IWBC 2000 Solo Competition Winners

There were 55 entrants in six instrumental categories. The winners were:

Trumpet:
James Ackley and Todd Craven (co-winners for first place)

Horn:
Julia Pernic (1st place and recipient of The Mary Phelan Memorial Scholarship – named for the Channel 4 news anchor in St. Louis)
Elisa Vaughan and Lisa Ford (honorable mention)

Trombone:
Colin Williams (1st place)
Chris Branagan (2nd place)
Bruce Tychinski (honorable mention)

Bass Trombone:
Larry Bird (1st place)
Scott Moore (2nd place)

Euphonium:
Benjamin Pierce (1st place)
Adam Frey (2nd place)

Tuba:
Eric Bubacz (1st place)
Brian Sands (2nd place)

First place winners received $2000, second place winners received $1000, and honorable mention recipients received $200.

The judges were: Trumpet: Stephen Burns, Lauraine Carpenter, Ed Cord, Carole Dawn Reinhart, John Rommel, and Susan Slaughter Horn: Michelle Baker, Randy Gardner, Nancy Goodearl, Julie Landsman, Laurel Ohlson, and Tom Sherwood Trombone: Abbie Conant, Cristian Ganicenco, Julie Josephson, Paul Piller, Debra Taylor, and David Vining Bass Trombone: Julie Bantin, Rebecca Bower Cherian, Julie Josephson, Carl Lenthe, Pete Norton, Pat Sheridan, and Debra Taylor Euphonium: Stacy Baker, Sharon Huff, Angie Hunter, Laura Lineberger, Tim Northcut, and Carl Vale Tuba: Stacy Baker, Kathy Brantigan, Velvet Brown, Tim Northcut, and Dan Perantoni

Submitted by Faye-Ellen Silverman IWBC Composer-in-Residence Faculty, Mannes College of Music

FIRST PLACE WINNERS

James Ackley, a native of Cincinnati, received his B.M. degree from Baldwin-Wallace College where he studied with Mary Squire and James Darling. He earned his M.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music with Michael Sachs. He is currently Principal Trumpet with the Bogota Philharmonic and has recently completed his first year residency for the D.M.A. at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. He will join the faculty at the University of Connecticut in the fall of 2001 as Assistant Professor of Trumpet. Mr. Ackley and his lovely wife, Maricela Yesenia are proud parents of a two-year-old son, Kevin Alejandro. He plans to use his co-first prize money to move his family from Bogota to Connecticut.

Todd Craven is currently Principal Trumpet of the Florida West Coast Symphony and Florida Brass Quintet, Sarasota, Florida and is on sabbatical leave this year. He studied trumpet at the University of Michigan with Armando Ghitalla and pursued graduate studies at Indiana University with Charles Gorham and Stephen Burns. He will use his prize money to help support his many musical activities including: studying abroad with the famous Russian trumpet player, Timofey Dokshizer and traveling to upcoming orchestral auditions this fall.

Julia Pernic has been Associate Principal Horn of the Columbus (OH) Symphony Orchestra since September 1997. Julia, who is a native of Cannon Falls, MN, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994, where she was a student of Douglas Hill. Upon graduation from UW, she became a member of the New World Symphony in Miami, FL, where she played for three years before joining the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Julia has studied with John Zirbel, Gail Williams, Dale Clevenger, and William Caballero. She was a 2nd prize winner at the 1999 American Horn Competition (professional division), has appeared as a soloist with the New World Symphony, and has been a participant in the National Repertory Orchestra, the Solti Orchestral Project at Carnegie Hall (1994), and the Kent/Blossom Chamber Music Festival. Besides playing and performing, Julia also enjoys spending time with her fiance, teaching horn privately, reading, and computing (she has a website pertaining to horn playing at http://www.geocities/com/jmpernic). She plans to use her prize money to present, record, and produce a high-quality compact disc of a solo recital of French Repertoire for Horn and Piano. She also plans to make repairs to her Keith Berg horn and continue restoration of her antique C.F. Schmidt horn.

Colin Williams is currently in his second season as Principal Trombone of the San Antonio Symphony, a professional organization with a 39-week season. He attended the Juilliard School from 1997 to 1999 after completing two years of undergraduate work at the Manhattan School of Music. He has studied with Joseph Alessi and David Finlayson, the Principal and Second Trombones of the New York Philharmonic. In 1999, he was the Tomasi Trombone Concerto Competition winner at the Juilliard School, resulting in a performance with the Juilliard Orchestra. During his time in New York he was fortunate enough to play with the New York Philharmonic. He will use his prize money to help finance a trombone quartet compact disc recording project with the San Antonio Symphony trombone section. He also plans to purchase a new alto trombone adequate for the demands of his job.

Benjamin Pierce graduated in 1999 from Bowling Green State University in Ohio where he studied with Velvet Brown. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Michigan where he studies both euphonium and tuba with Fritz Kaenzig. A native of New York State, Ben began playing the euphonium while still in grade school, and quickly took interest in solo euphonium performance. While a high school senior, his bands featured him performing Arban’s Variations on the Carnival of Venice to stand-up applause. Recently, Ben has found a home on the competition circuit, winning the 1998 Music Teachers National Association Competition in Brass, the International Tuba-Euphonium Conference Euphonium Artist Competition as well as the Mock Military Band Audition, and the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium Artist Competition. In January 2000, he traveled to Manchester, England, where he took first place in the Royal Northern College of Music International Open Euphonium Competition. He also advanced to the final round of the prestigious 2000 Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City. In June 2000, Ben presented a solo recital at the International Tuba-Euphonium Conference (ITEC) in Regina, Saskatchewan. Upon completion of his graduate work at the University of Michigan, Ben hopes for a career that will allow him to continue the work of his mentors, to bring the euphonium into the light of the public eye through solo performance and college teaching. One of his goals is to have music commissioned for the euphonium by some of the major modern composers. He will use his prize money to help support his wife and himself while finishing graduate school.

Eric C. Bubacz was born March 17th, 1971 in Mount Joy, PA and graduated in 1989 from Donegal High School. He immediately enrolled in the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Cherry Beauregard and Donald Harry. In 1992, he transferred to the Curits Institute of Music in Philadelphia from which he received his Bachelor’s degree in 1995 after working with Paul Krzywicki, Abe Torchinsky, Glenn Dodson and Blair Bollinger. He remained a year in Philadelphia to continue playing Principal Tuba with the Haddonfield New Jersey Symphony (a position he had held since 1992) and to freelance. Later that year, he won Principal Tuba with the Reading Pennsylvania Orchestra (a position he holds to this day). Eric studied with David Fedderly at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at John Hopkins University during the 1996-97 school year and moved to Pittsburgh the summer of 1997. He became Principal Tuba of the Canton Ohio Symphony while retaining his position with the Reading Symphony. He has been a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1993, a heavily utilized substitute with the Pittsburgh Symphony since 1997 and has performed this summer with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra at its Blossom Music Festival. He is an active freelance musician in the Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania tri-state area. Eric can be heard this fall in recital at Duquesne University’s Tuba/Euphonium Conference ? Oktubafest. He will use his prize money to purchase home recording equipment to improve his practice sessions, have some custom repairs done to his 1985 6/4 Yorkbrunner tuba, and save the remaining funds to travel to upcoming auditions.