Past Competition Winners

We are so proud of all the participants of our National Drama Competition. Our chapter competition was held at The Crest Theatre in Old School Square and was judged by an esteemed panel including Sue Ellen Beryl of Palm Beach Dramaworks and acclaimed actors Jeffrey Bruce and Barbara Bradshaw. The top prize was awarded to Darius J. Manuel, with second prize awarded to Jared Neil and third prize awarded to Joshua Hernandez. 

Darius won a $2,000 prize and will receive an all expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete at the National Drama Competition from May 31-June 2.  Break a Leg Darius!!

NSAL Florida East Coast Chapter is proud to announce the winners of the 2018 Collaborative Piano and Brass Duo Competiton.

NSAL Florida East Coast Chapter Hosts Nation’s First Collaborative Piano and Brass Duo Competition

The National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) Florida East Coast Chapter recently held the nation’s first Collaborative Piano and Brass Duo Competition. The event, held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, is the only competition in the United States which recognizes and awards the duo as two parts of equal importance, akin to figure skating pairs. The competition was generously sponsored by Donald Mandich, and the winning duo was Sodienye Finebone on tuba and Kristi Mezinez on piano.

“We are thrilled to be the first competition of this kind,” said Judi Asselta, NSAL Florida East Coast Chapter president. “And to provide these outstanding musicians with monetary awards to support their educational pursuits.”

The duos each presented two works; a large-scale important sonata and a short character piece which represented their artistry. The panel scored competitors based on professional collaborative skills, in addition to individual technical and musical artistry.

The first-place prize winners, Sodieneye Finebone and Kristi Mezinez, each received $2,000. Second-place winners, Carlos Diaz on trumpet and Guzal Isametdinova on piano, each received $1000. And third-place winners, Daniel Meier on trumpet and Mara Valmonte on piano, each received $500.

“We are delighted for this opportunity to celebrate brass and piano music which is being championed by many modern and contemporary American composers,” said Lisa Leonard, co-chair of the event with Marc Reese. “This event was a rare opportunity for these students to participate in this inaugural event and to gain insights from some of the nation’s leading musicians.”

Competitors were judged by an esteemed panel including Timothy Connor, Jodie DeSalvo and Jeffrey Kaye. Timothy Connor has been an Associate Professor of Practice and Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami since 1995 and is a full-time teacher at the Frost School of Music.

Mr. Connor has shared the stage with numerous luminaries including Ray Charles, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald and Bernadette Peters. Jodie DeSalvo captured national and international attention with her classical interpretations of the masters of keyboard literature. Upon winning the Artists International Competition in 1988, she made her critically acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall, followed by an encore performance two years later at Lincoln Center. Jeffrey Kaye is an internationally acclaimed orchestral and chamber musicians, soloist, education and arts leader. For 14 seasons he was the Principal Trumpet for the Florida Philharmonic, and has also served in that position with the Florida Grand Opera, the Florida Philharmonic Pops Orchestra and the Miami Chamber Orchestra.

The hallmark of NSAL is its National Annual Awards Competition, which is held each year. Participants compete at the local chapter level for a series of monetary awards. First-place winners of the local chapter competitions are sent at the chapter’s expense to the National Competition, which is held each spring during the Society’s annual meeting.

The National Society of Arts and Letters announced its 2018 Music Competition for young woodwinds musicians, and our chapter held a stellar competition on March 3, 2018 at Lynn University.

We had an esteemed panel of judges including Francesca Arnone, Matt Corey, Michael Finn and Marco Antonio Navarette.  Also present was Honorary Chair and famed musician Marshall Turkin.

We were delighted to award scholarships to the top three participants. Event photos and video below.

1st place: Cameron Vincent Hewes, clarinet, was last year's NSAL Woodwind scholarship winner for the Lynn Conservatory of Music. He is a graduate of Lynn, presently studying in Chicago. NSAL Florida East Coast Chapter will be paying all of Cameron's expenses to participate in the National Competition being held in Chautauqua, New York at the end of May. The First Prize at the National level is $12,000

2nd place: James Tsi Wai Abrahamson, clarinet, is studying at the Lynn Conservatory of Music. This month he will be performing in Budapest as part of a student exchange program. 

3rd place:  Timothy Mark Fernando, flute, is studying at the Lynn Conservatory of Music.

