Expositions :: SLC Concert Series Emerging Artist Award
The Expositions :: SLC Concert Series Emerging Artist Award is an award that is given to young musicians that show exceptional talent in their field. The winners of this prestigious award are engaged for a period of two years, during which time they are featured on multiple concerts each season. The pinnacle of these performances is during the second year, when they present themselves & their art in a solo recital. In addition to the exciting performing opportunities, at the end of each season the artist receives an honorarium for their performances.
To be considered for the Emerging Artist Award, please fill out the forms here.
To be considered for the Emerging Artist Award, please fill out the forms here.
2012 - 2013 Recipient: Matthew Weissman, Piano
Matthew Weissman’s extensive performance career began at the age of fourteen, when he made his Carnegie Weill Hall debut as a winner of the AMSA World Piano Competition. Since earning that first winning title nearly five years after taking his first piano lesson, he has performed at Steinway Hall, Greenfield Hall, the Brooklyn Center for Performing Arts, Colden Auditorium, Auer Hall, the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, the Gateway Theatre in Vancouver, and the Hungarian Consulate at the United Nations, to name a few. Matthew has received a number of top prizes in competitions throughout the United States, including the Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey and the Queens College Cultural Heritage Competition, and more recently has been a prizewinner in the Los Angeles Liszt Competition, and Grieg International Competition. He has received special recognition for his playing of contemporary and romantic composers, namely Chopin and Liszt. His playing of the latter, Franz Liszt, has received praise from some of the worlds premier Liszt masters and aficionados such as Leslie Howard, Jerome Rose and celebrated Liszt scholar and biographer Alan Walker, who has awarded him the Liszt prize in the 2006 Garrison Piano Competition, followed by a invitational performance in 2007 before Hungarian national leaders at the United Nations. He has performed in the Juilliard Evening Division with numerous invitations by Horowitz biographer David Dubal and is on the artist roster of Podium International and Artistworld. Matthew is a two time honorary member of the American Liszt Society, and has been honored and received scholarships from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and is the recipient of an Indiana University Jacob’s School of Music Travel grant as a winner of the 2010 People’s Choice Award. He has attended under merit scholarship, participated in, and performed at the Aspen, Shandelee, and Tanglewood Music Festivals, and has been featured in the Igor Stravinsky Memorial Concert, the Lillian Fuchs Memorial Chamber Music Concert and the Tania Leon Contemporary Music Concert. In concerto appearances with orchestra he has been invited to perform as soloist with the Camerata Youth Orchestra and the America West Symphony under the baton of Roberta Kauffman-Stalzer and Joel Rosenberg. From Rameau to Rzewski, his repertoire reflects his complete comprehensive approach, and an advocate of modern music he has received direct commendation from contemporary composers Tania Leon, Emma Lou Diemer and Pablo Ziegler for his playing of their music.
A native New Yorker, Matthew began his studies with Nina Svetlanova and Mark Pakman at the age of fourteen, and continued to study with them as well as chamber music studies with Ruth Laredo at Manhattan School of Music as a scholarship student, where he received his BM in 2003. He then earned his MM under the guidance of German Diez, assistant to the late Claudio Arrau. Most recently he received his PD at Indiana University as a student of Andre Watts. Professor Weissman has served as Associate Instructor at Indiana University, faculty of his hometown Nassau Community College, and is currently a Teaching Assistant at the University of Utah where he is earning his doctorate under Dr Susan Duehlmeier. Future projects include a recording on the MSRCD label.
A native New Yorker, Matthew began his studies with Nina Svetlanova and Mark Pakman at the age of fourteen, and continued to study with them as well as chamber music studies with Ruth Laredo at Manhattan School of Music as a scholarship student, where he received his BM in 2003. He then earned his MM under the guidance of German Diez, assistant to the late Claudio Arrau. Most recently he received his PD at Indiana University as a student of Andre Watts. Professor Weissman has served as Associate Instructor at Indiana University, faculty of his hometown Nassau Community College, and is currently a Teaching Assistant at the University of Utah where he is earning his doctorate under Dr Susan Duehlmeier. Future projects include a recording on the MSRCD label.
2011 - 2012 Recipient: Gretchen Windt, Mezzo-Soprano
Originally from Chicago, mezzo-soprano Gretchen Windt completed her Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. She completed her undergraduate studies at North Park University in Chicago, IL. She has performed regularly with Cincinnati Opera including the world premiere of Hailstork’s Rise For Freedom and Golijov’s Ainadamar (Voice of the Fountain). She was an Apprentice Artist with Sarasota Opera including mainstage performances of Die Fledermaus (Ida). She was an Apprentice Artist with the Utah Symphony | Opera, and she has subsequently returned to Utah Symphony | Opera for various engagements including performances of Macbeth (Lady-In-Waiting). Recently, she was an Apprentice Artist with the Sugar Creek Symphony and Song Festival in Illinois. She has also performed with Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, Chesapeake Chamber Opera in Baltimore, and various regional companies in Chicago including Bowen Park Opera, OperaModa, and DuPage Opera Theatre. She has performed and covered roles including Hansel (Hänsel und Gretel), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Mercedes (Carmen), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Jo (Little Women), Third Lady and Papagena (The Magic Flute), Angelina (La Cenerentola), and Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia).