30th anniversary Filene Scholars concert slated Oct. 27

The Department of Music at Skidmore College will present the 30th Anniversary Filene Scholarship Winners Concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in the Zankel Music Center.

Admission is free and open to the public.

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 within a liberal arts context. Filene Music Scholarships are awarded each year through a performance competition coordinated by Skidmore's Department of Music.

This year's Filene Scholars, all members of the Class of 2015, are Samuel Kastner, trombone; Robin Luongo, cello; Jack Mallory, tenor; Alexandra Zabludoff, piano; and Heather Zhang, piano. Their performances will be featured in an evening that will celebrate three decades of Filene Scholars funded through the generosity of the Filene-Ladd family and the remarkable strength of Skidmore?s Music Department. Special guest speakers will include Skidmore?s President Phillip Glotzbach, Joel Brown, chair of the Music Department, and Isabelle Williams, professor emerita, who was chair of the Music Department during the launch of the Filene Scholarship program.

Past Filene Scholarship winners have gone on to successful music careers. Andrea Miller Weber '86 sings in the New York City and Metropolitan operas, Jessica Ivry ?94 is a freelance cellist and music instructor, Frank Heiss '93 is a composer of electronic music, and Christopher Sidoli '01 has been in the Broadway touring production of Cats. Alta Boover '00, concert soloist and opera singer, returns to Skidmore in November as part of the Alumni Concert Series. Other Filene Scholars have become doctors and lawyers, writers and teachers, actors and academics, fundraisers and filmmakers, research biologists and radio producers.

Admission to the Filene Scholarship Winners Concert is free and open to the public. For advance reservations, click here or call the Zankel box office (518) 580-8381 for more information. The Zankel Music Center is wheelchair accessible and offers listening devices for the hearing impaired. For more information, please click here. To read a Scope magazine story on the 25th anniversary concert, please click here.

Images below are of Filene Scholars through the years.