2018 Competition Winners

PRESS RELEASE

May 27, 2018

2018 Competition Winners

The National Society of Arts and Letters has awarded over $80,000 for Music, Art, Voice and Literature to outstanding young performers in the National Annual Music: Woodwinds Competition, the Winston Visual Art and Classical Voice Scholarships, the CalArts Award, the NSAL/ School of the Arts Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Visual Art Scholarships and the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio Scholarships. Awards were made at the Annual Meeting in Chautauqua, New York, May 21-27, 2018.

Five outstanding young winners in the NSAL National Music Competition:

There were three first place ward winners –

Giorgio Consolati, representing the Greater New York Chapter, won the National Society of Arts and Letters First Place Award of $12,000. Mr. Consolati is completing his Bachelor of Music at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Carol Wincenc, where he is the first recipient of the prestigious Kovner Fellowship ever awarded to a flutist. He is also a winner of the 2018 Juilliard Concerto Competition. Giorgio is a laureate of many competitions, including the Emanuele Krakamp, Leonardo De Lorenzo and the New York Flute Club.

Hae Jee (Ashley) Cho, representing the New Jersey Chapter, won the National Society of Arts and Letters First Place Award of $12,000. Ms. Cho is pursuing her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree as a five-year accelerated student at the Juilliard School, studying with Carol Wincenc. A passionate soloist, she was the first prize winner at the 2018 Flute Society of Washington Collegiate Competition, and second place winner at the 2018 New York Flute Young Artist Competition.

Ryan Roberts, representing the Greater Arizona Chapter, won the National Society of Arts and Letters First Place Award of $12,000. Mr. Roberts recently premiered Michael Torke’s Oboe Concertino with the Albany Symphony, and recorded the work for Albany Records. As a fourth year undergraduate Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School, Ryan studies with Elaine Douvas, performs frequently as principal oboist of the Juilliard Orchestra, and has been a substitute in the Metropolitan Opera. Ryan will join the New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami, Florida in the fall.

Alison Fierst, representing the Pittsburgh Chapter, won the Derek Oppen Second Place Award of $6,000. Ms. Fierst earned her Bachelor’s in Flute Performance at Carnegie Mellon University. At CMU she performed with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under the direction of Andres Cardenes. Alison is pursuing her Master’s in Orchestral Performance at the Manhattan School of Music. Recently she won second place in the 2017 National Flute Association Young Artists Competition in Minneapolis, Minnesota as well as first place in the 2017 Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia Young Artist Competition.

Li-Jie Yu, representing the Bloomington Chapter, won the Jean St. Germaine and Fran Goldstein Third Place Award of $4,000. Ms. Yu was born in Taipei, Taiwan and received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Taipei National University of the Arts. She won several competition awards in Taiwan. Li-Jie recently received her Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University in April 2018, and will start in the program, Artist Diploma (with Associated Instructorship position) in the Jacobs School of Music in fall 2018.

Judges for the competition:

William Ludwig joined the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as Professor of Bassoon in August 2007 and was appointed Chair of the Woodwind Department in 2010. Previous to this appointment he had been Professor of Bassoon at Louisiana State University. Since 2002 Professor Ludwig has been in residence at the Brevard Music Center as principal bassoon of the Brevard Music Center Orchestra and artist-teacher faculty.

Charles Neidich is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music, The Juilliard School, The Manhattan School, the CUNY Graduate Center and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College where he conducts their Chamber Orchestra. An Ardent exponent of new music and a composer himself, Professor Neidich has expanded the technical possibilities of the clarinet and has championed works of many of the world’s most important composers. Charles Neidich was awarded the National Society of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Music
at the Awards Banquet.

Mark Ostoich has been a Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM) faculty member since 1996. In connection with CCM, Professor Ostoich has served as artist-faculty of the CCM Spoleto Festival in Spoleto, Italy, as well as the Lucca Festival and Opera Theater of Lucca, Italy and CCM’s Grandin Festival. Ostoich was formerly professor of oboe at Louisiana State University, the University of Florida, the University of Texas and Ohio University.

