Student Achivements
ALUMNI
Anna Reiser completed an MM in Piano Performance/Pedagogy at UW-Madison after graduating from Lawrence. She now heads the pedagogy program at Lawrence and also provides specialized instruction on the Taubman piano technique.
Elizabeth Vaughan graduated from Lawrence University as a voice major, while winning the concerto competition and numerous other awards in piano. She went on to receive a masters degree in viola at the University of Kentucky and is now a DMA student in piano at the University of WI, studying under Christopher Taylor. She won the University of Wisconsin’s concerto competition in her first year there, performing Rachmaninoff Concerto no. 3, and she has recently been appointed to the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago. She continues to be active as both a singer and a violist, performing with the Chicago Lyric Opera chorus and playing chamber music as a violist.
Tammy Li completed a MM in piano performance at the Indiana University School of Music, having won a teaching assistantship there, and is now pursuing a PhD in musicology at IU.
Craig Jordan received an MM from Miami University’s Frost School of Music before moving on to the DMA program at the University of Iowa, where he is a teaching assistant. Craig has been an active collaborator as well as soloist, spending a year performing on world-wide cruises in tandem with a violinist before embarking on his graduate studies.Hung Nguyen is a prize winner in the Schubert Club and Steinway Competitions. He received his MM as a scholarship student at the Eastman School under Doug Humpherys and is now pursuing a DMA at the Cleveland Institute. He has won full scholarships to attend the Seattle Summer Piano Institute and the Rebecca Penney’s Piano Festival.
Ami Hatori graduated in 2023. She was the 2021 winner of WI Young Artists Division of the MTNA Piano Competition and was also a top prize winner of the 2022 Thursday Musical Young Artist Scholarship Competition and the Schubert Club Scholarship Competition. In Fall, 2023 she entered the MM program at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music where she is a student of Christopher Guzman.
Benjamin Keating is a current junior at Lawrence. He was the 2022 winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition in WI and first place winner of the 2023 Schubert Club Scholarship competition. During the summer he won a scholarship to “Present Music” where his gift for new music earned him several major performances.
Jeffrey Meyer received his DMA in piano performance at SUNY Stony Brook and went on to pursue conducting as a career. He was, for many years, director of the orchestra at Ithaca College, then Director of Orchestras at Arizona State University, and, as of Fall, 2023, is Professor of Music in Orchestral Conducting at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
Michael Smith was elected to the Ensemble ACJW, an elite group co-sponsored by Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the Weill Music Institute. Michael was one of only two new piano fellows chosen his year from a field of stars from Juilliard and other leading graduate schools, and received support for two years, in order to live and perform in New York City, presenting concerts across all boroughs of the city.
Brent Funderburk received his Masters Degree in collaborative piano from the Juilliard School in under the tutelage of Brian Zeger, Margo Garrett, and Jonathan Feldman. He has participated in numerous renowned summer programs, including the Music Academy of the West, SongFest, and the Steans Music Institute at Ravinia Festival and was a piano fellow for the Juilliard School Vocal Arts department. He has recorded with prominent instrumentalists and vocalists, performed at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, and continues to be an active collaborator on the New York concert scene.
Leonard Hayes completed the MM program at the Eastman School of Music under Douglas Humphries and went on to head the keyboard department at the prestigious Dallas Booker T Washington School for the Performing Arts. He is now a DMA student at the University of
Southern California and has made a name for himself as an eloquent vocal collaborator and soloist as well as an eloquent spokesman for the work of African American composers.
Jonathan Fagan completed a degree in both classical and jazz piano and went on to the Eastman school to complete an MM in Jazz. He is now on the faculty at the Concord Academy in Boston and is an active performer and recording artist.
Anthony Capparelli was the winner of a Watson Fellowship to study traditional Irish music, and upon his return, attended the University of Iowa School of Music, where he went on to earn his DMA with a full graduate Teaching Assistantship. He currently resides in Ghent, Belgium where he is in training at the International Opera Academy.
