•                Camila Barrientos Ossio - Harold Wright Clarinet Merit Award - 2012 Ms. Barrientos is a graduate of the Master of Music Program at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she also received her Bachelor in Music Diploma and studied with Mark Nuccio. While studying there she was a recipient of the Leon Russianoff Memorial Scholarship. Ms. Barrientos currently freelances in New York. Past performances include a tour with the award-­‐ winning woodwind quintet the City of Tomorrow and participation in the first Bolivia Clasica Festival alongside musicians Phillip Dukes, Adrian Brendel and Ana-­‐Maria Vera. As part of this festival Barrientos, a champion at playing at high altitudes, performed a recital in the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca located at 13,000 ft above sea level. She has also been recently featured in the BBC Arts Radio Program “The Strand.” Upcoming engagements include a City of Tomorrow recital for the Myra Hess concert series in Chicago and a winter residency for BANFF with the same ensemble.

    The competition honors the memory and artistry of former Boston Symphony Orchestra principal clarinetist Harold Wright.

                  Harold Wright was born in Wayne, Pennsylvania and began playing the clarinet at age twelve. He attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied clarinet with the Philadelphia Orchestra's principal clarinetist, Ralph McLane, and chamber music with that orchestra's principal oboist, Marcel Tabuteau.
    Upon graduating from Curtis, Mr. Wright joined the Houston Symphony and a year later became principal clarinetist of the Dallas Symphony. For many summers he participated in the Marlboro Music Festival and the Casals Festival Orchestra and was a frequent guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Concerts, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and the chamber music concerts at the 92nd Street "Y" in New York. He also appeared frequently with such leading string quartets as the Budapest, Guarneri, Vermeer, and Juilliard. In 1970 he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as principal clarinet and taught at New England Conservatory, Boston University, and the Tanglewood Music Center until his untimely death in August 1993. He has left a legacy of memorable recordings.

                Boston Woodwind Society has established merit awards to honor the artistry and achievements of five legendary woodwind musicians. The awards are presented annually to outstanding young students hoping to fulfill their dreams of entering the world of professional players. Selected through open competitions by woodwind artists and faculty members of leading schools of music, each recipient of an award receives a cash prize of $1,000. The purpose of these awards is to encourage and to recognize achievements of high standards of musical integrity and artistry as exemplified by the artists for whom the awards have been named.