass Competition.

The MTNA student competitions are held annually for elementary through college students. The three-tiered competitions begin at state level where first-place winners advance to one of seven division competitions. This year, each division winner qualified to compete at the National Conference held on March 15-19 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Tamaki, who is from Hokkaido, Japan, studies tuba with Velvet Brown and holds a bachelor's degree from the Tokyo College of Music. He won the regional brass division of the Collegiate Competition in last year's MTNA competition and was principal tubist of the Pacific Music Festival in 2002 and the Kyoto International Music Students Festival Orchestra in 1999. He twice won first prize in the Harvey G. Phillips Memorial Tuba Solo Competition and currently plays in the Bowling Green Philharmonia.

Tamaki's success continues with his recent appointment as principal tubist in the prestigious 2003 National Repertory Orchestra program in Breckenridge, Colo. Founded in 1960 by the late Walter Charles, the orchestra performs in residence at the Breckenridge Music Festival. A non-profit organization, the orchestra's primary mission is to train talented young musicians for seats in symphonic orchestras throughout the United States and abroad.

Each summer, approximately 86 musicians are chosen in a nationwide audition tour to participate in the intense symphonic orchestral experience.

(Posted April 13, 2003 )