You would have thought you were in Carnegie Hall if you had been at the 11th Annual Crescendo Music Awards Finals Concert on Saturday, March 21st.

Xu Han, 2009 People’s Choice Award Winner
Photo, Tina Miller

The Finals Concert, held at First United Methodist Church, set new heights for numbers of contestants, showmanship and attendance.   This annual event presented by the Rotary Club of Tulsa kicked off on March 19th  and ran for three days, auditioning students from fifteen states, and climaxing on Saturday evening with a concert featuring an exceptionally gifted group of finalists receiving $37,700 in cash awards.

The evening was an extraordinary display of musicianship by the twelve college finalists, which included three performers from each of the four collegiate divisions; Strings, Brass & Woodwinds, Piano, and Vocal.

Winners in the Brass & Woodwinds Division were Elizabeth Stern, Flute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who won the Gold Award; Hannah Leffler, Flute, Oklahoma City University, winning the Silver Award; and Issac Washam, Trombone, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, who won the Bronze Award.  

The String Division winners included Hanah Stuart, Violin, from Julliard School of Music, New York, winning the Gold; Emily Nenniger, Violin, from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, took the Silver; and Grace Ho, Cello, from University of North Texas, Denton, Texas,  ­­­­­­­­­­­won the Bronze.

In the Piano Division, winners included Michael Noble, Eastman School of Music, Bob H. Johnson Gold; Chin-Lin Lu, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Ohio, Silver; and Xu Han, Manhattan School of Music, New York, Bronze.
 
In the Vocal Division, the winners were Emily McHugh, Soprano, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, Gold;  Desiree Dillon, Soprano, Oklahoma City University, Silver; and Keely Futterer, Soprano, Arkansas Tech University, Russellville, Arkansas, Bronze.

Each of the Gold winners in the College Division received a cash award of $5,000, while the Silver winners received $2,000 and Bronze winners $1,000. 

A People's Choice Award was voted on by the audience.  In addition to her other award, Xu Han, Piano, Manhattan School of Music, New York, was the winner of the $2,500 award funded by Marilyn Davis.

Earlier in the week, $3,200 was awarded to High School Division winners - $1,000 first place (Gold); $400 second place (Silver) and $200 third place (Bronze).  In the Piano Division, Yuebing Lin, Trinity Valley High School, Ft. Worth, Texas, received the Gold; Christina Jiabao Yuen, Blue Valley Northwest High School,  Overland Park, Kansas,  won the Silver, and Robyn Meahl, Northern Heights High School, Allen, Kansas, won the Bronze.  Winning the Gold in the High School Vocal Division was Christine Price from  Tulsa,  studying at the Children’s Professional School, New York;  the Silver was won by Terri Fleming of Booker T. Washington High School,  and the Bronze went to Katherine Hofmeister of Jenks High School.

The cash awards that students receive at the Crescendo Music Awards can have a profound effect on their lives, helping them pursue their dreams of becoming the next generation’s leaders in music education and performance.
 
Eleven applications were received in the spring of 1999, and the first competitors auditioned for $1,500 that had been budgeted by the Rotary Club of Tulsa for cash awards.  The quality of the talent was so overwhelming that committee members added funds from their own pockets to raise the amount to $2,100.   To date, more than $262,000 in awards has been presented to outstanding music students.  More information about the competition can be accessed at www.CrescendoMusicAwards.com.
The 2009 Crescendo Steering Committee included Rotarians Linda Bradshaw, Chairman, Joseph Bias, Cory Nickerson, Roger and Wanda Hartman, Linda Wilson, Bill Kobsej, Jerry Muratore, and Gary Hill.

March 24, 2009