Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2005
Ka
Man (Melody) Ng, ’07, Hong Kong (pictured), and Amanda
Gessler, ’07, Harshaw,
captured first- and second-place honors, respectively, at the Wisconsin Music
Teachers Association Badger Collegiate Piano Competition held in May at Lawrence.
Both are students in the piano studio of Associate Professor of Music Anthony
Padilla. Participants in the
competition, which is open to students attending any college or university
in Wisconsin, are required to play a 30-minute recital.
Charlie
Christenson, ’05, Neenah, and Megan
Hamm, ’06, Madison,
were individually cited as “outstanding performers” in the college
jazz voice category in Downbeat magazine’s 28th annual student
music awards contest. Both are students in the voice studio of Christine
Salerno, lecturer in music. The awards — known as “DBs” — are
considered among the highest honors accorded college and high school music
students. Announced in the magazine’s June edition, Christenson’s
and Hamm’s DBs are the 11th and 12th earned by Lawrence students since
the first was won in 1985.
Three geology majors earned recognition at professional meetings in May. Jorene
Hamilton, ’05, received a best student paper award for a poster she presented
at the North Central Geological Society of America meeting. Noah Planavsky, ’06, and Jennifer
Murphy, ’06, received the best student poster award at the
Institute on Lake Superior Geology for their paper “The Great Biota Revisited.”
Fred Gaines, professor emeritus of theatre and drama, traveled to Cahors, France,
in June to be present at the world premiere of his new play, Hands Across
the Sea, which was commissioned and performed by Club Theatre de Notre-Dame. Yves
Mannessier, theatre director at the College de Notre Dame, a secondary school
in Cahors, had previously translated into French and directed Gaines’ play
Rip Van Winkle.