Gower Award Winners to Showcase Talents at Jan. 31 Symphony Performance
 

HATTIESBURG -- The next season concert for the Symphony Orchestra at the University of Southern Mississippi will feature three winners of the William T. Gower Awards Competition at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 31 in Bennett Auditorium.

Showcasing exceptional student talent of the School of Music, this annual concert has become an audience favorite.

The 2005-06 winners and “Future Stars” include William Farmer, horn, of Meridian; Denissa Rivas de Munguía, flute, of Honduras; and Marcus Ballard, saxophone, of El Dorado, Ark.

Ongoing for more than 21 years, the competition was renamed three years ago in honor of William T. Gower, former professor of music at Southern Miss and widely respected woodwind musician.

Gower, who passed away in July 2003, was an inspiration to many budding musicians through his multitude of career performances at music conventions, high schools, colleges and universities—often performing on a variety of instruments.

The competition itself is highly competitive within the ranks of the School of Music and is quite rigorous. More than 40 voice, piano and string students auditioned in November 2005 before a panel of judges from outside the university.

“These very talented students will be our stars of tomorrow,” said Dr. Jay Dean, music director of the Symphony. “Later in life, we will be able to say that we knew them when they were students here at Southern Miss.”

Under the Dean’s baton, the orchestra will open its concert with Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture, Op. 84.” Following the opening work, the three competition winners will perform the music that earned them distinction among their peers.

Farmer, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in horn performance, will be featured on Carl Maria von Weber’s “Concertino for Horn and Orchestra, Op. 45.” Farmer has performed in competitions across the United States and has won first prize at the International Women’s Brass Conference in 2003. He was a finalist at the Philip Farkas Competition at the International Horn Symposium in 2005.

A student of Southern Miss assistant professor of horn Kenneth Ortlepp, Farmer occasionally plays with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and the Mississippi Orchestra and regularly with the Gulf Coast Symphony and Meridian Symphony. At Southern Miss he is a member of the Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble.

Munguía began her musical education at the Escuela de Música Victoriano López in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. She has studied under scholarship in Great Britain, where she obtained a Flute Performance Diploma from London College of Music. She performed extensively in Great Britain and was a member of several youth orchestras and a wind ensemble.

Since 2002, she has continued her musical studies at Southern Miss and is a student of Dr. Danilo Mezzadri, assistant professor of flute. For the concert, she will perform Francois Doppler’s “Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise, Op. 26.”

Saxophonist Ballard is completing the Doctor of Musical Arts at Southern Miss. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Henderson State University and a Master of Music from Southern Miss. His teachers include D. Ray McClellan, Deborah Bish, Steven Becraft and Dr. Lawrence Gwozdz, professor of music at Southern Miss.

As a member of the Sax-Chamber Orchestra at Southern Miss, he has performed in numerous venues throughout the United States, including the 2003 World Saxophone Congress in Minneapolis, Minn. Ballard also has been a member of two award-winning saxophone quartets.

Ballard will perform Stephen Dankner’s “Concerto for Alto Saxophone.”

The Symphony’s 2004-05 season is sponsored by BancorpSouth. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert are $18/$16/$14 and may be purchased at the Southern Miss Ticket Office by calling 601.266.5418 or 800.844.8425. Tickets may be ordered online at www.usm.edu/tickets.

About The University of Southern Mississippi

The University of Southern Mississippi, founded in 1910, is a comprehensive doctoral and research-extensive university fulfilling its mission of being a leading university in engaging and empowering individuals to transform lives and communities. In a tradition of leadership for student development, Southern Miss is educating a 21st century work force providing intellectual capital, cultural enrichment and innovation to Mississippi and the world. Southern Miss is located in Hattiesburg, Miss., with an additional campus and teaching and research sites on the Mississippi Gulf Coast; further information is found at www.usm.edu.

For more information, visit the Web at www.usm.edu/arts or contact Angela Kilcrease at 601.266-4988.

Photo left to right: William Farmer, Denissa Rivas de Munguía and Marcus Ballard.

Last updated: 01/25/06