COMPETITIONS
2023:
Ben Keating, First prize winner of the Schubert Club Scholarship Competition
2022:
Ben Keating, First prize winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition in WI
Ami Hatori, Alternate in the MTNA Young Artist Competition in WI
Ami Hatori, Second Place in Schubert Club’s 99th Annual Bruce P. Carlson Student Scholarship Competition Piano III, Schubert Club 50th Anniversary Award
Ami Hatori, First prize winner of the 2022 Thursday Musical Young Artist Scholarship Competition
2021:
Ami Hatori, First prize Winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition in WI
2019:
Hung Nguyen, Honorable Mention, Schubert Club Competition
Hung Nguyen, First prize winner of the Wisconsin MTNA Competition, Young Artist Division
Nicholas Suminski, Honorable Mention, Wisconsin MTNA Competition, Young Artist Division
2018:
Hung Nguyen, Second Place in the first annual Steinway Competition, Division 3.
Mara Logan, Alternate in the Senior Performance division.
2017:
Nicholas Suminski, First place Winner MTNA State Auditions, Fall, 2017.
Noah Vazquez, Honorable Mention, MTNA State auditions, Fall, 2017.
Nicholas Suminski, Chosen for Gilmore Keyboard Festival Masterclass with Paul Lewis.
2015:
Elizabeth Vaughan and Cameron Pieper were named co-winners of the 2015 Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Elizabeth performed Beethoven’s 4th piano Concerto, and Cameron performed Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto.
Cameron Pieper received first prize in the Schubert Club Competition.
Cameron Pieper received first prize and and Elizabeth Vaughan received second prize at the 2015 Wisconsin National Federation of Music Club Competition.
Ming Hu, Alternate, MTNA Young Artist Division State Competition
Xiaoya Gao, Honorable Mention, MTNA Young Artist Division State Competition
Nicholas Suminski, Alternate, MTNA Senior Division State Competition
2023:
Ben Keating, First prize winner of the Schubert Club Scholarship Competition
2022:
Ben Keating, First prize winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition in WI
Ami Hatori, Alternate in the MTNA Young Artist Competition in WI
Ami Hatori, Second Place in Schubert Club’s 99th Annual Bruce P. Carlson Student Scholarship Competition Piano III, Schubert Club 50th Anniversary Award
Ami Hatori, First prize winner of the 2022 Thursday Musical Young Artist Scholarship Competition
2021:
Ami Hatori, First prize Winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition in WI
2019:
Hung Nguyen, Honorable Mention, Schubert Club Competition
Hung Nguyen, First prize winner of the Wisconsin MTNA Competition, Young Artist Division
Nicholas Suminski, Honorable Mention, Wisconsin MTNA Competition, Young Artist Division
2018:
Hung Nguyen, Second Place in the first annual Steinway Competition, Division 3.
Mara Logan, Alternate in the Senior Performance division.
2017:
Nicholas Suminski, First place Winner MTNA State Auditions, Fall, 2017.
Noah Vazquez, Honorable Mention, MTNA State auditions, Fall, 2017.
Nicholas Suminski, Chosen for Gilmore Keyboard Festival Masterclass with Paul Lewis.
2015:
Elizabeth Vaughan and Cameron Pieper were named co-winners of the 2015 Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Elizabeth performed Beethoven’s 4th piano Concerto, and Cameron performed Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto.
Cameron Pieper received first prize in the Schubert Club Competition.
Cameron Pieper received first prize and and Elizabeth Vaughan received second prize at the 2015 Wisconsin National Federation of Music Club Competition.
