Alumni:

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.

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.

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

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.