Annual Filene Scholars concert to feature Class of 2017 musicians
The 31st annual Filene Scholarship Winners Concert is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, in Skidmore’s Arthur Zankel Music Center, Ladd Concert Hall.
The Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation established the Filene Music scholarships at Skidmore in 1982 to provide gifted young musicians the opportunity to further their musical studies and develop their talents as part of a liberal arts education. Skidmore’s Music Department annually hosts a concert to celebrate this scholarship program and spotlight the talents of the Filene Scholars.
Filene Music scholarships are awarded each year through a performance competition coordinated by the College’s Department of Music. Filene Scholars are not required to major in music; however they are expected to continue to develop their skills through private instruction in the Music Department each semester and to participate in department ensembles each semester as determined by the department chair.
This year’s Filene Scholars from the Class of 2017 are Melia Coletta, clarinet; Makeda Diggs, violin; Joseph Eisele, piano; and Rebecca Lipstein, soprano. These students will take the stage again and again in the next four years, but whether they’ll go on to professional performing careers—or even major in music—is by no means pre-determined. Past Filene scholars—nearly 100 in all—have become doctors and lawyers, writers and teachers, actors and academics, a fundraiser and a filmmaker, a research biologist and a radio producer, and of course, musicians.
Previous Filene Scholars who have gone on to successful music careers include Andrea Miller Weber ’86 who sings with the New York City and Metropolitan operas; Jessica Ivry ’94, a freelance cellist and music instructor; Frank Heiss ’93, a composer of electronic music, and Christopher Sidoli ’01, who was in the Broadway touring production of Cats.
Admission for the Oct. 19, 6:30 p.m. Filene Scholarship Winners Concert is free and open to the public. For advance reservations please click here or call the Zankel box office (518) 580-5321 for more information. The Zankel Music Center is wheelchair accessible and offers listening devices for the hearing impaired. For more information, please click here.