Competition Judges

Judge Marco Navarrete is a graduate of the Harid Conservatory and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was a student of John Dee, former Principal Oboe of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. While at the University of Illinois he received the Dr. Edmund Williams Award for Excellence in Oboe Performance following the University of Illinois Wind Symphony’s Carnegie Hall debut. He was also the Honorable Mention in the 2007 Krannert Center Debut Artist Recital Competition. Navarrete has performed throughout the United States, Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, and China under the batons of James Judd, Joseph Silverstein, Alfred Reed, James Keene, Xu Zhong and Ian Hobson. Other artists Mr. Navarrete has performed with include Mariah Carey, Lynn Roberts, Frank Sinatra Jr., Dennis DeYoung and STYX, The Indigo Girls, Nelly, and Bernadette Peters. Along with being active in the recording studios of South Florida, Navarrete performed with the National Symphony of Panama as a guest soloist in 2014. An advocate of international musical relations, Navarrete has given masterclasses in Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, and China. Navarrete also is a recurring adjudicator for the Florida Youth Orchestra and the National Society of Arts and Letters Woodwind Competition. Currently, Mr. Navarrete is the Principal Oboe of the Symphony of the Americas and the oboe professor at the Boca Academy of Music.

Judge Michael Finn is the newly appointed Executive and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach. He comes to Palm Beach from New York where he worked at Lincoln Center as the Director of Performance Activities and Associate Dean at The Juilliard School. Prior to that appointment, he enjoyed a rich and varied career as performer and orchestral personnel manager.

He has produced orchestral and operatic performances at festivals around the world including the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the BBC Proms in London and in major concert halls in the USA, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Chicago, and Disney Hall in Los Angeles. 

Finn, a performer himself and a graduate of The Juilliard School, has appeared in nearly every major concert hall of North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia in prestigious ensembles including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Metropolitan Opera, Musicians from Marlboro, the award-winning chamber ensemble Hexagon, and the Salzburg Bach Orchestra. A particular highlight was his participation in the farewell concerts of Luciano Pavarotti at Madison Square Garden in New York. Additionally, he has performed with many of the world’s leading performers, including Joshua Bell, Peter Serkin and the Tokyo String Quartet. In his student years, he was a member of the Miami Philharmonic and Miami Opera.

He is a recording artist and his repertoire ranges from commercials, television and radio, to major motion pictures as well as Grammy-nominated classical recordings. He has recorded for the BMC Classics, Bridge, Deutsche Grammophon, Dorian Recordings, Nonesuch and Sony Classics Labels.

Judge Matt Corey earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degree in bassoon performance at the University of Miami and currently performs in the Boca Raton Symphonia. Like our honorary Chairperson, Marshall Turkin, his first instrument was clarinet before taking up the bassoon. He is the resident sound designer at GableStage, and a member of Mad Cat Theatre Company. He has earned Carbonell Awards for his designs of The Pillowman, Talk Radio, Broadsword, and Blasted, The Birds, The Mountaintop, and most recently The Night of the Iguana, at Palm Beach Dramaworks. By day, Matt is the CEO of Insight for the Blind in Fort Lauderdale, a 42-year-old charity devoted to recording books and magazines for the blind and physically handicapped.

Judge, Dr. Francesca Arnone grew up in Port Charlotte, Florida, and earned music degrees from Oberlin, San Francisco Conservatory, and the University of Miami. Currently on faculty at Tampa’s Patel Conservatory, she has taught at Boise State, West Virginia, Idaho State, and Baylor universities as well as many summer festivals and music camps. She has held Principal Flute, Second Flute, and Piccolo positions in orchestras in the US and abroad, and has been a concerto soloist on flute, alto flute, and piccolo, on repertoire ranging from Bach to Chen Yi. Her solo and chamber music recordings on MSR and PARMA have met with critical acclaim. Francesca is a member of the Palm Beach Opera and Opera Tampa orchestras and collaborates with ensemblenewSRQ, Choral Artists of Sarasota, Reflections Chamber Ensemble, and orchestras around the state of Florida. She is program chair for the 2018 National Flute Association convention in Orlando. Please see www.francescaarnone.com

For more information:  National Society of Arts and Letters national website at www.arts-nsal.org

The NSAL Florida East Chapter has proudly selected Mariya Kaganskaya and Laura Leon to compete for the National Dorothy Lincoln Smith Voice Scholarship. Smith, a past NSAL National President and Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, has generously underwritten this new competition for classical vocalists, ages 23 – 31. A total of $10,000 will be awarded to winners.

Mariya Kaganskaya, age 27, is a mezzo soprano from Miami. In 2012, she graduated with a BA in Music, Vocal Performance from the University of California at San Diego. In 2015, she obtained her Masters in Vocal Performance and in 2106 a PSD, both from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Ms. Kaganskaya is presently a studio artist with the Florida Grand Opera. Her YouTube audition video is here: https://youtu.be/AjjKXG_wXh0

Laura Leon, age 30 is a soprano from Miami, FL. In 2013 she received a BA in Music from Nyack College and in 2015 a MM from Florida International University. She is presently with the Florida Grand Opera. 

Competition Judges

The local judges for this competition were: Birgit Fiorvante, Director Opera Fusion; Metropolitan Opera Star, Marilyn Mims and Jeffrey Buchman, NSAL National Voice Winner 1997. He is also a well-known musical director for opera in the major opera houses, including Florida Grand Opera and is a member of the faculty at Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

For more information:  National Society of Arts and Letters national website at www.arts-nsal.org