Scholarship Winner

Benjamin Rollings, Pianist

Born along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Benjamin began his music studies on piano and organ at the age of six. At the age of thirteen, he began studying piano with Dr. Jerry Alan Bush at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. In his senior year at the university, he was awarded the prestigious Theodore Presser Scholarship. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance.

He has earned extensive recognition as first place winner of several competitions including the University of Georgia Concerto Competition (2011), Alabama Federation of Music Clubs Competition (2010), the Birmingham Music Club Guild Competition (2010), the Wells Piano Competition (2009), and the Debose National Piano Competition (2008 and 2009).

Besides his studies in piano performance, other musical interests include chamber music, composition, orchestration and organ performance. Benjamin received a graduate teaching assistantship at the University of Georgia and is currently a student of Dr. Martha Thomas.

Scholarship Winner

Jennifer Zuiff, Soprano

Jennifer received her Bachelors in Vocal Performance from Georgia State University in 2009, and is currently in pursuit of an operatic career.   She has been featured in several productions at Georgia State and Harrower Opera.   She was a NATS winner, and a recipent of the William Densmore Scholarship from 2004 - 2008.   She is a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus.   In addition to being a vocalist, Jennifer studied piano for 17 years.

Scholarship Winner

Evgenia Sverdlova

Violinist, born in St. Petersburg Russia in 1985, Evgenia picked up the violin when she was four, and at the age of six she was sure that she wanted to become a professional violinist. She was admitted to the Pre-College of the St. Petersburg Music Conservatory and from 1993-1996 she studied with L. Baranova. From there, she had lessons at the Music Conservatory in Rostock, Germany with Professor P. Munteanu. She studied at the University of Music in Berlin, University of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim, Germany from 1997-2003.

ln 2008,she entered The University of Georgia and studies with Levon Ambartsumian (Hugh Hodges School of Music). Evgenia has participated in six Master courses with some of the finest violinists in Europe and America from 2002-2009. She was first prize winner in competitions in 2001, Prestigious stipend recipient (Geman National Foundation)in 2005, and was given a grant for studies abroad, here in the USA. She was also awarded "Best Participant" of the Vienna Master Course.

Her violin is a modern instrument built by a German violin maker Joachim Schade in 2003.

Scholarship Winner

Kristin Center

Pianist, finished a four-year Bachelor in Music degree, in Piano Performance, at the University of Georgia in Athens. She was the pianist for the University of Georgia's top Symphony Orchestra. She won the GMEA All State 2007 first place as a solo pianist. Her most recent summer festivals include the 2008 International Keyboard Institute and Festival held in New York City.

Scholarship Winner

Adam Cannedy, Bass-baritone

Adam Cannedy received the Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2007. As a senior there, he performed the role of Don Alfonso in "Cosi fan Tutte," singing four performances in four days. Adam won the Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Atlanta in January, 2008, and has been selected as first alternate to the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society. He is currently singing in the chorus of The Atlanta Opera.

For the competition finals, Adam performed the following, accompanied by Scott Atchison:

• "Aprite unpo' quegl'occhi" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
• "Quand la flamme de l'amour" from Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth
• "Thus saith the Lord" from Handel's The Messiah
• "Deh, vieni alla finestra" from Mozart's Don Giovanni
• "Hear me, O Lord" from Carlisle Floyd's Susannah

Scholarship Winner

Christopher Sarzen, Pianist

Chris Sarzen won a full tuition music sdholarship to the University of South Carolina from which he received his Bachelor of Science degree and performance certificate in 1984. He then attended the Vanderbilt School of Medicine from 1984 to 1988. In 1985 he gave a recital at Oxford University in England. From 1991 through 1993, Chris was a Fellow, Digestive Diseases, at Emory Univeristy school of Medicine, and is currently in private practice, specializing in digestive diseases. Chris continues to give piano recitals, including a 2002 recital with Lyra Quartet, made up of members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

For the competition finals, Chris performed the following:

• Sonata, K. 332 by Mozart
• Etude, Op. 25, No. 12 by Chopin
• Sonata, Op. 36, by Rachmaninov

Scholarship Winner

Slavik Gabinsky, pianist

Slavik graduated from Emory University in 2006, where he minored in Music. At Emory he led the chess team to best-ever finishes at the national Pan-American championships in 2003 and 2005. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Slavik began playing classical piano at age 5. He was the Steinway Competition winner in Georgia and in the Southern Division in 2004 and 2006, and was a Music Teachers National Association finalist in both years as well.

He is currently attending Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina.

The Pro-Mozart Society presented Slavik in concert on March 9, 2008.

