NewsRelease

(Posted 4-21-04)
Contact: Tiffany Aumann, 336-334-5371
 
UNCG Music Students Selected for Salzburg Program
 
GREENSBORO – For the first time ever, five graduate music students at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro have been selected to study in Salzburg, Austria, through the University of Miami’s School of Music at Salzburg. The UM program, which coincides with the famous Salzburg Music Festival, takes place July 10 through Aug. 14.

Selected from UNCG are Chenny Gan, Brett Hodgdon, Carmine Mann, Laura Poe and Nana Wolfe. All five students study in the studio of Dr. Andrew Harley, an associate professor of piano in the School of Music. They were among a dozen pianists accepted for the international program based on submitted audition tapes.

The students have already achieved tremendous success including acceptances to the Aspen Music Festival, SongFest and the Music Academy of the West and being admitted into graduate programs such as the Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, University of Southern California, University of Michigan and the N.C. School of the Arts. Incidentally, Carmine Mann is the first student in UNCG’s new DMA degree program in accompanying and chamber music, which started this year under Harley’s leadership. It is the first such program in the state.

While in Salzburg, birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the students will take private piano lessons and German lessons, participate in concerts and competitions, and study with some of the prominent musicians who will perform at the Salzburg Music Festival. Those artists include Cecilia Bartoli, Thomas Hampson, Martin Katz, Karitta Mattila and Maurizio Pollini. The students will earn credit from the University of Miami and the program includes a week-end trip to Vienna and visits to cultural sites. Although not part of the judging process for admission, Harley has been chosen to head the accompanying program at the music festival this year.

The honor comes with a cost – each student must raise approximately $5,000, due by July 10. Thus far each student has raised about $2,000. They are currently attempting to raise funds by giving concerts in their home towns and seeking donations. Local audiences can hear all five in a recital on Friday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the School of Music Recital Hall. For more information, contact Andrew Harley at (336) 334-5296.

“This accomplishment is a tremendous honor for UNCG and the School of Music. I so hope that my students will be able to raise the money to go. In terms of their musical and cultural enrichment this would be such a magnificent, life-changing opportunity for all of them,” Harley said.

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