About the Student Competition Awards in the LaGrange Area
Download the 2012 SCALA application or 2012 Barbara Malis Award application
In sponsoring this competition, the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra seeks to encourage high standards of musicianship by offering the music student an opportunity
• to perform for judges recognized for their expertise in teaching and performing,
• to receive constructive comments about his/her performance, and
• to compete for an award honoring outstanding performance.
The Awards
Five awards of $300.00 will be made, one in each of the performance categories. The awards have been given to honor four young LaGrange musicians who have demonstrated significant musical achievement.
The Ashley Hawkins Award for Keyboard/Percussion Performance
Ashley Hawkins, Assistant Conductor for the Young Singers of LaGrange, continues to contribute to musical life in LaGrange as a member of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, as a popular accompanist, as a church organist, and as a piano teacher and solo performer. After graduation from Troup County High School and piano study with Barbara Malls and Wayne Helmly, Ashley completed a degree in music education at Columbus State University where she studied with Betty Ann Diaz. During the summer of 2000 she attended sessions in piano and vocal accompaniment in Salzburg, Austria.
Donors of the award are members of Ashley 's family: her parents, Mike and Susan Hawkins; Max and Marion McCord; and Randy and Stacey Hardigree.
The Emily Wentworth Landa Award for Vocal Performance
After graduating from LaGrange High School where she studied with Marty Davis and, privately, with Anne Duraski, Emily Landa attended Boston University, graduating cum laude, majoring in music and participating in the opera performance program. During the summers, she took part in music programs at Chautauqua, New York, at Tanglewood in Massachusetts, and in the Opera North program at Hanover, New Hampshire. She was twice winner of the Barbara Mallis Award in the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. The mezzo-soprano received a master's degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.
Donors of the award are her parents, Scott and Sue Landa.
The Kathryn Mercer Merrill Award for Wind Instrument Performance
A charter member of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, Katie Merrill played with the Symphony during her junior and senior years at LaGrange High School from the first concert in 1990. A recipient of Governor's Honors and a member of the Georgia All State Orchestra, she participated in summer programs at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, music camp at West Georgia State University and the Southeast Music Center sessions in LaGrange. After high school graduation, the talented oboist attended the University of Florida, pursuing a degree in Telecommunications and Music and playing with the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra. She is presently a reporter/anchor for AOL Time Warner News 14 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Donors of the award are her parents, Taylor and Judy Merrill.
The Emily Katherine Smith Award for String Performance
Emily Katherine Smith played violin in the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra from the fall of 1990, when she was thirteen, to 1995, attending Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan as a violin major during the summers of 1991 through 1995. After graduating from LaGrange Academy, where she was a charter member of the LaGrange Academy Youth Orchestra, she attended the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, on a music performance scholarship. There she played with the Wooster Symphony Orchestra and the Wooster Chamber Orchestra, studied violin with Thomas Wood and earned a degree in Music Therapy. Emily is currently a board-certified music therapist with the Fulton County School System in Atlanta, Georgia.
Donor of the award is Emily's grandmother, Dorothy Hallett Smith. Her parents are Scott and France Smith.
The Barbara Malis Award
This award was originated by the LaGrange Woman’s Club in memory of the late LaGrange pianist. Mrs. Malis performed as a guest soloist with the LSO, participated in the music program of the First Baptist Church, and guided the musical experience of numerous piano students. The award was made possible through a benefit performance by David Malis of New York, son of the pianist and Metropolitan Opera baritone, and additional contributions to the LSO in memory of Michael Malis. When the music section of the LaGrange Woman’s Club disbanded in 1996, the LSO was asked to administer the award, a cash prize of $300 made to a competing musician who is a resident or resident student of Troup County. The winner will perform for a meeting of the LaGrange Woman's Club.
Eligibility
•Any music student between 16 and 20 on the day of the competition who is a resident or resident student of Troup County is eligible for the competition.
•Performance may be in the categories of piano, percussion, voice, winds or strings.
•Applicants eligible for the SCALA competition may enter both the SCALA and the Barbara Malis competitions. Fees apply for both competitions.
•Winners of the Barbara Malis Award may compete in the competition again in another instrument.
Performance Requirements
•The student’s selection(s) should display the range of his/her musical ability.
•The student’s performance should be no longer than 10 minutes.
•All music should be memorized.
•The student is required to provide his/her own accompanist. An accompanist can be provided for a fee of $25.00
•One copy of the student’s music should be provided for judges’ use.