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| Vytautas Marijosius |
The American Prize—Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming honors the memory of the great Lithuanian conductor, Maestro Vytautas Marijosius, music director of the Lithuanian State Opera, and for nearly thirty-five years Director of Orchestral Activities at the Hartt School of Music of the University of Hartford. The Prize recognizes and rewards the best achievement in the unique field of orchestral programming, where the selection of repertoire by knowledgeable, creative and courageous music directors builds orchestras and audiences, educates young people and adults, and enriches the community.
The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation's most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts. The American Prize is unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, directors, ensembles and composers in the United States at professional, college/university, community and high school levels, based on submitted recordings. Now in its thirteenth year, The American Prize was founded in 2010 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts. Thousands of artists from all fifty states have derived benefit from their participation in the contests of The American Prize, representing literally hundreds of communities and arts organizations across the nation. Information about the 2023-24 season of contests is now available and applications are being accepted, with extended deadlines in September and October. (http://theamericanprize.org)
David Alexander Rahbee is currently Senior Artist in Residence at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle, where he is Director of Orchestral Activities and teaches conducting. He is recipient of the American-Austrian Foundation's 2003 Karajan Fellowship for Y oung Conductors, the 2005 International Richard-Wagner-Verband Stipend, and the Acanthes Centre in Paris in 2007. He has recently worked with the Seattle Symphony, Orchesterakademie der Bochumer Symphoniker, the Seattle Modern Orchestra, National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, Guernsey Symphony and Orquesta Sinfónica de Loja. He participated in masterclasses with Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis, Jorma Panula, Zdeněk Mácal, Peter Eötvös, and Zoltán Peskó. His principal conducting teachers were Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo at the Monteux School. He holds degrees from Indiana University, New England Conservatory, and University of Montreal. He also studied at Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna. www.davidrahbee.com
A graceful yet powerful force on the podium, Argentinian-Italian conductor Michelle Di Russo is known for her compelling interpretations, passionate musicality, and championing of contemporary music. Recently appointed as the new Assistant Conductor of North Carolina Symphony and Interim Director of Orchestras at Cornell University and, she is a Freeman Conducting Fellow in Chicago Sinfonietta’s Project Inclusion program and The Dallas Opera Hart Institute, as well as a recipient of the Richard S.Weinert award from Concert Artists Guild. Former posts include serving as Assistant Conductor for the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra and as cover conductor for The Phoenix Symphony and Arizona Musicfest. Di Russo was the recipient of a 2020 American Austrian Foundation/Faber Young Conductors Fellowship and has served as a conducting fellow at the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Italy. Recent engagements include covering for St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and San Diego Symphony.
Jeffrey Klefstad is Music Director and Conductor of the All University Orchestra (AUO) at Carnegie Mellon University. He has led orchestras throughout North America and Europe, including the Aurora Festival Orchestra (Sweden), the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (Czech Republic), McGill Symphony Orchestra (MGSO) and Contemporary Ensemble (MCE). He has collaborated with the saxophone quartet, Quasar, and worked with the Meitar Ensemble (Israel) under the guidance of Pierre-André Valade. Previously, Klefstad served as assistant conductor for Resonance Works (Pittsburgh), was guest conductor in residence for l’Orchestre du Conservatoire de la Montérégie (Montreal), and cover conductor for the Pittsburgh, Akron and Edgewood Symphony Orchestras, and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh. He has worked with acclaimed conductors and composers, Leif Segerstam, Kurt Masur, Manfred Honeck, Steve Reich, Jennifer Higdon, Roberto Sierra, and Samuel Jones, among others. www.jeffreyklefstad.com
Ubaldo Valli is director of the Pierstown Concert Series (Cooperstown NY). He was Music Director/Conductor of the SUNY Cortland College-Community Orchestra, co-founded and conducted the Northeast String Orchestra (Albany, NY) and the Saratoga Springs Youth Symphony, served as Music Director and/or Conductor of the Hamilton College Orchestra, the Auburn (NY) Chamber Orchestra, the Saratoga Springs Youth Orchestra and the Empire State Youth Orchestra String Ensemble and Advanced Chamber Ensemble. As a guest conductor, Valli has conducted widely: at festivals, for Music’s Recreation (Ithaca, NY), at Ithaca College and for an interfaith service with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama of Tibet. He studied conducting with Jeffrey Meyer, Pamela Gearhart and Karel Husa. He has also studied and performed theater improvisation internationally and in 2018 and 2021 presented papers linking orchestral conducting and performance with improv and theatrical mask techniques at the Oxford Conducting Institute Conducting Studies Conference, University of Oxford.
Dr. Kathryn D. Brown is Founder, Artistic Director, and Conductor of the New Texas Symphony Orchestra. She started the NTSO in 2004 with a dream to give amateur and volunteer musicians an opportunity to play in a full orchestra setting, and to share with audiences the excitement and improved quality of life that comes from being a part of music played for the love of it. All NTSO concerts are free to attend thanks to the NTSO initiative of Free Concerts for All. Through this, Dr. Brown is honored to bring local and internationally recognized artists to audiences who otherwise might have missed their music. Dr. Brown earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from Boston University with a focus on community music and lifelong music making. She is also a Music Professor at Dallas College and holds memberships in the Conductors Guild, Texas Music Educators Association, and Sigma Alpha Iota.
