2018 Music Honors Recital

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2018 Music Honors Recital Winners: (back row) Jordan Alimena, Cody Hutchison, Nicholas Liebl, David Gonzalez, Dylan Adkins, (front row) Lisa Kulczak, Hannah Rodriguez, Fiona Slaughter, Rosabelle Zhou, Jenny Chang, Nathan Barker, and Morgen Cavanah

The 2018 Music Honors Recital will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in the Faulkner Performing Arts Center. The Department of Music invites all students, faculty, and staff, as well as the community at large to celebrate our students as they perform works by Debussy, Poulenc, Verdi, and Plog, among others.The concert is free and open to the public.

This year's winners were chosen by audition in front of live judges. The judges this year were Hye-Jung Hong of Missouri State University and Philip Parker of Arkansas Tech University. University of Arkansas' Timothy Thompson coordinated the auditions that took place in February. After evaluating the more than two dozen auditioners, the judges selected nine auditions as the winners of the recital—seven soloists (with accompaniment), one trio, and one quartet. In addition to their performance at the Music Honors Recital on April 15, these students were provided the opportunity to record their music at Haxton Road Studios in Bentonville, Arkansas. Each musician worked with professional engineers to produce professional grade recordings. These samples will be housed at the University Libraries Archives and each student has a professionally mastered recording for their own use. Additionally, a few of the performers were interviewed for KUAF's Of Note with Katy Henrickson. A digital stream of the interview is available at KUAF.com.

The 2018 winners include:

Rosabelle Zhou (or Zhou Tongxiao) is a senior clarinet performance major at the University of Arkansas. She hails from Beijing, China and her teachers include principal clarinetist in Chinese Armed Police Band, Mr. Yong Chen and Dr. Nophachai Cholthichanta at University of Arkansas. In addition to the University Symphony Orchestra, Rosabelle has performed numerous concerts with the University New Music Ensemble, the University Wind Ensemble, the University Latin American Ensemble, as well as on various student and ensemble recitals. As the winner of the APO - UA Concerto/Aria Competition in 2016, Rosabelle was featured by the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra on Copland's Clarinet Concerto.

Fiona Slaughter attends the University of Arkansas, where she is pursuing a Bachelor's of Music in Oboe Performance. Slaughter has participated in the University Wind Ensemble, New Music Ensemble, University Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Winds, and quintets. She has studied oboe with Dr. Theresa Delaplain for five years.

Slaughter is an active member of the music community in Northwest Arkansas. She has performed with the Arkansas Philharmonic, Opera Fayetteville, Ozark Family Opera Company, Fort Smith Symphony, and in church services.
In the summer of 2017, Slaughter was a fellow at the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, where she performed classic and new repertoire with her quintet "Slaughterhouse Five". She also attended the Prague Summer Nights festival for the second time, where she played oboe and English horn in opera, orchestra, and chamber music. Slaughter has performed in master classes with Nancy Ambrose King, Tom Gallant, Alex Klein, Melissa Bosma, William Wielgus, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Martin Schuring, and Andrew Parker. In 2016, Slaughter won first place Collegiate Oboist in the Midwest Double Reed Society Young Artist Competition.

Nathan Barker is a freshman clarinet performance major at the University of Arkansas. He has played the clarinet for seven years, and attended high school at Southside High in Fort Smith, Arkansas. While in high school, Nathan was the principal clarinetist of his band program for three years, and placed first chair at all-region for those three years. He also earned a spot in the Arkansas all-state band during those years, ranking second chair in band and chamber orchestra his final year. He has had master classes with Dr. Robert Spring of Arizona State University as well as Caroline Hartig, president of the International Clarinet Association. Some of his notable solos have been the clarinet cadenza from "Danses Sacred and Profane" - Hill, and the clarinet solo from "Ecstatic Waters" - Bryant, which he performed for the "Music of All" National Music Festival. Nathan has received six superior ratings for solo and ensemble, and is also a recipient of the John Philip Sousa Award.

Lisa Kulczak, mezzo-soprano, is a graduate student in voice performance at the University of Arkansas. Past performance credits include Liederabend recitals, Bees for Bach, soloist with the combined university choirs, and the roles of Zita in Gianni Schicchi and Rosalinde in Der Fledermaus in the UA Opera Theatre workshop productions. In addition, she performed the role of the Mother in Ozark Family Opera's production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Lisa placed first in her division at the regional National Association of Teachers of Singing competition in 2015.

Cody Hutchison is a masters student in euphonium performance at the University of Arkansas. He is currently principal euphonium in the University of Arkansas Wind Ensemble, solo euphonium in the Arkansas MusicWorks Brass Band, and a member of the CRIXUS Tuba Quartet. He is a two-time second place finisher in the MTNA Young Artist Brass Competition. Cody holds both a B.M. and B.M.E. from Arkansas State University. His current instructor is Dr. Benjamin Pierce and his collaborative pianist is Dr. Tomoko Kashiwagi.

Dylan Adkins is currently a senior horn performance and instrumental music education major at the University of Arkansas. Adkins has appeared as guest soloist with the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra, after winning the orchestra's 2013 Concerto Competition. Adkins has performed with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, Amici Orchestra, and Bartlesville Symphony. At the University of Arkansas, Adkins has performed with the Wind Ensemble, University Symphony Orchestra, New Music Ensemble, Horn Choir, Concert Choir, and countless small ensembles. He served as mellophone section leader for the Razorback Marching Band for two consecutive seasons. In 2017, Adkins was awarded third place in the university concerto competition. Adkins has studied privately for over twelve years including the last five with Dr. Timothy Thompson. Adkins plans to graduate from the University of Arkansas in May 2018 before accepting the position of Graduate Teaching Assistant in Horn at Wichita State University. He was also recently appointed as Assistant - Principal horn in the Wichita Symphony Orchestra.

Soprano, Hannah Rodriguez is currently a junior vocal performance major at the University of Arkansas studying applied voice under Dr. Moon-Sook Park. While studying at the University of Arkansas, she has performed both the roles of Papagena and The First Spirit in UA Opera Theatre's production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Hannah has also performed as the solo vocalist in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with the University of Arkansas Women's Chorus and J.S. Bach arias in the annual University of Arkansas' fundraiser, Bees for Bach.
Hannah has competed in the National Association of Teachers of Singing, placing 1st in division VIIB in Spring of 2017 and 2nd in division VIIA in the Spring of 2016. Hannah has performed and studied in various vocal intensives including the NYU Classical Voice Intensive and this summer performed in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy. She has received multiple grants from the University of Arkansas' Honors College for her research abroad in both opera performance and study in the Italian language. Hannah Rodriguez can be seen performing in engagements with the University of Arkansas Opera Theatre Department for the 2017-2018 season.

Jenny Chang is a junior from Rogers, Arkansas. She is a music and economics major at the University of Arkansas. Jenny has performed numerous concerts with the University Wind Ensemble and University Clarinet Ensemble as well as other various student and ensemble recitals. Aside from her musical involvement, Jenny is also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and the Walton Honors Program.

CRIXUS is the premier tuba-euphonium ensemble at the University of Arkansas comprised of the top players in the studio. Graduate Assistant Cody Hutchison and freshman Jordan Alimena make up the euphonium section, and Graduate Assistant Nicholas Liebl and Euphonium Certificate seeking David Gonzalez support the bottom - on both bass and contrabass tubas. CRIXUS works directly with Dr. Benjamin Pierce to play the top repertoire for the tuba-euphonium ensemble as well as perform arrangements from the 18th and 19th century classical repository. The age range of the ensemble displays the great experience as well as sheer talent harbored in the Pierce studio.