CORVALLIS - Bassoonist Elizabeth Shoemaker of Eugene was awarded first place and a prize of $5,000 to further her professional music career, following the 2004 Lillian and Paul Petri Music-Study Scholarship competition at Oregon State University.
Judges awarded a second prize of $4,500 to violinist JiYun Jeong, also of Eugene. Third prize and $3,000 went to pianist Shannon Conley, a resident of Portland who attends the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Md. The competition was held March 6 at OSU's Benton Hall.
Administered every other year by the Benton County Foundation, the award was established through the estate of Paul Petri, professor and head of the OSU Department of Music from 1923-47, and his wife Lillian. Since its inception in 1962, awards have been granted to 28 top Oregon musicians.
Applicants are required to be Oregon citizens between the ages of 21 and 35, who perform voice, piano, organ, harpsichord or orchestral instruments in the European Art Music tradition. The scholarships are intended to provide the means for broadening the scope of a musician's present training.
Adjudicators for this year's competition were David Stabler, classical music critic and writer for The Oregonian; Joan Paddock, professional trumpeter and professor of music at Linfield College; and Nancy Nickel, professional pianist and one of the founders of the LeRoi Nickel piano duo.
Shoemaker is a candidate for a doctorate at the University of Oregon. She plans to use her Petri competition winnings to participate in the Amherst Early Music Festival in Bennington, Vt., in July, where she will study with Michael McCraw. She will then travel to Urbino, Italy to attend the early music institute run by the Italian Foundation for Early Music, where she will study with Alberto Grazzi.
Jeong will complete her bachelor's degree this spring at the University of Oregon, where she has double-majored in violin performance and vocal performance. She plans to use her Petri Scholarship money to help her attend graduate school at Juillard, The New England Conservatory of Music, or The Cleveland Institute of Music.
Conley will complete a master's degree in music at the Peabody Institute of Music this spring. She has been accepted as a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she will study piano under Patsy Toh.
The Petri Music-Study Scholarship competition will be offered again in March of 2006. For more information contact Erin Sneller, auditions coordinator, at the OSU Department of Music at 541-737-4061; or the Benton County Foundation at 541-753-1603.
OSU Music Department, 541-737-4061
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