Students Excel in Performance, Scholarship Competitions

Faculty members in the College of Music at Michigan State University are committed to developing and supporting the personal creative expression of each and every student. The highly creative environment that characterizes the college’s programs encourages students to be fearless in exploring the frontiers of their art and profession. It’s an environment that nurtures the highest level of excellence, recognized by other musical professionals across the nation and throughout the world.

Fedor Amosov, cello student and native of Moscow, Russia, won first place at the 52nd annual WAMSO Young Artist Competition in January 2008 and first place for strings at the 38th Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings in February 2008. Amosov, who studies with Suren Bagratuni, received $7,500 in WAMSO awards as well as the $500 Vincent R. Bastien Memorial Cello Award. In winning the WAMSO competition, Amosov earned a performance with the Minnesota Orchestra and a solo recital performance with the Schubert Club of St. Paul. The highly selective Corpus Christi competition awarded him $5,000 for his win over 39 other performers.

Alto saxophonist and jazz studies master's student Lynn Gruenewald, a student of Diego Rivera, was the sole recipient of the "Outstanding Musician" award at the 41st Elmhurst Jazz Festival, where 32 universities were represented. She currently lives in New York City as a freelance jazz musician and arranger.

The H2 Quartet took first place in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Wind Division in May 2007. The quartet members, all College of Music saxophone performance graduate students who study with Joseph Lulloff, are Jeffrey Loeffert, soprano saxophone; Geoffrey Deibel, alto saxophone; Jonathan Nichol, tenor saxophone; and Kim Goddard, baritone saxophone. In their competition program, the group played works by Bozza, Florio, Gotkovski, Penderecki, and Piazzolla. The competition, held in South Bend, Indiana, featured chamber music groups from colleges, universities, and conservatories throughout the United States. The group placed above a woodwind quintet from Yale and a brass quintet from Boston University.

DMA piano student Vakhtang Kodanashvili, who studies with George Vatchnadze, won third prize at the New Orleans International Piano Competition in July 2008. He was one of twelve semifinalists selected from 105 applicants representing 26 countries. A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, Kodanashvili won a $5,000 prize and will perform in concert with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009. Kodanashvili began studying piano at the Z. Paliashvili Georgian School of Music at the age of six. Before coming to MSU, he studied with Alexander Toradze at Indiana University–South Bend. Kodanashvili has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras and has won several international piano competitions.

Julie Neal, a graduate student who studies with Caroline Hartig, finished first in the Music Teachers National Association's (MTNA) State Collegiate Young Artist Woodwind Solo Competition in November 2008. The competition featured Michigan woodwind artists ranging from 18-26 years old.

Neal will compete against other Woodwind Solo Competition winners from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin in the next round at the Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio, on January 16-18.

Visit the MTNA website for more information regarding the Woodwind Solo Compeition.

Navjot Sandhu, a master’s student in composition, received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in India during the 2008–09 academic year. While in India, Sandhu will study tabla (percussion) performance in the style of Indian Punjab with Pandit Tilak Raj Chandel. He also will research the compositions and life of Ustad Abbas Khan, one of Tilak Raj Chandel’s teachers. Considered one of the most prestigious award programs, the Fulbright program operates in 144 countries and claims 37 Nobel Prize winners among its alumni.

Edisher Savitski, doctoral student in piano performance and winner of the Third Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, is emerging as one of the top pianists of his generation. As grand prizewinner, Savitski received a cash prize of $25,000, a Yamaha Disklavier grand piano, and a CD recording opportunity with the Ten Thousand Lakes label. A native of the Republic of Georgia, Savitski has performed at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, New York; Mozarteum, Salzburg; Wigmore Hall, London; and Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg. He has also performed at other venues in Japan, Israel, and New Zealand and throughout Europe and the United States. He has appeared in major music festivals, including the Salzburg Festival, Austria; the Ruhr Festival, Germany; the Ravenna and Stresa Festivals, Italy; and the Gilmore Keyboard Festival. His performances have often been broadcast on television and radio, including National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” Savitski studies with George Vatchnadze.

Anton Shelepov, a doctoral student in violin performance studying with Walter Verdehr, placed first in the William Byrd-Flint Symphony Competition in March 2008. Competing against more than 30 talented musicians, Shelepov was awarded a $6,000 cash prize as well as the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Flint Symphony in April 2009. The William Byrd-Flint Symphony Competition is cosponsored by the St. Cecilia Society and the Flint Institute of Music.

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