Ming Hu, Alternate, MTNA Young Artist Division State Competition
Xiaoya Gao, Honorable Mention, MTNA Young Artist Division State Competition
Nicholas Suminski, Alternate, MTNA Senior Division State Competition
2014:
Tony Capparelli, a senior and piano performance major, just won a Watson Fellowship! The extremely prestigious $28,000 grant was only awarded to a lucky 43 of the 700 applicants. Capparelli will spend his year in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, and Sweden studying Celtic and Scandinavian music and forklore. For more information, see the Watson website (above) and Lawrence University’s press release.
Elizabeth Vaughan received First Prize in the State MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition.
Elizabeth Vaughan received Second Place in the East Central Young Artist Piano Competition of MTNA. She performed Bach, Chopin, Liszt, and Scriabin.
2013:
Leonard Hayes and Anthony Capparelli were awarded Honorable Mention in the Schubert Club College Scholarship Competition in St. Paul, MN. Five of seven finalists came from the Kautsky studio: Anthony Capparelli, Jonathan Gmeinder, Leonard Hayes, Cameron Pieper, and Elizabeth Vaughan.
Allison Shinnick was one of two winners, university-wide, of the Lawrence Concerto Competition.
Laetitia Lehman-Pearsall and Tess Vogel were finalists in the Neale-Silva Competition of Wisconsin Public Radio
2012:
Michael Gold was awarded First Prize in the Young Artist Division 2012 State MTNA Competition.
Gabi Makuc was awarded First Prize in the 2012 State MTNA Senior Division Competition.
Cameron Pieper was the only pianist chosen as a winner in the 2012 Neale Silva competition of Wisconsin Public Radio. Michael Gold and Le Kong were also finalists.
Michael Gold and Elizabeth Vaughan were chosen by the Piano Arts Competition to participate in masterclasses by James Giles (faculty, Nothwestern University) and Julian Martin (faculty Juilliard School)
2011:
Jonathan Gmeinder was awarded Alternate and Michael Gold and Mathias Reed received Honorable Mention in the Young Artist Division of the 2011 State MTNA Competition.
Tess Vogel was awarded Alternate and Elizabeth Vaughan received Honorable Mention in the 2011 state MTNA Senior Division Competition.
Dario LaPoma, Hazim Suhaid, and Daniel Kuzuhara were winners of the 2011 Neale-Silva Competition
Leonard Hayes won First Place in the 2011 Young Artist Division of the Tourgee Debose National Piano Competition held in Baton Rouge, LA
2010:
Jonathan Gmeinder was the State Winner of Senior MTNA Auditions.
Laura Hauer was a finalist in the Neale-Silva Competition.
Joe Hauer (Academy Student) was the winner of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition, and the first place winner of WMTA Badger Auditions.
Leonard Hayes was one of four finalists, honorable Mention in Zelpha Wells Piano Competition for Collegiate Artists, and winner of The National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. (NANM) 2010 Scholarship Competition in Piano at the state and regional level.
STUDIO RECITALS
2024
Music and Eastern Thought
We’re working on this program with an expert in Buddhist studies from the religion department. We’ll collaborate most directly with her Buddhism in North America class, focusing on the role of mysticism and Eastern religions in American composers such as Ruth Crawford Seeger, Phillip Glass, John Cage, and Herbie Hancock.
2023
Music and Poetry
We collaborated with two poets on the English/Creative Writing faculty and looked at poetry, primarily by cotemporary poets, that referenced either specific composers or specific pieces. We spent many hours, together with creative writing students, discussing the poetry itself and examining the new ways it might help us to view specific pieces. Our final program consisted of readings followed by performances and included poetry by Adam Zagajewski, James Merrill, Frank O’Hara, Adrienne Rich, and Tyehimba Jess, among others.
View program here.
2022
Music and Dreams
Here we collaborated with a faculty member from the history department and her partner, a Jungian psychoanalyst. We participated in a “dream circle,” examining and interpreting another person’s dream and comparing that experience to that of interpreting a composer’s musical thoughts. We thought about the role that culture and nationality plays in dream content and we produced a program of music, ranging from Chopin to Scriabin to Chinery Ung, that drew on the subconscious flow of dreams as translated into musical structure.
