Mary Graham Lasley Scholarship Competition

Announcing the 2008 Competition – March 9, 2008
Download full details (pdf)

The 2007 Competition occurred in October 2007 – congratulations to all who participated!

The 31st Mary Graham Lasley Music Scholarship Competition for brass soloists was held at the Northern Virginia Community College Alexandria Campus. The Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria (SOLA) with the Mary Graham Lasley Trust and in association with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra presented scholarship awards totaling $3,250 to three very talented musicians.

The winner was the saxophonist Doug O’Connor, a graduate student at the Eastman School of Music. Doug reached second and third place finishes in past MGL Competitions. (His accompanist was Serhii Morozov, the third prize winner on piano in the 2001 MGL Competition.) The 2007 second place went to Alma Maria Liebrecht, a graduate student at the Yale School of Music who played the horn; and 3rd place to the trumpeter Justin Bland, an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland.

The judges were Maestro Robert Petrella, the founder of the Alexandria Band; Maestro Wendy Matthews of the Alexandria Band; and Maestro Ulysses S. James of the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic. Also in attendance were past judges, Maestro Kim Allen Kluge of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra; Dr. Barbara Ryland Wells, Assistant Dean of Music, NVCC; and Ljiljana Skoric Eluhow, Competition Co-Chair and Piano Instructor at NVCC. The 2007 Competition Chair was Deborah L. Stevenson.

2007 Competition Results
1st Prize – Doug O’Connor, alto saxophone
2nd Prize – Alma Maria Liebrecht, horn
3rd Prize – Justin Bland, trumpet

2006 Competition Results
1st Prize – Najin Kim, violin
2nd Prize – tie – Chia-Yi Tseng, cello and Dobrochna Zubek, piano

Congratulations to the prizewinners and to all Competition participants! Watch this space for posting of the application form for the 2007 competition.

History
Entering its 32nd year in 2008, the Mary Graham Lasley Scholarship Competition, co-sponsored by the Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, encourages college-level musicians to pursue classical music careers. Previous winners of the Mary Graham Lasley (MGL) Competition have gone on to perform internationally and to professional concert and teaching careers. The 2006 winner, Ms. Najin Kim, will perform with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra during the 2007-2008 season. The 2007 prizes are $1,500, $1,000 and $750, as well as possible Certificates of Honorable Mention. Past judges have been international concert performers, orchestra directors and university professors.

In the 1980s, Mary Graham Lasley was a major figure in the musical world of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and was active on the boards of the Washington Opera Guild, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and the Alexandria Symphony Guild, predecessor of SOLA. Her friends and family established a trust in tribute to her many contributions.

Download a list of previous Lasley Competition winners and judges (pdf) .

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