Student Achievements

Eric Amouzou (Ph.D., church music) was selected as a recipient of one of the Baylor Graduate School's Summer Dissertation Fellowships, which will allow him to write his dissertation full-time over the summer. This fellowship is highly competitive; last year, it was awarded to only six humanities Ph.D. students. This recognition by the Baylor Graduate School is a testament to the wider importance of Amouzou's dissertation research on the music of West African immigrant churches.

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Emily Bohmer (B.M.E., choral) presented her research study, "Singers Self-Assessment of Vocal Health Knowledge and Hydration Practices," at Louisiana State University's Discover Day, a national undergraduate research symposium, in April. Emily's faculty mentor is Dr. Kelly Jo Hollingworth, assistant professor of Music Education.

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Laurel Engelhardt (B.M., performance, piano) won the Adam's Music House Fellowship in Austin, TX. She will be performing a lecture recital on the early music of Claude Debussy next fall. Laurel is a student of Dr. Bradley Bolen.

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Alan Hollinger (B.A., church music) presented a solo vocal recital, A Lover's Journey: Reconsidering Love in Light of Marion, as a research project for the National Conference for Undergraduate Research at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in April. The research was supervised by his applied professor, Dr. Kimberly Monzón, assistant professor of voice. Alan also will be singing the role of Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with the Vocal Academy of Opera in Bodrum, Turkey, this summer.

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Caroline Lee (M.M., performance, voice) appeared as a semifinalist in the Dallas Opera Guild Lone Star Vocal Competition. She was one of 18 vocalists chosen among hundreds of applicants to sing and compete on stage at the Winspear Opera House in March. Caroline is a student of Dr. Jamie Van Eyck.

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Adekunle Oyeniyi (Ph.D., church music) has been selected to present at the Hymn Society's 2023 Emerging Scholars Forum. Only three graduate students are chosen as Emerging Scholars each year, and many go on to have their papers published as articles in the peer-reviewed journal The Hymn.

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Keenan Peet (B.M., applied music, violin) won a full scholarship to the prestigious Meadowmount Festival in New York this summer. Keenan is a student of Patricia Shih, associate professor of violin.

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Mateusz Perz (M.M., performance, piano) performed in the Weatherford International Piano Competition finals in the Weatherford College Marjorie Alkek Performing Arts Center, Weatherford, TX. There were more than 80 contestants and Mateusz was one of only 12.

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The Baylor Opera Theatre has advanced as a national semifinalist for The American Prize in the category Opera Production, college/university division. Best of luck, BOT!

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The Bass Studio has had a lot of successes and here are some highlights!
Colin Roberts (B.M., performance) was a semi-finalist at the San Antonio Young Artists Competition and will attend the Texas Music Festival this summer (five of the eight spots in this festival were given to Baylor students).
Rauno Meneses-Halmari (B.M., performance) received a full tuition scholarship to the 2023 Aspen Music Festival and was accepted to the Texas Music Festival. Rauna also will attend Music Academy of the West this summer.
Finnegan Powers (B.M., performance) will attend National Repertory Orchestra this summer and was named an International Society of Bassists semi-finalist in the Orchestral Competition. Finnegan will continue in the competition this summer at the University of Michigan along with Davis Pierson.
Davis Pierson (B.M., applied music) was accepted to the National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottowa, Ontario) and has scheduled performances with the Houston and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras. He will attend the Verbier Festival (Verbier, Switzerland) this summer and was named an International Society of Bassists semi-finalist in the Orchestral Competition. Davis will continue in the competition this summer at the University of Michigan along with Finnegan Powers.
Kody Cardamone (B.M., applied music) will attend the National Repertory Orchestra this summer.
Monet Markle (B.M., applied music) was accepted to the Prisma (British Columbia) and Texas Music Festivals.
Max Winningham (M.M., performance and composition) was the winner of the 2022 International Society of Bassists/David Walter Composition Competition for Unaccompanied Solo Bass and will performance his winning piece at the ISB convention this summer.
Sariah Keller (M.M., performance) will attend the International Chamber Academy of Southern Germany this summer.

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The Early Music Ensemble performed an outreach concert at the Moody Library to share both its musical and intellectual presentation of the program with the larger Baylor community. The program was titled "Music fo the Sun King" and was performed by Maya Johnson (early violin), Yerim Hwang (early violin), Brinne Peters (early violin), Abigail Garner (early recorder and flauto dolce), Sebastian Penso (early recorder and flauto dolce) and Seth Weeks (harpsichord). The Early Music Ensemble is directed by Associate Professor of Musicology, Jann Cosart, D.M.A.

