The 2018 Birmingham Music Club Guild Scholarship Auditions were held on Saturday, March 3 at Birmingham-Southern College. Thirty-four students entered the competition from 7 different Alabama Colleges and Universities (UAB, Samford, UA, Judson, JSU, Montevallo and Auburn). Awards were given in three categories: Piano, Instrumental, and Voice. First Place winners received $2,000, and Second Place winners, $1,500. In addition, the Walter Sechriest Best Performance Award was given for $1,000 for the overall winner. The scholarship awards will be used during the 2018-2019 academic year toward music studies at their respective Alabama Universities.
Myra Walker, Christopher Farley, Deborah Olivier
Scholarship Winners for this year were:
PIANO:
- First Place and Best Overall: Mira Walker, a sophomore at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and student and Yakov Kasman
- Second Place: Olivia Jones, a junior at Samford University and student of Ronald Shinn
VOICE:
- First Place: Christopher Farley, a senior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and student of Won Cho
- Second Place: Abigayle Williams, a sophomore at the University of Alabama and student of Susan Williams
INSTRUMENTAL:
- First Place: Deborah Olivier, violin, a freshman at the University of Alabama and students of Jenny Gregoire
- Second Place: Nikolai Klotchkov, saxophone, a senior at Auburn University and student of Michael Pendowski
- Honorable Mention: Blake Adams, saxophone, a sophomore at the University of Alabama and student of Jonathan Noffsinger
Our Judges:
Piano Judges: Dr. Joshua Pifer from Auburn and Dr. Melodyu Ng from UAH
Voice Judges: Dr. Christopher Puckett from UAH and Dr. Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw from BSC
Instrumental Judges: Viljar Weiman from A&M and Music Director/Conductor of the Orchestra Sul Ponticello and Kelly Newport, professional oboist and graduate of the Juilliard School
The judges were highly complimentary of the talent they heard! And all enjoyed the warm and welcoming reception from the wonderful Guild volunteers and the fabulous lunches and refreshments, all so enticingly displayed! Scholarship cochairs Margery Whatley and Linda Pope would like to give special thanks to Guild members Judy Anderson, Elaine Clark, Sandra Eichelberger, Nancy Morrow, and Powell Owens for volunteering at the auditions and to Angie Holder who arranged for and provided the delicious and generous lunches from Honey Baked Ham for our volunteers and judges! It was also a delight and a great help to have BSC students assisting throughout the day and serving as pages.
The First-Place winners impressed us all with their outstanding performances at the April 6 Spring Luncheon! We look forward to next year’s Scholarship Auditions, scheduled for Saturday, March 9, 2019 at BSC!
