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UW Student Pianist Takes Top Jacoby Competition Prize

Jaxon Cox and Henrique Rabelo with their musical instrumentsPianist Henrique Rabelo, a University of Wyoming graduate student from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was named the winner of the annual Jacoby Competition last week, which featured five UW student soloists.

Rabelo’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, movement 1 was selected by the judges as the best during the classical music competition.

Runner-up honors went to cellist Jaxon Cox, a UW sophomore from Laramie. He performed Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, movement 1.

The Jacoby Competition featured the five finalists in concert with the UW Symphony Orchestra (UWSO), conducted by Department of Music Professor Michael Griffith, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

“The Jacoby Competition never fails to be one of the UWSO’s most exciting events,” says Griffith, who is director of orchestral activities at UW.

Last fall, several UW music students performed their selected solo pieces in the audition round in front of a panel of distinguished musicians. The judges selected the top five musicians to perform in the competition’s concert. Another set of judges selected the best two Jacoby performances of the evening, and both Rabelo and Cox received significant cash awards, Griffith says.

This year’s competition featured a varied program, with two string performances, a singer and two pianists. Two of the students were from the United States, and three were from South America.

Listed are the other three finalists, along with their hometowns and respective repertoires:

-- Brittany Kubiak, violin, a graduate student from Fairview Park, Ohio, Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.”

-- Amanda Silva, mezzo-soprano, a graduate student from São Paulo, Brazil, Bizet’s “Habanera” from “Carmen.”

-- Andrés Úsuga, piano, a graduate student from Medellín, Colombia, Schumann’s Piano Concerto, movement 1.

The concert is named after Dorothy Jacoby, a founding member of the UW Symphony Association and a longtime supporter of classical music in Laramie. Her sons, Peter and Michael Jacoby, made a generous contribution in honor of their late mother. That gift, along with contributions from many of Dorothy Jacoby’s friends, created the endowment for the prize that is awarded at the performance.

For more information, email Griffith at symph@uwyo.edu.

Contact Us

Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu


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