Zellmer Competition Finalist Offered Position with Memphis Symphony

       Junior Evan Williams played three rounds with the Memphis Symphony for second trombone audition and was offered a position last Friday August 23. This isn't the first time Williams has been in the spotlight, he was a finalist at the 2013 Zellmer Trombone Competition. Dr. Bradley Palmer noted that, though Williams has classwork and other obligations that will prevent his being able to accept a fulltime position, that this is a significant professional achievement. We offer our congratulations to Evan Williams, Dr. Palmer, and our Trombone Studio at the Schwob School of Music for their hard work.

Schwob student takes third at regional voice auditions

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Columbus State University student Jeanette Luna finished third place in the Third Year College Women category of the Southeastern Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing auditions held March 22-23 at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla.

Luna, a mezzo soprano and voice student of Dian Lawler-Johnson, a lecturer in CSU's Schwob School of Music, was among 350 singers competing from Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Four other Schwob school students — Lydia Jackson, Kelly Goodson, Ashley Seldon and Victoria Leggett — also represented CSU at the Florida auditions. All five women were among top CSU competitors in the Georgia NATS student auditions held in February.

In March 2014, Columbus State will host the Southeastern Regional NATS competition

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Communication student receives Townsend Achievement Award

A Communication student in the Columbus State University College of the Arts was awarded the John Townsend Achievement Award at the recent Legacy Celebration Banquet. This award is given annually to a male and female student with the highest grade point average of African-American decent.

Read more about this distinction here: 2013 Legacy Awards

Shaping OurSpace: CSU gets Youth Involved in and Downtown Columbus Redevelopment

In a collaboration across three CSU colleges (Arts, Letters and Sciences, and College of Education and Health Professionals) Drs Becky Becker, Amanda Rees, Andrea Frazier and Camille Bryant have recently received a Knight Foundation grant of $10,000 to develop a program that worked to develop spatial reasoning of low-income children.  The population the team is working with are subject to a large-scale community upheaval due to planned changes to the Booker T Washington/Liberty Theatre District in downtown Columbus and we look to support children's ability to both understand, take part in the public planning process.  The project, called Shaping OurSpace, was piloted over the summer (2012) and we will now be delivering the program in CSU's after school project, directed by Anne Thibault called Empowered Youth of Columbus this spring..

MTNA Collegiate Competitio​n: Schwob students win three categories in Southern Division

The national conference of the Music Teachers National Association will see three CSU students competing at the national level of the Collegiate Artist Competition. Congratulations to these students who won the nine-state Southern Region auditions by presenting a full recital:

Anna Vertypolokh, piano student of Professor Alexander Kobrin

Mark Spradley, trombone student of Dr. Brad Palmer

Branson Yeast, cello student of Professor Wendy Warner

Congratulations also to Likai He and Sophie Wang, violin students of Professor Sergiu Schwartz, who won the MTNA Georgia competition in their age brackets and were recognized for their performances at MTNA Southern Region as Alternate and Honorable Mention, respectively.

Private giving made possible the underwriting of travel expense to Greensboro, NC for these five contestants and their collaborative pianists, Yien Wang, Ksenia Kurenysheva, and Alina Sarkisyan. The national finalists will compete at Disneyland in Southern California in March.

Graduate Student recognized by Georgia Arts Council

Steven Tette, a Columbus State University Graduate student was recently recognized by the Georgia Arts Council. In a call to all Georgia Artists, his painting "self concept (family affair)" was chosen to be displayed at the Georgia Capitol Executive Offices.

Tette will hand deliver his painting to the Governor, after which the painting will be put on rotation. A digital guide for this exhibition will be provided in the near future. To see more of Tette's work visit his website: steventette.com

A music alumni won the 1st prize in International Guitar Festival

A CSU alumnist Joseph Palmer was awarded 1st prize in the biannual Texas International Guitar Festival held in College Station at Texas A&M. This is the 3rd first prize Joseph has won this year.  Another CSU alum, Chad Ibison, won this prize in 2010.