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Photo of Honors Concert Winners

Honor Concert Winner Biographies:

Deniz Yayman

Deniz Ayca Yayman is a graduate student of Professor Jan Eberle at Michigan State University. She has won several solo competitions, the most recent the second prize in the Lansing Matinee Musicale competition.  During her years of study, she has given several solo and chamber music recitals and has performed as soloist with orchestras and wind ensembles.

Ms. Yaman has also performed in several professional orchestras in Michigan, Louisiana and Alabama, and has attended the summer festivals in Aspen, Chautauqua, Eastern, and Tanglewood.  Her former teachers include Heleb Erb, Louis Rosenblatt, John de Lancie and David Weber.  She received her bachelor’s degree in performance from Loyola University and has also studied at Temple University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Igor Kalnin

Igor Kalnin began study of the violin at the age of three in a local music school in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He later continued his studies at Balakirev Musical College with Professor Felix Forshtok, and with Professor Galy Afanasiev at the Glinka State Conservatory. Presently he is a D.M.A. candidate in violin performance in the Michigan State University School of Music, studying with Professor Walter Verdehr.

Former concertmaster of the Glinka State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Mr Kalnin, following graduation, played in the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin in Moscow. At present he is co-concertmaster of the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra, and principal second violinist in the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra.

Igor Kalnin has received several awards, including regional, all-Russia, and international competitions, as well as the Russian Children’s Foundation Award. At Michigan State University he is the recipient of the Catherine Herrick Cobb Scholarship and the Alexander Schuster Principal Violin Award.

Siân Margaret Davies

Siân Davies is a senior at Michigan State University, majoring in voice performance and music education. She is presently studying voice with Visiting Professor Anne Nispel. In previous years she has studied with Professors Patricia Green and Robert Bracey.

Ms. Davies has performed with the Michigan State University Opera Theatre in presentations of Bernstein on Broadway, Nine, and LaBoheme.  In the fall of 2004 she performed as soprano soloist in Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore with the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra.  She has performed with the Meridian Community Band

Following graduation in the spring of 2005, Siân will pursue certification and a Master of Vocal Arts in Performance degree. She aspires to become a performer and teach vocal music at the university level.

Gifford Howarth

Gifford Howarth began his D.M.A. studies in percussion at Michigan State University in the fall of 2004, studying with Visiting Professor David Hall. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College in 1992 and his Master’s in Percussion Performance from Kent State University in 1997. His percussion teachers have included Gordon Stout, Ted Rounds, and Bill Molenhof.

Prior to his move to Michigan, Mr. Howarth taught percussion at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York from 2000 to 2004, and in addition served as an Adjunct Percussion Instructor at Pennsylvania State University from 1998 to the present. He is a very active recitalist, clinician, and master class teacher, focusing on mallet percussion.  He has given presentations at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Percussive Arts Society International Convention, several All-State Music Educators conferences, and many colleges and universities. Mr. Howarth is a National Yamaha Performing Artist, a Signature Series Artist for the Vic Firth Company, and a clinician for the Zildjian Cymbal Company. Recently he developed a line of marimba mallets for the Vic Firth Company.

Gifford Howarth has been a soloist with several orchestras and wind and percussion ensembles throughout North America. His first solo CD, Rosewood Resonance, was released in 2001, and his first percussion method book, Simply Four, was published by Tap Space Publications in 2002.