FRIDAY MUSICALE NEWS

Friday Musicale Presents its 2013 Scholarship Award Recipients

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:55:21 -0400

Friday Musicale’s Annual Scholarship Competition was held Saturday, April 20, 2013 in the Friday Musicale Auditorium for graduating seniors, the organization’s newest generation of musicians. Mitchell Kuhn, oboe, was awarded the Marian Armington Waterman Poitevent Instrumental Scholarship. Mr. Kuhn is a graduating senior at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. He has studied the oboe for ten years, for the past five years with Eric Olson (principal oboist in the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra) and is pursuing an oboe performance degree at The Juilliard School of Music.

Andrew Callahan, piano, was awarded the Susan C. Mahla Instrumental Piano Scholarship. Mr. Callahan is a graduating senior at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. He has studied piano for thirteen years, most recently with Gavin Taylor (private teacher), Scott Gregg (Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, Director), Vera Watson (Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Piano Department Chair) and Ace Martin (Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Instrumental Music Department Chair). He is pursuing a piano performance degree at the University of Michigan.

Philanthropic scholarships for promising students began in the 1930’s. In the 1960's, the department established several college scholarships, with the first named scholarship fund in memory of Miss Genevieve McMurray, beloved teacher, church organist, and past president (1937-1938). Other named scholarships include the Ida Broward Boyd Scholarship, Jeanne Donahoo Scholarship, and the aforementioned Marian Armington Waterman Poitevent Instrumental Scholarship. In 2012, the Susan C. Mahla Instrumental Piano Scholarship was entrusted to Friday Musicale in loving memory of Susan C. Mahla.

Award winners, chosen by a juried audition annually, receive a tuition grant for four years provided they remain music majors and maintain a 3.0 average.

Friday Musicale is the oldest musical organization in the State of Florida founded in 1890 in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded by Claudia L’Engle Adams, the organization cultivates music as an essential art in the life of the community and for the mutual benefit of its members.

Being the 2013 Scholarship Recipients, they will be presented in concert at the Friday Musicale Auditorium, 645 Oak Street, on Friday, May 10, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Friday Musicale Presents Outstanding Young Pianists 2013

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:23:59 -0500

Friday Musicale Presents Outstanding Young Pianists on Friday, January 25, 2013

On Saturday, December 1, 2012 advanced piano students of grades 5-12 auditioned to perform at Friday Musicale as the 2013 class of Outstanding Young Pianists.

5th-6th Grade Winner: Ethan Callahan (Sandra Stewart, piano teacher)  Air in G Major | Handel  Tarantella in A Minor | Pieczonka

7th-8th Grade Winner: Alicia Hou (Mary Lou Wesley Krosnick, piano teacher)  Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3 | Beethoven  Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3 | Chopin

9th-10th Grade Winner: Christy Shelenberger (Vickie Stake, piano teacher)  Fantaisie - Impromptu, Op. 66 C# Minor | Chopin  Toccata, Op. 15 | Muczynski

11th-12th Grade Winner: Andrew Callahan (Gavin Taylor, piano teacher)  Sonata in C Major "Waldstein", Op. 53, Mvt. 1, Allegro con brio | Beethoven  Ballade, Op. 46 | Barber

Ensemble Winner: Stephen Webb and Abbie Brigham (Vickie Stake, piano teacher)  Suite No. 2, Op. 17 IV Tarantella | Rachmaninoff

Concerto Winner: Betsy Lin (Aida Ribeiro, piano teacher)  Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 | Rachmaninoff

Being the Outstanding Young Pianists of 2013, they will be presented in concert at the Friday Musicale Auditorium, 645 Oak Street, on Friday, January 25, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Friday Musicale Names New President

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:18:10 -0400

Pam Franklin was recently named President of Friday Musicale, a nonprofit organization that promotes classical music by presenting free concerts for the community, scholarships for music students and various other outreach programs. She succeeds Henson Markham, who recently concluded his two year term as President.
Pam Franklin has been an active member of Friday Musicale for 14 years and has served as chairman of the social and programming committees. A graduate of the University of Florida, Franklin taught music in public schools for nine years and is presently a private piano teacher. She is married to Stan Franklin and they have one daughter, Lauren Franklin-Steinmetz, a professional cellist, who lives with her husband in Berlin, Germany.

Friday Musicale Appoints Executive Director

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:22:30 -0400

Henson Markham, President of the Friday Musicale, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mandie McKenzie as executive director, effective July 26, 2012.

McKenzie, a two-year employee of Friday Musicale, will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Friday Musicale, developing and promoting the annual concert series, securing funding, managing Friday Musicale’s three facilities and extending community outreach and member enhancement programs.

