| Young Artist Competitions |
Young Artist Piano Competition Winner |
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| J Jesse Bennett |
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| J Jesse Bennett, 15, began piano lessons at the age of five with Mrs. Irina Babina, a prominent member of the Ann Arbor Area Piano Teachers’ Guild.
Performing with the BBSO on May 4th, 2008 |
| J’s awards include being a three time winner of the AAAPTG scholarship prize and the 2004 and 2005 Ann Arbor Bach Festival and Sonata-Sonatina Festivals at Schoolcraft College. J’s more recent awards include the Ann Arbor Society for Musical Arts Youth Music Competition 2nd place winner for 2006, Alternate Winner for the 2006 Dearborn Symphony Concerto Competition, 2006 Solo Division 1st Place Winner at Ithaca College Piano Competition, Ithaca, New York, Alternate Winner of the 2007 Music Teachers National Association piano competition, and most recently, the 1st place winner of the 2008 Michigan Music Teachers Association piano concerto competition. He performs a solo recital each June at the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor and often performs at senior citizen manors. He also has had solo performances in Hill Auditorium as part of the fund raising efforts for Habitat for Humanity. J has performed with the Helios Piano Trio with violinist Benjamin Beilman (previous soloist with the BBSO and currently attending Curtis), and Cellist Eric Tinkerhess at the annual Phoenix Phest. J will be performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Plymouth-Canton Community Band conducted by Carl Battishill on May 16th. J lives in Ann Arbor and currently studies with Professor Logan Skelton, Piano Department Chair, University of Michigan School of Music.
J’s musical interests range from Gregorian Chant to Big Band Swing Jazz. Some of his favorite performers include Rubenstein, Richter, Horowitz, Perahia, Schiff, Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fritz Reiner, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. J often visits the Detroit Institute of Arts where he enjoys viewing the works of Church, Peale, Canaletto, Rivera, and van Gogh. His reading interests range from Shakespeare to Tolkien to Schonberg to biographies of performers and composers. Swimming at Grandpa and Grandma Bennett’s pond, jogging, and throwing a Frisbee are some of J’s favorite outdoor activities.
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Young Artist String Competition Winner |
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| Nathaniel Pierce |
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| Nathaniel Pierce lives in Saline, Michigan, where he currently is a junior at Saline High School. Nathaniel has been playing the cello since he was six years old.
Performed with the BBSO at their “Broadway and the Movies” concert held on January 27, 2008 |
| He studied at the Cottbus and Peter Cornelius (Mainz) Conservatories in Germany before moving to the U.S. three years ago. He has taken part in many local and state competitions, plays with a string quartet and a piano trio. He has participated in the Michigan Youth Orchestra for four consecutive years. He has attended t he Green Mountain Chamber Music festival and the International Academy of Pilsen, Czech Republic. He has attended the Innsbrook Institute and the Indiana String Academy where he won 1st prize in the concerto competition and performed the first movement of Haydn’s cello concerto in C. His former teachers include Guenther Grossman, Anne Zinke, Marianne Jakobovitz, Ulrike Schaeffer, Erling Bloendal Bengtsson. Last year he performed Kol Nidrei with Toledo Symphony. He is currently studying with Richard Aaron. |
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