View program here.
2019
Music and Fairy Tales
This year’s recital was undertaken in conjunction with the Russian and French departments. We looked at music for and about children and learning how legends, fairy-tales, and cultural attitudes toward children have shaped the music of Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Faure, Medtner, Tchaikovsky, and many others. Skits, scenery and music all came together in our final performance.
View program here.
2018
Music and the Passage of time
This recital featured collaboration with the departments of art and geology. We all first convened on the shores of Lake Michigan and learned about water, rocks and the passage of time. While artists fashioned sculptures out of natural materials on the beach and pianists prepared a program of works about water, ephermerality, and the natural world. We later presented the program at both Bjorklunden and the Lawrence campus, accompanied by explanations from geologists and slides of shore-line sculptures.
Program available here.
2017
One Hundred Years After
For this year’s studio recital we did “Music of 1917—One Hundred Years After.” This was a memorial concert for the years of WWI, with all music drawn from 1917.
See both the program and program notes here.
2016
Dramatic Readings
For this year’s studio recital, we performed music inspired by works of literature and coached with two drama professors to make the readings as effective as our music-making. A whole weekend at Björklunden was devoted to seeing how playing the piano corresponds with being an actor—we talked about projection, and building tension, and emphasizing consonants, and breathing between phrases.
Full program available here.
And later in the year, we presented three concerts at the OshKosh Correctional Institution. For more details, look for my upcoming article in American Music Teacher entitled “Keys Behind Bars.” Prisoners wrote multiple letters of thanks afterwards, and students found the experience revelatory. We returned for 3 more concerts in 2017 and will do so again in 2018.
2015
Musical Time-Travel
Homages paid by 21st century composers to composers of the past.
Sunday, April 12th, Björklunden
Thursday, April 16th, Lawrence University
The late 20th century seems to represent a mellowing of compositional styles; composers seem less determined to break with the past and happier to befriend it. Every new piece you’ll hear in this concert is conceived as an homage. In some of the pieces only the spirit of a composer is evoked. In others, the composer is directly quoted. And even those that use quotation differ wildly—some use the quotation in sharp contrast to what goes before and after; others move between centuries gently, almost imperceptibly; yet others create a vertical contrast, with centuries appearing simultaneously. In every case, the composers of the 20th and 21st centuries write music that is more fractured than that of their predecessors, more prone to discontinuity and irrationality. Often the past appears as a dream, other-worldly, intangible. But always it retains its power, and we hear it in new ways through the ears of our own century.
Full program available here.
2014
The Goldbergs, Then and Now
Our studio project this year was a performance of the entire Bach Goldberg Variations and the set of 12 Variations by contemporary composers that were written for the Gilmore Festival in 2004. We performed excerpts at Lawrence’s off-campus retreat, Bjorklunden, and at the Boys and Girls Club of Appleton and performed the entire set in Harper Hall at Lawrence. In past years, we’ve done projects involving piano music written in reference to literature, programs of 21st century duos, and programs in conjunction with the theater department. Every year offers new opportunities!
Here’s a brief portion of our Feb. 4 studio recital featuring the entire Bach Goldberg Variations as well as the entire 13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg, which gives a a contemporary take on Bach’s monumental work. The program can be found here.
OUTREACH CONCERTS
My studio has been very busy doing outreach concerts. We received a grant from Lawrence and the local music store to move a piano to the Boys and Girls Club, and we’re also doing performances at a local soup kitchen. We love the idea that classical music is not for geeks only, and we want to make it available to people in the community who may have had no exposure, but may find out they love it.
Here’s a sample program (DOCX).
Since 2016 my students have been presenting 3 concerts each year at the OshKosh Correctional Institution. We’ve been featured on TV, covered by the Post-Crescent, and appeared in Lawrence Today and even the national publication of the MTNA, American Music Teacher.