Carol Wincenc continues more than quarter of a century on the faculties of The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University having mentored and graduated countless rising flute stars commanding principal flute positions in major symphony orchestras and university professorships. Professor Wincenc is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association, as well as the 2014 recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Music. She has premiered numerous works and delighted audiences around the world.

California Institute of the Arts Scholarship Recipient:

The National Society of Arts and Letters provides scholarships to talented students to attend the California Institute of the Arts. Mayahuel “Maya” Rosado received a scholarship for a second year. She was awarded $6,100.00 which helped to reduce the burden of educational debt in her fourth and final year in the Art Program at CalArts; it also allowed Maya to focus on her studies. In May, Maya received her BFA with a major in Photography and Media and a minor in Humanities. Maya wrote: “This scholarship has enabled me to learn how to make space for myself in the world. Without this funding, I would still be making art, but I would not have the tools necessary to participate in the critical conversations about artmaking today. Thank you so much for the opportunity to further my education as a brown, Native woman claiming her space in higher education.”

The Winston Scholarship recipients:

Lindsey Reynolds (19), representing the Pittsburgh Chapter, who received the first place Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship in Classical Voice, performed for the organization’s Annual Meeting. She has completed her sophomore year at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Marlena Malas. Ms. Reynolds made her debut as Monica in Menotti’s The Medium, a production of Curtis Institute of Music and Opera at the Perelman Theater in Philadelphia. In July 2018, Lindsey will be performing the role of Adina in L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti at Chautauqua’s Voice Program in Chautauqua, New York. Lindsey has presented on National Public Radio’s From the Top, is a recipient of a Jack Cooke Young Artist Award and a finalist for the National YoungArts Foundation. Lindsey received a $2,100 scholarship.

Pearson Chambers (19), representing the Washington, DC Chapter, is one of ten finalists of the 2018 Naomi Winston Scholarship in Two-Dimensional Art. He was selected as the featured artist to show his work at the Annual Meeting in Chautauqua. Pearson, is a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts in Baltimore, Maryland where he is majoring in painting with a minor in art education. He will begin his junior year studying in South Africa. Pearson received a $2,000 scholarship.

First Kathy Morgan Lee Scholarship Winner of the NSAL/ School of the Art Institute of Chicago Scholarship:

Elmi Ventura Mata received a Naomi Winston Visual Art Scholarship, representing the Ohio River Valley Chapter in 2015. While an undergraduate at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Elmi was invited to attend a one-week studio intensive in Los Angeles. During the one-week residency, he produced a series of drawings and was given first hand guidance and instruction in museums such as the Getty Art Center, the Hammer and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. After graduating from the Cleveland Institute of the Art in 2016 with a painting and drawing major, Elmi was awarded a Future Faculty Fellowship at Temple University’s Tyler School of the Art. In 2017 he received a $3000 scholarship to attend two, one-week intensive workshops at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago last August. For the fall semester of his senior year, he lived and worked in Rome at Temple University’s campus. Elmi received his master’s degree in May, 2018. He has found the perfect studio so that he can continue to live and work in Philadelphia.

Iowa Young Writer’ Studio Scholarship recipients:

Winners of the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio Scholarships are: Ana Maria Cornejo-Silva (11th Grade) from Denver, CO, and Anastasia Farley (12th Grade) from Baltimore, MD. There were five students recommended by the IYWS faculty who screen the applications first. NSAL judges review the prose and poetry submitted and make the final decision. Each student received $3000. Serving as judges In addition to Chair Carey Wall were Donald Lystra, Judy Park, and Joy Thornton Walter.

The next NSAL Annual Meeting and Drama Competition will be held in Washington, DC, where there will also be a 75th Anniversary Celebration. May 28 – June 2, 2019. For more information about the organization, see the National Society of Arts and Letters national website: www.arts-nsal.org.