Music Competition-


Christine Dookie


Michael Gellman


Jay Lee

2012 YOUNG BRONX ARTIST COMPETITION
SATURDAY, APRIL 21
Auditions begin at 9 am
Vladeck Hall
74 Van Cortlandt Park South (at Hillman Avenue), Bronx

ONE WINNER will receive $500 and a solo appearance with the Bronx Arts Ensemble during the 2011 - 2012 season.
ONE RUNNER-UP will receive a cash award as well.


Guidelines:
-Open to all qualified music students ages 14 to 20
-Applicant MUST be a Bronx resident OR attend school in the Bronx
-ACCOMPANIST IS REQUIRED for singers and instrumentalists
-Audition length - 10 to 15 minutes from standard repertoire (no original compositions)
-Applicant will be given a specific audition time
-Return your application by mail, fax or E mail by MON, APRIL 16

Download a copy of an application. To receive a mailed or emailed application, please contact the BAE office: info@bronxartsensemble.org (subject: Young Artist Application Request) or call 718 601-7399.

2011 COMPETITION WINNERS

Three local musicians were chosen winners at the BAE Young Bronx Artist Contest, an annual competition for students who are between ages 14 and 20 who live in and/or attend school in the Bronx. At auditions held on April 23, the Bingham Award went to flutist Christine Dookie, pianist Michael Gellman and pianist Jay Lee. As winners, Christine, Michael and Jay will appear as soloists on BAE subscription concerts during the 2011-2012 season and receive cash awards.

Flutist Christine Dookie, a senior at Celia Cruz High School of Music in the Bronx, is a student of Tia Roper-Penn on scholarship for the Music Access Program at the Bloomingdale School of Music.  At Bloomingdale, she won the Performance Competition in the Chamber Music and Advanced Soloist divisions, and won gold on NYSSMA Level 5 and 6.  She was a member of New York All-State Symphonic Band in 2010 and All-State Wind Ensemble in 2011, and won the Brooklyn Philharmonic Chamber Competition in 2011. Christine performed with the New York Pops and in the Salute to Music Program at Carnegie Hall, and is a member of New York’s All-City Band and Lehman College Community Band, and Westchester Community Band in the summers. She began her flute studies in 7th grade.

Pianist MICHAEL GELLMAN is a senior at Bronx Science High School and has studied with Dr. Tania Tachkova and Kirsten Olafson. He has also participated in master classes led by Orli Shaham, Leon Fleisher and Julian Martin. A Recanati-Kaplan Scholar at the 92nd Street Y School of Music, he is a two-time recipient of the scholarship's Student Achievement Award. Michael is also a scholarship student in the Music Access Project at the Bloomingdale School of Music, and is 1st prize winner in that school's 2010 Performance Competition in both Advanced Performance and Chamber Music. Michael is also an avid composer who has written a number of works for piano, and is a singer-songwriter. In addition to his musical studies, Michael is affiliated with the Young Actor's Program at the Lee Strasberg Institute for Theatre and Film, and has appeared Off-Broadway and in films. He is Editor in Chief of his high school's prize-winning literary magazine Dynamo, and is a two-time winner of the National Gold Award for Memoir in the Scholastic National Art and Writing Awards. A first-prize winner of numerous public speaking competitions, he is the Novice Director for his school's Speech Program of the National Forensics League's Speech and Debate Honor Society. This past summer, Michael attended the Washington International Piano Festival and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, as well as continuing work as a Research Assistant at Columbia University's Learning Lab.

Pianist JAY LEE, a Co-Winner of the BAE 2011 Young Bronx Artist Contest, is a ninth grader at Horace Mann School in Riverdale. He began his studies at age five, and is a student of Nina Svetlanova at the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division. As a 2009 first prize winner of Manhattan's Concerto Competition, he performed as soloist with the MSM Repertory Orchestra. Jay also received the Manhattan School of Music Parents' Association Award in both
2007 and 2008, and has twice been awarded the Ralph Zola Memorial Piano Scholarship. In 2008 Jay performed a solo recital at Miller Hall at the Manhattan School, and that year also performed at the Head Start Sponsoring Board Council Meet and Greet at Mutual of America Building in New York. Jay feels music is his constant companion, and adheres to the quote of Plato - "Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness and life to everything."