(Almost) Free Legal Advice

Artists, arts administrators, non-profit board members, etc., please note the listing in our current calendar for the annual Basic Arts Law Seminar being offered by the NC Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts on Friday, June 25. Fees for the daylong session are ridiculously low for arts types – and lunch is included. The NCVLA is the support group that helped CVNC and countless other fledgling arts organizations get – well – organized, and a member of our board attended last year’s seminar. We urge non-profit arts groups of all shapes and sizes to attend – and to support the work of the NCVLA in our midst. This is a great, often un-sung treasure in “The State of the Arts,” and it behooves all of us to support its important work.

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Marta Findlay-Partridge to Receive 2004 Maxine Swalin Outstanding Music Educator Award
 
From the NCS’ press release: “The North Carolina Symphony will present the 2004 Maxine Swalin Outstanding Music Educator Award to Cary resident Marta Findlay-Partridge on June 26, 2004 at the Amphitheatre at Regency Park in Cary at the Symphony’s Summerfest concert. The award is presented annually to a North Carolina music teacher who serves the community as a role model in music education, instills a love for music in children and inspires students to reach appropriately high musical standards. Marta Findlay-Partridge has been a member of the strings teaching staff of the Wake County Public School System for twenty years. Ms. Findlay-Partridge has been the Associate Conductor of the Triangle Youth Symphony since its inception and was the founder and conductor for nine years of the Raleigh-Triangle String Orchestra, the predecessor of the Triangle Youth Orchestra. She was among the first group of music educators to earn certification in 2002 from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. Her educational essay, ‘Unplanned Lesson Plan: A Teacher’s Perspective on 9/11′ was chosen for publication in the newly released Corwin Press publication, Powerful Teaching and Learning: Stories from the Classrooms of Accomplished Teachers. Ms. Partridge recently conducted the All-County Honor Orchestra for Robeson County. She is on the faculty of Meredith College, is a member of the North Carolina Theatre Orchestra, and maintains an active private teaching studio. The award honors Maxine Swalin who together with her husband, Dr. Benjamin Swalin, North Carolina Symphony Music Director and Conductor from 1939-72, established the children’s concert division of the North Carolina Symphony in 1945. Largely because of the Swalins’ efforts, Senate Bill 248 (also known as ‘the horn- tootin’ bill’) passed, providing fiscal support by the state for the Symphony’s education program. Fifty-eight years later, the program still brings live symphonic music to children throughout North Carolina. Last year the 2003 Maxine Swalin Outstanding Music Educator Award was given to Malvin Artley after Mrs. Swalin’s 100th birthday in May [2003].”
Note: Mrs. Swalin is expected to attend the presentation and concert on June 26; see our calendar for performance details.

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Cliburn Competition for Outstanding Amateurs Won by Californian
 
Paul Anthony Romero of Sherman Oaks, CA, took top honors at the recent Cliburn Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. Second place went to Averill Piers Baker, of Gander, Newfoundland, Canada; and the third prize winner was Ann Herlong, of Rock Hill, SC. NC was represented in this year’s competition by Salam Murtada, of Mebane, whose playing took him to the semifinal round.

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Jie Chen Captures 2nd Biennial International Piano-e-Competition
 
Pianist Jie Chen, 18, currently residing in Philadelphia, has won the International Piano-e-Competition , held in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. The competition differs from other contests in that it involves use of the Yamaha Disklavier Pro and does not require the presence of judges – or, for that matter, contestants. Instead, the music is transmitted electronically via the Internet and “played back” on a piano that is “identical” to the one on which the performance is given. According to a 6/6/04 article in the Star Tribune , 53 pianists ranging in age from 15 to 31 from twelve countries took part in preliminary rounds, and six finalists performed concerti with the Minnesota Orchestra (in the flesh!) before judges – Dubravka Tomsic, Dmitri Bashkirov, Ruth Laredo, Gyorgy Sandor, Sontraud Speidel, Liqing Yang, and Menahem Pressler, Jury Chairman – selected Chen for the top prize.
Among the corporate sponsors of the International Piano-e-Competition is Zenph Studios of Raleigh. Zenph wrote the software that processes all the high-resolution MIDI files used in judging the e-competition.
 
The winner of the first International Piano-e-Competition, Mei-Ting Sun, will perform live in Raleigh at Fletcher Theater next season, on May 19, 2005, under the auspices of the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild and Zenph Studios.
 
News items compiled from various sources & annotated by John W. Lambert (6/11/04)

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Murtada Advances in Cliburn Competition for Outstanding Amateurs
 
Salam Murtada, of Mebane, had made the first cut at the Van Cliburn Foundation’s 4th International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. On June 2, in Fort Worth, 56 pianists were eliminated and 16 advanced to the semifinal round. Murtada, the only contestant from NC, will compete with pianists from MN, FL, TX, WA, OH, NY, SC, Newfoundland, MI, IL, MA, and 4 from CA. Murtada is an environmental engineer who studies piano with John Ruggero. The other finalists work in diverse fields – two are homemakers, and the ranks include an electrical engineer, flight attendant, medical researcher, architect, internist, legal volunteer, physical chemist, financial trader, and a healthcare marketing director. Four work in music, but not as pianists; they include a composer and porcelain dealer, film composer, radio host and music director, and a concert coordinator. Two semifinal sessions will take place today (6/4). The semifinalists will play 16- to 20-minute recitals that cannot include works performed in the first round. Six finalists will be announced immediately after today’s performances, and the final round takes place on the afternoon of June 5. We are grateful to Louise Barder and 21C Media Group for the information contained in this news item.
 
Updated 6/5/04 : Alas, our Tar Heel resident did not make it to the finals; three of the six who go on are Californians. Here, with thanks to our colleague Olin Chism of the Dallas Morning News , is the list:
 
Victor Alexeeff, film composer, Burbank, CA;
Averill Piers Baker, legal volunteer, Gander, Newfoundland, Canada;
Ellen Weiss Dodson, healthcare marketing director, Lexington, MA;
Marisa Naomi Haines, financial trader, San Jose, CA;
Ann Herlong, homemaker, Rock Hill, SC; and
Paul Anthony Romero, composer and porcelain dealer, Sherman Oaks, CA.
 
We are proud of Murtada’s accomplishments and his representation of our state. On this, the day of the Belmont Stakes, we urge readers to pull for the remaining Southern contestant, Ann Herlong, of Rock Hill, SC!
 
Compiled by John W. Lambert; posted 6/4/04 & updated 6/5/05.