Edward F. Meehan Award Winner

Ben Jackson, clarinetist

Ben graduated in 2007 from the University of Georgia where he studied clarinet at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and was a participant in the university's Honors Program. He was the principal of the Wind Ensemble, and principal clarinet in the Georgia All-State Band. He was selected to perform on National Public Radio's From the Top with Chris O'Reilly.

Ben also performed in the 2007 Members and Friends Concert of The Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta.

Scholarship Winner

Alessandra Tiraterra, pianist

Ms. Tiraterra, a native of Italy, began studying piano at the age of 6. She received degrees in piano performance in Italy and France, and moved to Atlanta in 2004.
She worked as a teaching assistant in piano department of Georgia State University, where in 2006 she received a Master's degree in piano performance. Also in 2006, she received a doctoral degree with honors in piano performance from the Accademia Angelica Costantiniana Advanced School of Music in Rome, Italy.

The Pro-Mozart Society presented Ms. Tiraterra in concert on April , 2007.

Scholarship Winner

Heather Hart, flutist

Heather Hart is a native of Atlanta and began her musical career studying piano at the age of seven and flute at eleven. She spent her senior year of high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, studying under Dr. Tadeu Coelho and participating in the NCSA Flute Tour and Wind Ensemble. Currently she is a sophomore at New York University, where she studies with Keith Underwood. She has performed with the NYU Wind Ensemble and Community Orchestra.

Ms. Hart will be presented in concert by the Pro-Mozart Society on June 1, 2008.

Scholarship Winner

Evan Marie Dozier-Stefanuk, soprano

Evan Marie has studied music since the age of 14, when she began at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, in its pre-college program in Nashville, Tennessee. She received her bachelor of music degree fro Vanderbilt, sum ma cum laude, in 2000. In Maym, 2006, she graduated with a Master of Music degree in vocal performance and opera from Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Following her participation in the summer program of the Mozarteum in 2005, she was an artist with the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria in 2006.

She has performed in the operas of Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Albert Herring, Suor Angelica, and Cendrillon. She is currenty teaching and collaborating with her husban, Misha Stefanuk, in the creation and development of an opera company in Atlanta, The New Opera.

Edward F. Meehan Award Winner

Gerald B. Yarbray II, baritone

For the competition finals, Gerald performed music by Mozart, Gershwin, Gounod, Korngold, and Cecil Cohen.

Scholarship Winner

Patrick Harvey, pianist

Patrick Harvey is studying at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, for his Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance. Upon completion of this work, he plans to enter graduate school earning a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance. He has had Master Classes in Piano Performance with Oxana Yablonskaya of the Juliiard School and Therese Lindquist of the Mozarteum. He has been honored with numberous awards among which are State Winner, Georgia Music Teachers Association Young Artist Piano Competition and State Winner, National Federation of Music Club Piano Competition.

Patrick’s performance selections were:

• Sonata in D Major, KIV 576 I. Allegro by W. A. Mozart
• Prelude in B Flat Major, Op. 23. No. 2 by S. Rachmaninoff
• Prelude in E Flat Major, Op. 23. No. 6 by S. Rachmaninoff
• Sonata for Piano, Op. 26 IV. Fuga: Allegro conspirito by S. Barber
• Two Concert Etudes I. Waldesrauschen by F. Liszt

Patrick was presented in concert by The Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta on April 10, 2005.

Edward F. Meehan Award Winner

Letricia Henson, soprano

Letricia Henson resides in Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of Avondale High School of Performing Arts, she received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at Clayton College and State University in 2001 and has completed a year of study in the Vocal Studies, Master of Fine Arts Degree at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, 2002-2003. In addition, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Spelman College in Atlanta. She performed the role of the nurse in the opera The Fisher King by Marc Lowenstein at the California Institute of the Arts, and the role of the nightingale in the opera L’Enfant Sortilege by Maurice Ravel, also at the California Institute of the Arts. Her honors include the Award for Outstanding Performer at the GMTA Voice Competition in 2000.

• Letricia’s performance selections were:
  “Un Moto di gioja” from The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. Mozart
• “This Little Light of Mine” – Spiritual by Robert A. Harris
• “Porgi, Amore” from The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. Mozart
• “Un gestern hat er mir Rose gebracht” – Art piece by Joseph Marz
• “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess by G. Gershwin

2011 - 2012 Scholarship Winner

2010 - 2011 Scholarship Winner

2009 - 2010 Scholarship Winner

2008 - 2009 Scholarship Winner

2007 - 2008 Scholarship Winners

2006 - 2007 Scholarship Winners

2005 - 2006 Scholarship Winners

2004 - 2005 Scholarship Winners

2003 - 2004 Scholarship Winners

Past Scholarship Winners