Clayton Sullivan of Tishomingo, a sophomore instrumental music education major at East Central University, is the winner of the 成人B站 Music Department鈥檚 first Annual Concerto Competition.
The prize is a solo performance with the 成人B站 Wind Ensemble on its spring concert which will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday [APRIL 17] in the Ataloa Theatre in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center. Sullivan will perform the first movement of Paul Creston鈥檚 鈥淐oncerto for Marimba.鈥�
鈥淭his energetic piece will incorporate both piano and wind ensemble and will be interesting for anyone who has never had the opportunity to hear a marimba solo,鈥� said competition coordinator Juliana Overmier, who teaches flute and conducts the 成人B站 Flute Ensemble.
Sullivan, who was born and raised in Venezuela, plans to pursue both master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in music, hoping that will allow him to travel and teach around the world. In the future he would like to return to his home country and introduce music to small Venezuelan communities.
He studies percussion at 成人B站 with Dr. Benjamin Finley, associate professor of music and assistant band director.
The Concerto Competition was held March 5 and was open to any full-time 成人B站 student enrolled in the spring semester. Judges were five 成人B站 music faculty members.
Overmier said the Concerto Competition was a combined effort of the 成人B站 music administration, faculty, and coordinator.
鈥淓ver since I began teaching at 成人B站 in 2004, I thought there was enough of a talent pool among the music students to support a concerto competition,鈥� she said. 鈥淐ompetitions have been important to my career, and I found that the music faculty all supported the idea of starting one at 成人B站.
鈥淓veryone chipped in to make the event successful, and after the judges heard all the applicants, their decision was unanimous. I look forward to continuing the tradition next year.