Laramie violinist 1st in Runnicles competition – JH News&Guide

After two rounds of performances at Walk Festival Hall — Saturday’s semifinals with six young musical talents from Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and Sunday’s finals that awarded the top three a total of $50,000 in scholarships — the winners of the eighth annual Donald Runnicles Musical Arts Scholarship Competition were not at all evident.

But after a good 45 minutes of deliberations Sunday afternoon, the three-judge panel awarded violinist Shelby Kay Cox, of Laramie, Wyoming, the $25,000 first-place prize.

Flautist Benjamin Zielinski, of Florence, Montana, walked away with $15,000 to help pay for his continued music education, and cellist Charles R. Snellman, of Helena, Montana, took home the $10,000 third-place scholarship.

Semifinals included pianist Bryce Wood, of Boise, Idaho; violinist Evan Whipple of Casper, Wyoming; and French horn player Aiden Kenneth Koch.

None of the performers — who are planning to continue their musical studies as they make their way to college — took an easy path. On Saturday, Whipple opened his 20-minute set with the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, a bravura piece that tests every aspect of the soloist’s technique. Wood took on the first movement of Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Piano Sonata No. 21 and also presented a movement from a piano sonata of his own composition. And Koch demonstrated he is capable with virtuoso works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Eugene Bozza and Jane Vignery.

“This was the most competitive year in the history of the competition, making it incredibly challenging for the judges to select the finalists,” Ashley Hernandez-Salinas, community engagement manager of the Grand Teton Music Festival, wrote in an email post semifinals. But, forced to do so, they advanced Cox, Zielinski and Snellman.

Fellow judges violinist Jenny Ross, a member of the GTMF orchestra for 44 years, and clarinetist José González Granero, in his sixth season with the festival, joined Runnicles, who also gave props to pianist Kimi Kawashima, who barely broke a sweat as she performed often thorny accompaniments.

read the full story