Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release                                   February 23,
2000                                                    

Lawrence University Pianist, Recent Graduate Win International Music
Competition 


     APPLETON, WIS. -- Lawrence University pianist Anthony Padilla
shared top honors with a 1996 Lawrence graduate Sunday, Feb. 20 at the
prestigious 2000 Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City.
     Padilla and bass-baritone Mark Uhlemann were named co-recipients of
the Nathan Wedeen Award as the top performers among 12 finalists in the
competition held at New Yorkıs Merkin Concert Hall. The CAG competition,
which is not instrument specific, attracted an original pool of 305
international musicians.  Joining Padilla and Uhlemann in the finals
were another pianist and a second singer, two violinists, two flutists,
an oboist, a clarinet player, a euphonium player and a violin duo.
     In addition to the Wedeen Award, Padilla received two other honors.
He was awarded the Cascade Festival Prize, which includes a concerto
performance at the 2001 Cascade Festival of Music in Bend, Ore., and
received a $500 cash prize from WQXR-FM, the radio station of The New
York Times. 
     "It was exciting just to be selected for the final round of a
competition of this magnitude," said Padilla, who made his professional
debut at the age of nine with the Seattle Symphony.  "And then to
receive the competition's top prize was certainly a great personal
thrill and honor.  Sharing it with a Lawrence graduate made the
competition all the more memorable. I'm grateful for the chance to
perform with these artists of the highest professional level and for the
prospect of future performance opportunities."
     "Since 1959 the Concert Artists Guild has helped launch and develop
the careers of more than 500 musicians through our annual international
competition," said Carlotta Wilsen, executive director of the CAG.  "We
are particularly thrilled that Anthony and Mark won this year's
competition because  they're both extraordinarily gifted.  We look
forward to working with them in the future."
     A member of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music since 1997, Padilla
has established himself as a popular soloist with orchestras and on
concert series throughout the United States, Canada, Italy and Germany.
He was awarded the 1993 American Pianists' Association Beethoven
Fellowship and has received top honors from the National Foundation for
the Advancement in the Arts, the National Chopin-Kosciuszko Foundation
and the Music Teachers National Association.  
     A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., Padilla is a graduate of the Eastman
School of Music.  He holds his Artist's Diploma from the University of
Washington.
     After graduating from Lawrence, Uhlemann won the 1997 Metropolitan
Opera National Council Auditions and made his Met debut last fall in a
production of "Otello." He also has appeared as vocal soloist with the
New York City Ballet in Brahms' "Libeslieder Waltzes" and sang the role
of the Imperial Commissioner in "Madama Butterfly" at the Opera Theatre
of St. Louis.