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10 May 2015
Bixby Kennedy, winner of the 2015 Harold Wright Merit Award Competition and Kenta Akaogi, who received an Honorable Mention award - sponsored by the Boston Woodwind Society in honor of Harold Wright, past Solo Clarinetist in the Boston Symphony
Boston, Massachussets USA
Bixby Kennedy - Harold Wright Clarinet Merit Award - 2015
Originally from Maryville, Tennessee, Bixby Kennedy began studying clarinet at
age ten under the instruction of RoAnn Romines. Since then, clarinetist Bixby
Kennedy has performed solo recitals, chamber music, and with orchestras
throughout the world. Currently, Bixby is completing his Master’s of Music
degree at Yale University under the tutelage of David Shifrin. As a graduate of
Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Mr. Kennedy studied with Howard
Klug, Eric Hoeprich, Eli Eban, and the late Alfred Prinz. He holds degrees in
modern and historical clarinet performance, as well as a performer’s
certificate, which was awarded to him for his junior recital. His solo
performances and chamber music initiatives have been recognized with the receipt
of the Namita Pal Commemorative Award in 2014 and the Hutton Honors College
Creative Activity Grant in 2013. In June of 2015 he will compete in the Ima Hogg
solo competition through the Houston Symphony. At the JSOM Historical
Performance Institute hestudied and collaborated with artists such as Eric
Hoeprich, Stanley Ritchie, Elisabeth Wright, Wendy Gillespie, and Michael McCraw.
Bixby has performed in various solo, chamber, and orchestral venues on period
instruments and will participate in the 2015 inaugural festival of the Berwick
Academy, through the Oregon Bach Festival. Also an advocate of new music, Bixby
has premiered solo, concerto, and orchestral works of colleagues and faculty
composers of Indiana and Yale Universities. Additionally, as a founding member
of the Videnia Wind Quintet, he has commissioned and premiered new chamber
works.
Kenta Akaogi - Honorable Mention Award - 2015
Born in Ibaraki, Japan and raised in the US, Kenta began his clarinet studies at the age of 12 and is currently pursuing a Masters of Music with David Shifrin at the Yale School of Music. He was previously a student and Graduate Assistant of James Campbell and Eli Eban at Indiana University, where he completed a Bachelors of Music and a Performer’s Diploma as well as being awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate. He is a prizewinner of the 21st Annual Indiana University Travel Grant Competition, the San Jose Wind Symphony Young Artist’s Competition and was a contender of the 5th Carl Nielsen Clarinet Competition. As an orchestral clarinetist, Kenta has performed with orchestras including the New World Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Bloomington Camarata Orchestra and has performed in venues across the US and Europe including the Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie, Prague Municipal House and the San Francisco Davies Symphony Hall. He has participated in solo master classes with artists including, Yehuda Gilad, Charles Neidich.Wenzel Fuchs, Paul Meyer and members of the Brentano and Tokyo String Quartets.
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Revised: May 15, 2015