Energetic and dynamic Wojciech Milewski is an emerging operatic and orchestral conductor. He is the recipient of the 2019 Henderson Symphony Orchestra Harold Farberman Prize and was a finalist in the 2019 Los Angeles Conducting Competition. Recently named music director of Charleston Opera Theater, Wojciech has held the baton for the Summerville Orchestra since 2016. Under his leadership, the orchestra has directly engaged the community by starting three separate outreach series, selling out its rou pre-COVID seasons and doubling its active musician roster.
Conductor Kaleb Benda is Music Director of the Oklahoma Chamber Symphony, Music Director of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Concert Band, and Assistant Conductor of the Enid Symphony Orchestra. Having conducted across the United States and in Hungary, Benda’s multi-faceted career also includes regular appearances with the annual Cool Classics Series where he conducts the OK Strings ensemble, as Artistic Director of the Texas Chamber Symphony, and guest conducting engagements. In 2021 he and Oklahoma Chamber Symphony commissioned Williams’ Greenwood, Archer & Pine, a piece commemorating the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Consecutively in 2016-2021, Kaleb Benda was named a finalist for The American Prize in the discipline of conducting. In 2021, Kaleb was named a Next Gen under 30 award winner for his effort with Oklahoma Chamber Symphony to make classical music accessible in the community. Visit www.kalebbenda.com for more information.
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Congratulations!
The American Prize in Orchestral Programming—Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award (collegiate division), 2023
The American Prize winner:
David A. Rahbee
University of Washington Symphony Orchestra
Seattle WA
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| David A. Rahbee |
2nd Place:
Michelle Di Russo
Cornell University Orchestra
Ithaca NY
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| Michelle Di Russo |
3rd Place (there was a tie):
Jeffrey Klefstad
All University Orchestra—Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh PA
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| Jeffrey Klefstad |
3rd Place (there was a tie):
Paul McShee
Binghamton University Symphony Orchestra
Binghamton NY
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| Paul McShee |
Described as “emotionally stirring” by the Missoulian, Paul McShee, artistic director of instrumental studies and assistant professor at Binghamton University, is known for the "energy and sincere expression" of his performances. Equally at home on the podium and in the opera pit, McShee is sought after as a conductor for opera productions in the U.S. and Europe, and directs the Edinburgh PopUpOpera. McShee has conducted the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, The Missoula Symphony Orchestra, the London Paradisal Players, L’Orchestre Band-Son, the Philharmonie Mihail Jora and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic. He holds the DMA in conducting from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He has taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Connecticut, and Binghamton University. His current research concerns the intersections between philosophy and the music of Brahms, Wagner, and Mahler. McShee studied under Marin Alsop, and Harvey Felder. www.paulrmcshee.com
The American Prize in Orchestral Programming—Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award (non-collegiate division), 2023
The American Prize winner:
Ubaldo Valli
Pierstown Grange Chamber Concerts
Cooperstown NY
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| Ubaldo Valli |
2nd Place (there was a tie):
Kathryn D. Brownlee
New Texas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas TX
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| Kathryn D. Brownlee |
2nd Place (there was a tie):
Wojciech Milewski
Summerville Orchestra
Summerville SC
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| Wojciech Milewski |
3rd Place:
Kaleb Benda
Oklahoma Chamber Symphony
Oklahoma City OK
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| Kaleb Benda |
Finalist Honorable Mention:
John B. Gordon
Williamson County Symphony Orchestra
Round Rock TX
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| John B. Gordon |
The Williamson County Symphony Orchestra was formed in 2002 with the mission of encouraging the general public to come listen to great music. The Orchestra consists of between 60 and 80 members, staffed almost entirely by volunteer musicians, into a near-professional level ensemble. The concert format that was instituted 21 years ago has a programming formula that brings in large to over-flow audiences. Under Director of Music John Gordon's leadership, the Orchestra continues to perform FREE "pops-styled" concerts with a mixture of music from the classical, both romantic & modern periods, movies & TV, contemporary, and religious genres of music and new compositions from Composer-in-Resident, Dr ML Daniels. The FREE concerts are pitched toward families, seniors, and the general public. The Orchestra performs a two-concert series four times a year - Fall, Christmas, Spring, & Outdoor - at venues across Williamson County plus one FREE concert for troops and families at Ft Hood.
John Gordon was a founding member of the Orchestra in February of 2002. He has served as Chairman (President) of the Board of Directors for 20 years and as Director of Music for the last three years. He has guided the music selection, selected venues, brought in Conductors, done some conducting, and assisted the Orchestra's musicians over the years while serving as First or Second Trumpet in performances. John is a Registered Professional (Electrical) Engineer and has been involved in many of the major electric utility cases in Texas.
Congratulations!
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