For the past two years, McKenzie has worked in multiple capacities at Friday Musicale including event rentals, facility/property management, staff supervision, accounts receivable/payable and concert, reception and competition logistics. Since joining Friday Musicale, McKenzie has become an active member representing Friday Musicale in the North Florida Chapter of Meeting Professionals International where she currently serves as Vice President of Communications.

Prior to employment at Friday Musicale, McKenzie worked as an event manager for Destination Planning Corporation for three and a half years. In logistics management, she handled corporate, association, SMERF and private events of varying sizes with clients such as Farmers Insurance, FedEx, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Nestle Waters. From concept proposal through event completion, McKenzie coordinated services including airport and chartered transportation, event décor, entertainment, tours, team building, off site events, weddings, conference management and trade show management. Through Destination Planning Corporation, McKenzie assisted the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce in the pre-planning logistics as well as onsite coordination for two of their Annual Leadership Trips (Kansas City and Indianapolis).

McKenzie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Pam Franklin, Friday Musicale’s vice president elect, said McKenzie’s experience in the Friday Musicale organization provides a seamless transition in philosophy, day-to-day organization management and working relationships among the Board, members, performers, renters, vendors and community while also bringing new concepts and ideas for furthering the mission of Friday Musicale.

Photo courtesy of Beaucoup Photography.

New festival at Friday Musicale fills a gap for young classical musicians

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:59:52 -0400

BY: Charlie Patton
Florida Times-Union

For young classical musicians, summer in Jacksonville has traditionally been a dead period, offering few opportunities to perform.

To fill that gap, Friday Musicale has launched an Emerging Young Artists festival, which consists of four concerts featuring 14 musicians over two weekends.

It begins Friday night with a program of chamber music. Sunday there will be a jazz concert. The following weekend, there will be a chamber music performance on Friday, Aug. 5, and performances by four soloists on Sunday, Aug. 7.
In addition to providing the participating musicians a chance to perform, the festival will match the musicians with mentors. The mentors will not only coach them as they prepare to play, but will also offer counseling on how to build careers as professional musicians.

Friday Musicale's President Henson Markham said he has been gratified by the enthusiasm the musicians have shown. At a recent meeting, "the excitement was just incredible," he said.

One of the young musicians is Likai He, a 16-year-old violinist who won the Marian Waterman Caldwell Scholarship from Friday Musicale and also won the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra's Young Artists Competition. He will perform in the chamber music concert on Friday, Aug. 5, and will be one of the soloists on Sunday, Aug. 7.

He will work with Timothy Edwards, who plays and teaches violin and is co-director of the festival. Edwards said that until recently most college music programs offered little in the way of career counseling, though that is changing.

As the son of two musicians, He perhaps has more of a sense of how to build a career than some of the other young musicians in the festival. His father, Jianjun He, teaches composition and music theory at Jacksonville University, and his mother, Lan Zhang, sings opera.

But He said he is looking forward to working with Edwards as he rehearses for the chamber music concert.
"I have no experience in chamber music," He said.

Although He has not yet graduated from The Bolles School, he will enroll at Columbus State University in Georgia in the fall and study under violin professor Sergiu Schwartz.

Edwards said he only recently met He but knows him by reputation as a very promising musician.

"I know you are a talented musician," Edwards told He at a recent meeting. "I know you are very dedicated. You know how to practice."

Markham and Christopher Heacox, Friday Musicale's director, both praised He as a gifted musician with a bright future. Heacox said that Christine Clark, who preceded Markham as president, often spoke of her wish that Friday Musicale be a place where kids could start learning a love of classical music and then "eventually come back to perform as professional musicians."

The new festival "bridges that gap," he said. The performers selected for the festival are all "very talented kids," he said.

Other players are Joseph Engol, violoncello, Jacksonville University; Rebekah Morgan, violin, a Douglas Anderson School of the Arts graduate who will attend Florida State University; Ian Fell, violin, Creekside High School; Jake Tuttle, piano, a Douglas Anderson graduate who will attend FSU; Matthew Young, piano, Oberlin Conservatory of Music; Hannah Fell, flute, Creekside High; Leah Chappell, cello, FSU; Nickie Whaley, viola, Stetson University; Brent Pafford, piano, Stetson; Peter Dutilly, viola, JU; Joseph Henderson, violin, Douglas Anderson graduate who will attend the University of North Florida; Hannah Meloy, soprano, UNF; and Brittany L. Maroncy, cello, just graduated from UNF.

Both Sunday concerts are at 6 p.m. Both Friday concerts are at 7:30 p.m. All concerts are free to the public. Friday Musicale is at 645 Oak St.

charlie.patton@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4413

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