Conservatory Celebrates Recipients of 2022-23 Honors & Awards

Recipients of Oberlin Conservatory’s 2022-23 Honors and Awards included 43 outstanding students from across the Conservatory’s 11 divisions. Most of the prizes were given to graduating seniors honored for their achievements throughout their time at Oberlin. 

Some awards, such as the Beethoven, Serkin, Elvin, and Dann prizes in piano, and the Senior Concerto Competition winners, were earned earlier in the year through juried competitions. 

The Flint Initiative, Grindlay, and XARTS grants were awarded by Conservatory Professional Development to fund exceptionally creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial projects that students completed during Winter Term and summer break. 

Conservatory Dean Bill Quillen shares: “On behalf of the Conservatory’s faculty and staff, it is a great pleasure to congratulate the 2023 Conservatory Honors and Awards winners.  We are incredibly proud of these students — and, indeed, all of our students — and we are inspired every day by their creativity, artistry, hard work, open-mindedness, and their commitment to service and to making the world a better place through music.”

2022-23 Honors and Awards

The Arthur Dann Piano Competition
Awarded to the winner of this juried competition for excellence in piano performance.
JJ Bui, third year

The Beethoven Prizes in Piano
Awarded in a juried competition to piano majors for outstanding performance in works of Beethoven.
The Takács/Beethoven Prize (First): Jiongli Wang, third year
The Leon Fleisher Prize (Second): Yihang (Alex) Chen, third year
The Howard Karp '51 Prize (Third): Natasha Wu ’23
Semi-finalist prize: Leo Lu, first year

The Carol Nott Piano Pedagogy Prize
Awarded to an outstanding graduating senior for continued study in piano 
pedagogy. 
Annie (Guoanni) Qin ’23

The David S. Boe - C. B. Fisk Prize for Excellence in Organ Performance
Awarded to an outstanding organ student.
Oziah B. Wales ’23

The Dolores and Donald White Prize
Awarded to Conservatory students who demonstrate leadership in elevating Oberlin Conservatory’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging goals through music performance.
Malcolm F. Bamba, fourth year, Independent Major in Arts Leadership & Marketing
Blake Logan, second year, Cello Performance and Undecided B.A.

The Earl L. Russell Award in Historical Performance
Awarded to worthy students majoring in Historical Performance to assist with the purchase of a musical instrument.
Kailah Grace Robbins, third year, Flute Performance and Baroque Flute

The Ernest Hatch Wilkins Memorial Prize
Awarded to a returning student who has demonstrated academic excellence in the three preceding years.
Nik D. Rejto (Divall), third year, Classical Guitar

The Faustina Hurlbutt Prize
Awarded to an outstanding graduating student in cello, piano, violin, or voice.
Luka C. Stefanovic ’23, BM/MM, Cello Performance, Historical Performance, Baroque Cello

The Flint Initiative Grant (FIGs)
Awarded to innovative, motivated, and prepared Conservatory and Double-Degree students to develop imaginative artistic projects.
Ishan Loomba ’23, Piano Performance and Psychology, minor in Computer Science
Ilana McNamara, fourth year, Viola Performance and Mathematics
Ozüm Pamukcu ’23, Musical Studies and Economics
Sangeetha Ramanuj, second year, Musical Studies and Mathematics
Katia Rumin, second year, Viola Performance

The Graham Grindlay '00 Endowed Memorial Music & Computer Science Innovation Fund 
Supports the development and execution of projects that bring together music and sound with computer science or technological innovation.
Ivy Fu ’23, TIMARA and Art History
Julia Collins, third year, TIMARA 
Maya McCollum, fourth year, TIMARA and Studio Art

The John Elvin Piano Prize
Awarded to a student judged by the Piano Department to be the most talented in the junior class.
Yihang (Alex) Chen, third year, Piano Performance

The Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts
Awarded in the Conservatory every five years and on the faculty’s recommendation to a graduating senior who has performed with uncommon distinction in music performance. The award was established in 1982 by Louis Sudler of Chicago, a musician with a lifelong commitment to the training of young artists in university.
Adam S. Chlebek ’23, Organ Performance

The Louis and Annette Kaufman Music Achievement Award in Violin
Awarded to an outstanding student of violin.
Matthew S. Cone ’23, Violin Performance

The Louis and Marguerite Bloomberg Greenwood Prize
Awarded to a graduating student excelling in cello, piano, violin, or voice.
Gillian B. Piper ’23, Jazz Voice Performance
Kylie P. Buckham ’23, Vocal Performance

The Margot Bos Stambler '84 Professional Development Award
Awarded to an outstanding vocal performance major of great promise to enhance career opportunities.
Kylie A. Kreucher ’23, Vocal Performance
Brian R. Wacker ’23, Vocal Performance

The Ohio Federation of Music Clubs (OFMC) Agnes Fowler Collegiate Scholarship
Awarded to a junior majoring in music, and who is strong in instrumental or voice performance. Made possible by the OFMC, a statewide organization devoted to the love and encouragement of music in Ohio.
Felix J. Veser, third year, Viola Performance

The Pi Kappa Lambda Prize for Musicianship
Awarded to students judged to be the most outstanding of those elected to Pi Kappa Lambda, an American honor society for undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors of music.
Clara I. Dahmer ’23, Vocal Performance
Kylie A. Kreucher ’23, Vocal Performance
Matthew S. Cone ’23, Violin Performance

The Piano Faculty Prize in Accompanying
Awarded to graduating seniors who have demonstrated excellence in accompanying singers and instrumentalists.
Kai-Min Chang ’23, Piano Performance
Ishan Loomba ’23, Piano Performance and Psychology, minor in Computer Science

The Rudolph Serkin Scholarship
Awarded to a student demonstrating excellence in piano performance.
Yubo Deng, second year, Piano Performance

The Ruth Cogan Memorial Scholarship in Vocal Performance
Awarded to a vocal performance student who has demonstrated significant work in voice pedagogy or in the PACE concentration.
Nisha P. Caiozzi ’23, Vocal Performance

The Selby Harlan Houston Prize
Awarded to a graduating senior whose performance in organ and music theory is of distinguished quality.
Katherine E. Johnson ’23, Organ Performance and English

The Senior Concerto Competition
Awarded in a juried competition each fall. Winners are featured as soloists in performances of complete concertos with the Oberlin orchestras during the spring semester.
Kylie P. Buckham ’23, Vocal Performance
Annie (Guoanni) Qin ’23, Piano Performance
Matthew S. Cone ’23, Violin Performance
Jonathan Kronheimer ’23, Oboe Performance

The TIMARA Founders Fund John Clough Prize
Awarded to a TIMARA major for distinctive work within the department.
Gabriel L. Baskin ’23

The TIMARA Founders Fund Olly Wilson Prize
Awarded to a TIMARA major for distinctive work within the department.
Rachel Yee ’23, TIMARA and Computer Science, minor in Music and Cognition

The Theodore Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award
This award, made possible by the Presser Foundation, is awarded to an outstanding returning student for excellence in musicianship.
Abby Lopez, second year, Bassoon Performance

The Walter E. Aschaffenburg Prize
Awarded to a graduating senior for outstanding music composition.
Isaac Santos ’23, Composition

The Wendell and Bettye Logan Prize in Jazz Studies
Awarded to a graduating student who has demonstrated excellence in performance or composition.
Kamran M. Curlin ’23, fourth year, Jazz Bass and History

The XARTS Fund
Supports the development and execution of collaborative, multi-disciplinary, artistic projects.
Awen McKee, second year, Composition
Analise Granados, second year, Violin Performance and Undecided (B.A.)
Katie Galt, fourth year, Viola Performance and Comparative Literature
Mariah Leontopoulou-Cochran, fourth year, Jazz Voice, minor in Hispanic Studies
Maya Irizarry Lambright, third year, Violin Performance