Announcing the Annual Scholarship Winners! 2019/2020 Season
About our Scholarship Program
In collaboration with Dr. Alexander Tutunov, Professor of Piano at Southern Oregon University, Friends of Music awards three young artists with a $1,500 scholarship to assist them with their musical education. Each artist is selected through an audition process and invited to perform at our annual Scholarship concert we present FREE to the general public as each season comes to a close in May.
Due to the coronavirus, this year was a bit different. Despite having to cancel several concerts, including the scholarship concert, we were determined not to let Covid-19 stop us from recognizing these amazing young musicians. Working with Dr. Tutunov, we conducted our search and auditions virtually to select this season's candidates. The Board of Directors is pleased and proud to congratulate the following winners:
Stephanie Chen
American born pianist Stephanie Chen debuted as the piano soloist with the Symphonic Band as a freshman at Southern Oregon University, performing Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. She has since performed a wide range of works from Bach to Ginastera. Stephanie began her piano studies at age 5 with Dr. Jiyu Yang and later with Barbara Parker in Portland, Oregon. In addition to piano, Stephanie also studies traditional Chinese instruments such as erhu, guzheng, and hulusi at Wisdom Arts Academy under the instruction from Dr. Jiyu Yang and Bi Hai. She also enjoys doing traditional Chinese brush calligraphy and painting as her hobbies.
Declan Tse
Declan Tse is a versatile artist who performs extensively both as a solo and collaborative pianist. Mr. Tse has been a guest pianist for the Hong Kong Baptist University Commencement and has performed chamber music at the 2018 Pablo Casals Festival. Tse also works closely with contemporary composers and premieres their works frequently. His concert activities have taken him to several premiere venues in Asia, Europe, and North America including the Hong Kong Cultural Center and Oregon Center for the Arts. He is currently studying Master of Music in Piano Performance at Southern Oregon University under the guidance of Dr. Alexander Tutunov. Mr. Tse has earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music degree, with first class honors from Hong Kong Baptist University where he studied piano with Professor Nancy Loo.
Carly King
Carly King is a sophomore vocal performance major at Southern Oregon University. Carly sings in both chamber choir and concert choir at SOU and is a chorister with the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers. Carly is from Redmond, Oregon, and has grown up singing in youth choirs and participating in all of the music her schools had to offer. At Southern Oregon University, she has been awarded the Mountain Meadows Scholarship and the Emma Mulling Outstanding Freshman Scholarship. Carly is also the recipient of the outstanding voice jury award for spring and fall, 2019.
About Dr. Alexander Tutunov