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PAST FIRST-PLACE WINNERS OF THE
AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS & HENRY
I. GOLDBERG
INTERNATIONAL YOUNG ARTISTS COMPETITION
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2006 - IAN HOWELL (countertenor), noted for his “polished sound, clear resonance, and powerful enunciation…” by San Francisco Classical Voice, has performed on major concert stages across the United States, Europe, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan. Mr. Howell recently took First Prize at the American Bach Soloists International Solo Competition with an acclaimed performance of Bach’s cantata, Vergnügte Ruh, and Third Prize (and made his Carnegie Hall Debut) at the Oratorio Society of New York’s Competition. This Blacksburg, VA native can be heard with the all male chamber choir, Chanticleer, on one DVD and seven CDs, including the GRAMMY award winning Lamentations and Praises, and the GRAMMY award nominated Our American Journey. Mr. Howell has appeared in Handel’s Hercules (Lichas) and Semele (Athamas), Purcell’s The Fairy Queen (First Countertenor), and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon). Concert appearances include Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. John Passion, and Monteverdi’s Vespers (1610). Future engagements include performances with the American Bach Soloists, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Choir of St. Thomas Church Fifth Ave (NYC), and a debut recording with the American Bach Soloists. Mr. Howell is dedicated to spreading awareness of the countertenor voice, and has given master classes and lecture/demonstrations across the country. Mr. Howell graduated December 2006 with a Master’s degree in Early Music, Song, and Chamber Ensemble offered jointly by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music. |
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2002 - DEBRA NAGY (oboe) completed her Masters
degree at Oberlin Conservatory in Historical Performance in
2002. As first-prize winner in the 2002 American Bach Soloists
Young Artist Competition, Debra has been a featured concerto
soloist with both the American Bach Soloists and the San Francisco
Bach Choir. Debra also performs frequently with Portland's
Trinity Consort, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Washington
Bach Consort, New York's Ensemble Rebel, and Les Boréades
of Montreal, among other groups. In addition, Debra performs
on shawms and recorders with Ciaramella, an ensemble for fifteenth-century
music. Debra was a Belgian American Educational Foundation
fellow in Brussels during 2002-2003 and studied at the Conservatory
of Amsterdam. She is currently a doctoral student in Early
Music at Case Western Reserve University, where she directs
the instrumental Collegium. Debra can be heard on the Capstone,
Naxos, Hänssler Classics, and ATMA labels and has had
live performances featured on CBC Radio Canada, WQXR (New York
City) and WGBH Boston. |
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2002 - AMY GUITRY (flute)
graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin
College in 1998 with degrees in both historical performance
and modern flute performance. While at Oberlin she was a
student of Michael Lynn, Michel Debost, and Kathleen Chastain.
She has performed in master classes at the Boston Early Music
Festival, The International Baroque Institute at Longy, the
Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, and at the Handel
House Museum in London, England. She has performed with Apollo’s
Fire, the Cleveland Baroque orchestra in their 1997 production
of Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, among other concerts.
Under the auspices of the University of Pittsburgh, she played
in the modern-day world premiere of the St. Matthew Passion of
C.P.E. Bach in spring 2002. She was selected to become a
participant in the Jerwood/OAE experience, an apprenticeship
program with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Ms.
Guitry is a recipient of a Fulbright Graduate Student Award
to the United Kingdom. She is currently living in London
while studying as a postgraduate student in the Early Music
program at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as a
student of Stephen Preston. |
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2000 - SIMOS PAPANAS (violin)
was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1979. After completing
his studies at the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki in 1995,
he attended Oberlin College. From Oberlin he graduated in
1999 with a B.A. with high honors in Mathematics and a B.Music,
receiving the Kaufman and Orr prizes (awarded each year,
respectively, to an outstanding violinist and to the most
promising graduating mathematician). He was also concertmaster
of the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra and winner of the Oberlin
Concerto Competition. Currently he is pursuing a Ph.D. in
Mathematics at Yale University and a M.M. at the Yale School
of Music. He is the first student in the history of Yale
University to simultaneously pursue two graduate degrees
in non-correlated areas. He has performed in Greece, Bulgaria,
Italy, Hungary, France, Canada and the United States. At
Yale he is studying with Erick Friedman, while at Oberlin
he studied with Taras Gabora (modern Violin) and Marilyn
McDonald (baroque violin). |
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1998 - MICHAEL SPONSELLER (harpsichord)
has appeared throughout Europe and North America with critical
acclaim as a soloist, conductor, and chamber musician. Winner
of the American Bach Soloists Competition (1998) and the
Jurow International Harpsichord Competition (2002), he holds
the distinction of being a two-time prizewinner at the Festival
of Flanders International Harpsichord Competition (Bruges),
as well as taking prizes in Montréal and Kalamazoo.
His recitals, which favor the French “clavecinists” and
English virginal repertoire, have been heard at the Smithsonian
Institution, Saint Cecilia’s Hall, Alliance Française
and at festivals such as Boston, Berkeley, and Edinburgh.
Following his return to the US in 1999, Mr. Sponseller has
performed and recorded frequently with the Handel and Haydn
Society, Smithsonian Chamber Players, American Bach Soloists,
New York Collegium, and Apollo’s Fire. Michael Sponseller
performs in partnership with leading artists such as Catherine
Turocy, Emyln Ngai, Derek Lee Ragin, Malia Bendi Merad, and
Sarah Freiburg and performs with numerous ensembles such
as La Luna, Aradia, and Rhetoric. In addition to holding
degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Royal
Conservatory of Music in The Hague, Mr. Sponseller was a
teacher of harpsichord at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory
of Music. Mr. Sponseller's passionate interest in 17th and
18th century opera led to making his conducting debut in
2000 with Dido
and Aeneas of Henry Purcell. Since then he has performed
and been assistant conductor in a wide range of repertoire,
including Castor et Pollux, Ariodante, Amadigi, Alcina, Cephale
et Procris, and Les Arts Florissants. In 2000,
he became a research assistant at the Centre de Musique Baroque
de Versailles, working with Lisa Goode Crawford on the operas
of Joseph Nicolas Pancrace Royer (1705-1755). This work culminated
in 2002 in the modern-day premiere of Royer’s Le
Pouvoir de l’Amour with the New York Baroque Dance
Company, Oberlin College, and the Centre de Musique Baroque
de Versailles, which received recognition and praise from
the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Opera News. Mr.
Sponseller can also be heard on several recordings from Electra,
Vanguard Classics, Naxos and Centaur. |
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