Student Achievements
2023 Aria Competition winners from left to right: tenor Davian Raggio, Bethany Self (guest judge), soprano Emily Perry and baritone Alan Saldaña.
Hunter Bellows (B.M.E., instrumental music, euphonium) won the Gold Medal in the Artist Euphonium division of the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Competition, held at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. The top finish earned him a cash prize of $2,800. As a previous gold medalist in the Student Euphonium division in 2021, Hunter joined his professor, Kent Eshelman, D.M.A., professor of euphonium and tuba, as one of only 11 musicians to win both artist and student divisions in the competition's 38-year history.
-----
Mauricio Castillo (B.M., performance, clarinet) attended Brevard Music Center (BMC) over the summer. BMC stands as one of this country’s premier summer training programs and festivals. More than 500 gifted students attend the Center every summer to study with a distinguished faculty of more than 80 artists from the nation's leading orchestras, colleges and conservatories.
-----
Congratulations to Nathan Denman (B.M.E., instrumental music, clarinet), who has been selected to perform at Midwest in Chicago this December. Denman is currently student teaching at Keller Middle and High Schools.
-----
Finley Jones (B.M., performance, clarinet) attended the Buffet Crampon Summer Clarinet Academy. The mission of the Buffet Crampon USA Summer Clarinet Academy is to offer an outstanding summer educational clarinet seminar to talented student clarinetists. A low student teacher ratio offers a unique opportunity for students to live and work closely with the internationally acclaimed Artist Faculty in a unique and intimate setting.
-----
As a result of her success at the Texoma Regional Conference competition this summer, soprano Monica Malas (B.M., church music) travelled to San Diego, CA, where she competed in the finals of the National Association of Teachers of Singing student auditions and placed second in the nation.
-----
Senior trumpet performance major Alison Marseglia (B.M. ’23, applied music, trumpet), after a rigorous process, has won the audition for a rare opening in the U.S. Coast Guard Band’s trumpet section. Having grown up in Connecticut and hearing this premiere band regularly while studying with 1st Trumpeter and Baylor graduate Gino Villarreal (BM ’02), Alison has always considered this her dream job. She will join the band after graduating in December. Since coming to Baylor in 2020, Alison has worked diligently and faithfully. She has performed principal and supportive roles in the Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble and has been active in the Jazz Ensemble, Baylor Gold Trumpet Ensemble, and Lux Brass. Her consistent successes, particularly in the spring semester of 2023, testify to Alison’s musical growth and prowess in individual and collaborative efforts. After winning 1st Prize in the National Trumpet Competition’s Denny Edlebrock Military Band Excerpt Division at the University of Colorado, Alison then placed 1st in the International Trumpet Guild’s Orchestral Excerpt Division in Minneapolis. Baylor Gold won 3rd Prize in NTC’s Small Ensemble Division and Lux Brass, a like-minded brass quintet established by Alison and four other freshmen in 2020, performed at the convention of the Texas Music Educators Association. Lux Brass then won 2nd Prize in two inaugural competitions, The National Brass Quintet Competition and the Chamber Music Division of ITG’s Ryan Anthony Memorial Competition. Alison has also performed with the symphony orchestras of Waco and Austin and in several notable professional concerts in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Alison has been in residence at the Brevard Music Festival this summer and looks forward to savoring her final semester in the School of Music with her colleagues in the Baylor Trumpet Studio. A nature lover, Alison enjoys hiking, beach combing, photography, kayaking and gardening. When asked about the first thing she plans on doing after moving to the New London area, Alison answered easily – “Get a cat!” Congratulations, and sic ‘em, Alison!
-----
As the winner of the 2023 International Trombone Festival (ITF) Edward Kleinhammer Competition, Conor Wilson (B.M., applied music) traveled to New York and Boston to study with legendary masters at the trombone George Curran, bass trombonist of the New York Philharmonic and James Markey, bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony last month. Wilson was one of only three trombonists selected to perform live at the ITF from a preliminary recorded round from a world-wide pool of applicants. Sic ‘em, Conor!
-----
Three student winners were chosen in the second annual Baylor Aria Competition held in Jones Concert Hall on Tuesday, September 12. The winners are soprano Emily Perry, tenor Davian Raggio and baritone Alan Saldaña. Their competition pianist was Dr. Corinne Penner. All singers performed their aria with Maestro Harth-Bedoya and the Baylor Symphony Orchestra on October 10 in Jones Concert Hall. This year’s guest judge was Ms. Bethany Self, Principal Coach in Opera Studies at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. Previously she was on music staff for eight years at Houston Grand Opera where she was the assistant conductor and principal coach for mainstage productions.
-----
The Baylor University Clarinet Choir performed on the memorial concert celebrating the life of the late Dr. Richard Shanley in Roxy Grove Recital Hall on October 1. The beautiful memorial brought in people from all over the country to honor Shanley.
-----
Our Bears from the horn studio were out and about the country this summer! Mckenna Babcock, Addison Jones and Kaitlyn Jones performed and studied at the Sewanee Summer Music festival in Memphis, TN; Lucas Hamilton and Javier Hernandez represented Baylor at the Pierre Monteaux Music Festival in Hancock, ME; and Blake Moreland performed at The Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA. Sic ‘em, Horns!
-----
This past May, the Baylor University Men’s Choir took a 15-day trip to Kenya to experience culture and share music with the people there. Under the direction of Randall Bradley, D.M.A., the choir traveled around the country singing pieces in Kenya’s national language of Swahili while also having the privilege to hear songs from folks who are native to the country. The Men’s Choir visited a remote village known as Komolion where they ran a medical clinic, installed solar panels in a school building, and taught the kids to play Duck, Duck, Goose. The Kenyan people’s constant praise of the Lord was truly inspiring for the choir, and so they seek to bring that praise back here in America as they continue singing about the gospel and the universal joy of Jesus’s love.