A! Magazine for the Arts

Franklin Acosta

Franklin Acosta

Music Club scholarship audition winners announced

June 28, 2022

The Bristol Music Club held its 2022 Scholarship Auditions Saturday, May 7, at First Presbyterian Church, Bristol, Tennessee. Judges were Dr. Nancy E. Bargerstock, Dr. Harold McKinney, Robert Greene and Dr. Patrick Flannagan.

Division I is the category for high school seniors who plan to major in music in college. The winner in Division I is Franklin Acosta, playing clarinet. His teacher is Dr. Lisa Perry. Acosta plans to attend ETSU majoring in music performance, as he continues his studies with Perry. The son of Victoria Marshall, Acosta is a graduate of Elizabethton High School where he was a member of the marching and concert bands. He has attended the 2021 Governor’s School for the Arts. He is also the 2022 winner of Symphony of the Mountains Youth Orchestra Senior Concerto Competition.

Division II entrants are in grades 10 through 12. The first-place winner in this division is Allen Feng, student of Jerilyn Paolini, playing piano. He is a previous winner, having won first place in Division IV in 2017 and third place in Division III in 2021. He has completed the 10th grade at Science Hill High School. His parents are Wenlai Feng and Minxia Lu. He was a third-place winner in the 2018 piano solo competition of the Tennessee Music Teachers Association. In 2019, he won first place at the Junior High level of the Grand Virtuoso Piano Competition. As a percussionist, he earned first place in the Junior Clinic Honor Band in 2019 and 2020, and he was first chair percussionist in the 2022 Tennessee All- State Band. He also performed in the All-State Percussion Festival in Murfreesboro in 2022.

The second-place winner in Division II is Jessie Gu on piano. Her teacher is Carol Stone. Gu’s parents are Haifeng Guo and Weimin Gu. She was the second-place winner of the 2022 American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition in the Piano Solo Intermediate category. She was also the second prize winner of the 2021 Brooklyn Music Teachers Guild International Competition in the Piano Solo Advanced category. She has received Superior ratings for the past three years in the auditions of the Appalachian Music Teachers in the Piano Solo category, plus 2017 and 2018 Superior ratings in Piano Duets. She also earned Superior ratings in the 2020 and 2021 Tennessee Music Teachers Association auditions. Gu is currently a member of the Dobyns-Bennett High School Chamber Choir. She earned places in the All-East Choirs in 2020 and 2021, as well as the All-State Choir in 2020. She also participated in the 2021 Africana Fundraising Telethon for children in Uganda.

The third place winner in Division II is Grace Whitten on piccolo. She has completed grade 11 at Elizabethton High School. Whitten is the daughter of Anne Whitten and Jose Gonzalez and studies flute with Martha Avaleen Egan. In 2021 she was the first place winner in this Division playing flute, and she also received the Paramount Chamber Players Award. She performed with the chamber group in February 2022. Whitten has won a number of honors in Solo and Ensemble Master Class, Junior and Senior Clinic, All-East Senior Clinic Bands, and the Elizabethton High School Band. In addition she has played in the Symphony of the Mountains Youth Orchestra and the Watauga Valley Fife & Drum Corps. She has twice been a Women’s Symphony Committee Scholarship Winner. In 2020 and 2021 she was accepted into the virtual Oberlin College and Conservatory Flute Boot Camp and the virtual Aria International Summer Academy Flute Boot Camp. She has been accepted into the 2022 Governor’s School for the Arts.

Division III entrants are in grades seven through nine. The first place winner is Eliana Kovácová, who was also named winner of the prestigious Paramount Chamber Players Award. In 2021 she was the second prize winner in Division IV. She has completed the seventh grade at Homelife Academy and is the daughter of Dr. Michaela Kovácová and Dr. David Kovác. Her private teacher is Dr. David Kovác. She has performed in the ETSU Pre-College Sinfonia chamber orchestra as violinist and concertmaster from 2017 to the present and performed the Concerto Grosso Solo with this ensemble in 2021. She played in the ETSU Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2019. Also in 2019, She performed a solo at the 53rd Youth Aliyah Honors Concert in Oak Ridge. From 2015 to 2019, Kovácová performed in the Heartland Chamber Music Junior Festival, including a solo performance with the Junior Chamber Orchestra. She has earned numerous prizes in solo and ensemble strings in competitions of both Tennessee and Kansas Music Teachers Associations. As a student and company dancer with Kingsport Ballet since 2016, she has participated in many recitals and productions, including “Nutcracker,” “Coppelia,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Don Quixote.”

The second-place winner in Division III is Shanna Jung on piano, playing in her very first competition. Her teacher is Dr. Michaela Kovácová in the ETSU pre-college program. Jung has completed grade seven at the University School where she participates in theater and chorus. She is the daughter of Jisun Jeong.

The third-place winner in Division III is Emmy Nannenga on piano. She studies with Carol Stone. Nannenga has completed grade eight at Robinson Middle School. She is the daughter of Dr. Michael and Stephanie Nannenga. She was a 2019 first place winner in Division IV of the Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions. She has also won the Gold Cup award in the Na-tional Federation of Music Clubs Junior Festival. For the past five years, she has earned Superior ratings in the auditions of the Appalachian Music Teachers Association. Nannenga has progressed to Level IV in the Peskanov Piano Olympics and has participated in the 2021 Africana Fundraising Telethon for children in Uganda.

Division IV is for students in Grades four through six. The first-place winner in this Division is Caroline Ning, who studies piano with Jerilyn Paolini. She is the daughter of Ling Wang and Shunbin Ning. Ning has completed grade six at Indian Trail Intermediate School. In 2021 she was a third-place winner in this division. For the past five years, she has earned Superior ratings in the National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Festival and the Appalachian Music Teachers Association auditions. She was named second-place winner in the 2022 semifinals of Music International Grand Prix.

The second-place winner in Division IV is Esme Lin, piano student of Carol Stone. She is the daughter of Helene Ying. Lin has completed grade five at Sullins Academy. In 2021 and 2022 she earned Superior ratings in the National Federation of Music Club’s Festival and the Appalachian Music Teachers Association auditions, playing in the AMTA Honors Recital in 2022. She has also achieved Levels I and II in the Peskanov Piano Olympics.

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