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It was a great year for the Baylor Horns! The students arranged popular music to be played by its horn choir and created an outreach program suitable for younger audiences and performed at River Valley Middle School. Blake Moreland, junior in performance, recently won an audition for Principal horn with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and six members of the studio will attend prestigious music programs this summer. Blake Moreland will attend the Music Academy of the west; Lucas Hamilton and Javier Hernandez will attend the Pierre Monteaux Music Festival; and McKenna Babcock, Addison Jones, and Kaitlyn Jones will attend the Sewanee Music Festival.

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Lux Brass won second place in the inaugural National Brass Quintet Competition held at Texas State University. Three more student brass quintets also competed in the event: Minimum Wage Brass, Express Brass, and [redacted] Brass.
Lux Brass: Johniel Nájera (B.M.E. '24, trumpet), Alison Marseglia (B.M. '24, trumpet), Blake Moreland (B.M. '24, horn), Mark Bennett (B.M. '24, trombone), and Hutch Dunn (B.M. '24, tuba).
Minimum Wage Brass: Matthew Burn (M.M. '24), Mario Mojica (B.M. '23), Lucas Hamilton (M.M. '24), Jacob Roland (M.M. '24), and Isaiah Buzdygon (M.M. '23)
Express Brass: Jacob Lira (B.M.E. '25), Camden Smith (B.M.E. '25), Mckenna Babcock (B.M.E. '25), Noah Davies (B.M. '25), Brady Connor (B.M.E. '26)
[redacted] Brass: Paul Stancampiano (B.M. '25), Alan Wemhoff (B.M. '23), Abby Powell (B.M.E. '24), Grant Hayes (B.M.E. '24), Conor Wilson (B.M. '24)

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The Saxophone Studio performed and participated in the Region 4 Conference of the North American Saxophone Alliance in April! Three quartets performed—Script Quartet, Viridis Quartet, and Impetus Quartet, and soloists included graduate students Zach Lancaster and Cole Allex, and undergraduates Paige Nielsen and Dylan King, all collaborating with Dr. Cameron Hofmann of the Baylor Collaborative Piano area.

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The Baylor Saxophone Ensemble, under the direction of adjunct saxophone instructor Matt Singletary, performed an arrangement of "Death Waltz" by graduate student Mitch Gilly, and Joel Love's "Aerial Vignette" for saxophone ensemble and soloist (Dr. Michael Jacobson). This was only the second performance of Love's work—the premiere was given by the Timber Creek High School Saxophone Ensemble under the direction of Baylor alumnus Daniel Malacon, also with Jacobson as soloist, at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago at their last meeting before the pandemic in December of 2019. The piece was commissioned and written for Timber Creek and Jacobson for this occasion.

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Baylor's Trombone Studio has lots of great news to share!
Conor Wilson (B.M., applied music, bass trombone) from El Paso, TX, was named one of three finalists for the International Trombone Association's "Kleinhammer Orchestral Bass Trombone Competition." This is Wilson's second year to place in this prestigious competition. Finalists were chosen internationally by a panel of distinguished judges through a recorded round of challenging orchestral excerpts for bass trombone. The final round will consist of a live audition round with excerpts from both the prelim and final round to include a Bach Cello Suite. He will travel to Salt Lake City Utah this July to compete in the final round at the International Trombone Festival held at the University of Utah. Additionally, this past January, he was the winner of the Big XII Yamaha Xeno Bass Trombone Solo competition held at Texas Tech University.
Mark Bennett (B.M., applied music, tenor trombone) was also a finalist in the Big XII Trombone Solo Competition tenor trombone competition.
Mark Bennett and Jacob Roland (B.M., applied music) advanced to the semifinal round in the Dallas Winds section trombone audition this past November.

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Hundreds of trumpeters from across the nation gathered at CU-Boulder to perform individually and in ensembles for the annual National Trumpet Competition. All 15 members of the Baylor Trumpet Studio competed in the ensemble division and nine performed in individual events. Congratulations to junior Alison Marseglia for advancing to the final three and winning 1st Prize in the Denny Edelbrock Military Band Excerpt Division and to freshman Mason Stokes for advancing to the semi-finals of the solo division. Baylor Gold won 3rd prize in the Small Ensemble Division competing with 38 other ensembles. This was the 13th win for Baylor Trumpets since 2009. The members of Baylor Gold are Jacob Lira (sophomore B.M.E.), Alison Marseglia (junior B.M.), Mario Mojica (senior B.M.), Camden Smith (sophomore B.M.E.), Mason Stokes (freshman B.M.) and Alan Wemhoff (senior B.M.).