Coastal Concerts awards $4,500 in student scholarships
Shown
are (l-r) Coastal Concerts board member Richard Scalenghe, scholarship
recipients Conor McAvinue, Gray Scott and Hannah Wiswell, and
scholarship committee Chair Barbara Passikoff. SUBMITTED PHOTO
April 2, 2017
Three
Delaware high school students - Hannah Wiswell and Gray Scott from
Sussex County and Conor McAvinue from New Castle County - were selected
from among several competing applicants and received $1,500 each from
Coastal Concerts to help them pursue their music education.
Wiswell, a pianist from Rehoboth Beach and a 16-year-old junior at Cape Henlopen High School, describes her music background and plans. She says, "I began playing piano at age 4, studying with Anne Maysak until my family moved to Delaware, where I began studying with Ms. Aimee Gusky. I've been playing for 12 years, with my mother and father both inspiring me and pushing me to do better, always. During the summers I study at New England Music Camp, a place I consider to be my second home, where I've participated in honor recital and learned to love music even more than I already do. I am incredibly grateful for this award, and hope to use it to increase my knowledge and hone my skills."
Scott, 17 years old, of Bridgeville, began piano at the age of 6 with his father and, at the age of 10, began studying with Dr. Oleg Maslov. Since August 2015, he has been a student of Dr. Daniel Weiser of Baltimore. He has won first place in the Delaware Concerto Competition and is a two-time first-place winner in the ACSI Fine Arts Competition, Solo Piano division. In summer 2014 he was selected to participate in the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, N.C., where he studied with William Wolfram. He was awarded second prize in both the 2015 Stravinsky Awards J.S. Bach Piano Competition and the 2016 Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition. In summer 2015, he attended the International Music Institute Festival and Tour where he worked with many world-class musicians, and gave solo and chamber performances. In 2016, Gray took first place in the Rockville Piano Competition, and in January of this year, he was the featured performer in the Amici Music Chamber Music Series, giving a full solo concert.
Scott has participated in Delaware's All-State Chorus for three years and sings with the Greenwood Mennonite Chorus. This is his second Coastal Concerts Scholarship award. Last year he was one of three winners, in classical guitar.
McAvinue is also a repeat winner, having won a Coastal Concerts Scholarship two years ago. An 18-year-old violist and a senior at Archmere Academy, he began playing violin at age 4 and viola at 14. He studies both instruments with Shelley Beard at the Music School of Delaware where he is an honors student. He is currently principal violist of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and violist of the Braverman Quartet in the Advanced Studies Program at Philadelphia's Settlement Music School where he takes chamber lessons from former assistant Philadelphia Orchestra violist Sidney Curtiss. Selected to play in the 2017 National Youth Orchestra presented by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, McAvinue will have the opportunity to work with conductor Marin Alsop and travel this summer to Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.
In 2011 and 2014, he won the Delaware Concerto Competition for Young Musicians at the Music School of Delaware as well as the Estella Hillerson Frankel Award in 2012 and 2014. In 2015, he won the Newark Symphony Youth Concerto Competition in the high school division and, in 2016, the Irving Young Artists Competition at the Lansdowne Symphony. McAvinue has performed at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kimmel Center and the Curtis Institute of Music. He is a member of the Archmere Academy Mastersingers, one of the top 10 high school choirs in the nation.
To encourage student attendance at Coastal Concerts performances, admission is free for ages 10 to 18 years and for one adult per youth. For more information, go to www.coastalconcerts.org.
Wiswell, a pianist from Rehoboth Beach and a 16-year-old junior at Cape Henlopen High School, describes her music background and plans. She says, "I began playing piano at age 4, studying with Anne Maysak until my family moved to Delaware, where I began studying with Ms. Aimee Gusky. I've been playing for 12 years, with my mother and father both inspiring me and pushing me to do better, always. During the summers I study at New England Music Camp, a place I consider to be my second home, where I've participated in honor recital and learned to love music even more than I already do. I am incredibly grateful for this award, and hope to use it to increase my knowledge and hone my skills."
Scott, 17 years old, of Bridgeville, began piano at the age of 6 with his father and, at the age of 10, began studying with Dr. Oleg Maslov. Since August 2015, he has been a student of Dr. Daniel Weiser of Baltimore. He has won first place in the Delaware Concerto Competition and is a two-time first-place winner in the ACSI Fine Arts Competition, Solo Piano division. In summer 2014 he was selected to participate in the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, N.C., where he studied with William Wolfram. He was awarded second prize in both the 2015 Stravinsky Awards J.S. Bach Piano Competition and the 2016 Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition. In summer 2015, he attended the International Music Institute Festival and Tour where he worked with many world-class musicians, and gave solo and chamber performances. In 2016, Gray took first place in the Rockville Piano Competition, and in January of this year, he was the featured performer in the Amici Music Chamber Music Series, giving a full solo concert.
Scott has participated in Delaware's All-State Chorus for three years and sings with the Greenwood Mennonite Chorus. This is his second Coastal Concerts Scholarship award. Last year he was one of three winners, in classical guitar.
McAvinue is also a repeat winner, having won a Coastal Concerts Scholarship two years ago. An 18-year-old violist and a senior at Archmere Academy, he began playing violin at age 4 and viola at 14. He studies both instruments with Shelley Beard at the Music School of Delaware where he is an honors student. He is currently principal violist of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and violist of the Braverman Quartet in the Advanced Studies Program at Philadelphia's Settlement Music School where he takes chamber lessons from former assistant Philadelphia Orchestra violist Sidney Curtiss. Selected to play in the 2017 National Youth Orchestra presented by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, McAvinue will have the opportunity to work with conductor Marin Alsop and travel this summer to Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.
In 2011 and 2014, he won the Delaware Concerto Competition for Young Musicians at the Music School of Delaware as well as the Estella Hillerson Frankel Award in 2012 and 2014. In 2015, he won the Newark Symphony Youth Concerto Competition in the high school division and, in 2016, the Irving Young Artists Competition at the Lansdowne Symphony. McAvinue has performed at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kimmel Center and the Curtis Institute of Music. He is a member of the Archmere Academy Mastersingers, one of the top 10 high school choirs in the nation.
To encourage student attendance at Coastal Concerts performances, admission is free for ages 10 to 18 years and for one adult per youth. For more information, go to www.coastalconcerts.org.
