School of Music earns top honors in opera, piano and strings

The School of Music has earned prestigious honors in opera, piano and strings.

OPERA at USC won second place in the National Opera Association’s Opera Production Video Competition. The program won for the video submission of its April 2007 performance of “Postcard From Morocco,” with orchestra direction by Neil Casey. The NOA’s competition is the only one of its kind and selected the university as a winner among 27 entries for musical accuracy and style, quality of singing, quality of accompaniment, directorial concept and quality of acting, as well as costumes, scenery, props and lighting.

“Opera requires true collaboration between performers, directors, designers, crew and orchestra,” said Ellen Schlaefer, director of the school’s opera program. “It takes everyone coming together to make a project like this work. To have outside validation by those who work in the opera field is wonderful. I am extremely proud.”

OPERA at USC performed to full houses earlier this month with its production of Kurt Weill’s “The Threepenny Opera.” Its next performance will be Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” April 25 and 27 in Longstreet Theatre.

Dr. Scott Price, professor of piano, has won the 2008 Frances Clark Keyboard Award by the Music Teacher’s National Association as founder and editor of The Piano Pedagogy Forum. The award honors Price’s leadership and the forum as a publication that furthers the piano-teaching profession. Established in 1997, The Piano Pedagogy Forum is a free, widely distributed journal featuring articles about college-level piano for teachers, students and the public. More than 102 writers from 84 national and international colleges and universities have contributed to the journal. Price will receive the award at the MTNA’s national meeting on April 2 in Denver.

“I believe the journal represents some of the best attributes of our profession in that we as a community of artists, teachers and educators have all come together to create a resource that is freely available to anyone who has need,” Price said. “That is a rare thing indeed in today’s current market mentality.”

Completing the trio of honors is a Student Chapter of the Year Award from the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). Comprising 19 string-education students and nine string-performance students, the ASTA chapter was recognized for its service in the USC String Quartet Workshop for the last five years, the South Carolina Cello Choir and its own benefit concert, “Strings in Silhouette.”

The chapter was honored for its service to the community through the USC String Project, an outreach project that has been replicated nationally for teaching area school children to play stringed instruments and encouraging students to pursue a career in string-music education. Chapter members will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., Feb. 28 – March 1 to attend and perform at ASTA’s national conference.

For more information about the School of Music and its programs and concerts, visit the Web site: www.music.sc.edu.