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2024 Ann Divine Educator Award Winner Announced

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Lineage Percussion  Named Fischoff’s 2024 Ann Divine Educator Award Winner

Notre Dame, IN – The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association is delighted to announce that Lineage Percussion has been selected as the winner of Fischoff’s 2024 Ann Divine Educator Award. This national award recognizes the educational outreach work of Fischoff Competition alumni who have demonstrated outstanding and imaginative programming for children and youth in the United States. It honors musicians who have established professional careers in chamber music, and have proven their ability to successfully build a career in both chamber music performance and educational outreach.

Named in honor of retired Executive Director, Ann Divine, this award recognizes her visionary leadership in cultivating community outreach through chamber music. As winner of the Ann Divine Educator Award, Lineage Percussion will receive a coveted endorsement from Fischoff, a cash award, and a weeklong residency in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties in Indiana. Taking place in Fall 2024, Lineage Percussion will conduct workshops and perform interactive concerts in schools, community centers and libraries. The week will include multiple performances of Fischoff’s flagship program, Stories and Music: S.A.M. I Am, which musically reenacts a children’s book and will be featured as part of the St. Joseph County Public Library’s story time programming. Lineage Percussion will also work with Fischoff’s Chamber Music Academy and Elkhart County’s El Sistema (ECoSistema) students to dig deeper into the art of chamber music with children and teens who would otherwise not have access to these opportunities.

Lineage Headshot 1 (KathleenDreierPhotography_IMG_0130)

*Photography credit: Kathleen Dreier Photography

Lineage Percussion, comprised of Trevor Barroero, Lauren Floyd, and Wesley Sumpter, is an exciting trio that spreads its roots into many facets of the chamber music industry. Founded in 2014 in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia, Lineage Percussion is deeply rooted in a rich history of orchestral percussion. Whether they are playing marimbas, snare drums, bongos, or household objects, their identical training results in a uniform approach to each and every percussion instrument resulting in the trio’s distinctive sound.

Social advocacy and justice are important facets of the group. Through their commissions, as well as compositions of their own, Lineage Percussion aims to uplift communities and ideas that need support from the arts. Central to them is the idea that music must be representative of the current times and this belief has resulted in more than a dozen new works commissioned and premiered by Lineage Percussion. Professionally endorsed as educational artists with Black Swamp Percussion, Remo Drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Drumsticks and Dragonfly Percussion, they have presented clinics, recitals and outreach events for elementary schools, high schools, retirement communities, and private organizations in Maryland, Georgia, Arizona, and most recently at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa.

Fischoff Education Director, Kara Kane, remarked, “Lineage Percussion made history in 2016 when they were the first percussion ensemble to win a medal in our Senior Division, bringing home the bronze medal. Percussion chamber music has exploded since 2017, as seen with multiple percussion ensemble GRAMMY wins and nominations, so we are thrilled to be able to highlight incredible chamber music repertoire for this instrumentation. Lineage Percussion’s creative, interactive approach to music making will empower and inspire students to find their own inner musician. We can’t wait to see what creative twists Lineage Percussion introduces to our Stories & Music program and how they will reach even broader music making communities in our area.”

On behalf of Lineage Percussion, Wesley Sumpter responded to the award, “Fischoff’s commitment to education and community engagement is quite extraordinary. It truly aligns with our vision and core values as a group in continuing to increase and expand accessibility to music for young audiences around the world…We can’t wait to share our love for music and percussion with many students.”

Fischoff’s Educator Award Residency is generously made possible by lead sponsor Shein Charitable Trust.

Contact: Kara Kane, Education Director
kara@fischoff.org
www.fischoff.org

About Fischoff

Founded in South Bend, IN, in 1973, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association hosts the Fischoff Competition, the largest and longest running chamber music competition in the nation. More than 8,200 musicians have participated, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in music performance and education.

This unique arts organization has secured its place as the nation’s premier educational chamber music competition because of the caliber of its jurors, performance venues and well-known alumni. It is also known for extensive outreach programming during the competition and throughout the year. The Fischoff uniquely partners with competition alumni to bring free, innovative music programs directly to children in their own schools and community centers. Since 1995, these programs have served more than 100,000 community children, reaching more than 4,000 underserved youth annually.

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Merz Trio

2019 Fischoff Competition

Congratulations to Fischoff on their 50th Anniversary celebration! Fischoff transformed the careers of so many chamber groups, and inspired many more young musicians including the three of us in 2019! Winning the Fischoff was a wonderful impetus in our career trajectory that opened the door to numerous performances and connections beyond the South Bend concert hall.

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PRISM Quartet

1989 Fischoff Competition

The Fischoff Competition was an integral part of PRISM Quartet’s early development, and helped to launch the group on a national trajectory, although not in ways we might have imagined. Fischoff inspired us to work toward the best version of ourselves more than 30 years ago, which led to a repeating cycle of re-imagining our medium altogether. Fischoff gave us greater context for PRISM’s place in the field, and was vital to understanding the inherent limitations of the saxophone quartet repertoire, given the youth of our instrument. We realized that the best works for sax quartet were yet to be written. So we set out to commission hundreds of new compositions, develop collaborations across cultural and stylistic boundaries, and explore new possibilities of orchestration by combining our saxophones with a plethora of solo instruments, ensembles, voices, and electronics. For us, Fischoff was more than a competition, it played a vital role in illuminating a path forward, and continues to do so for young ensembles working to define their own artistic identities.

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Fuego Quartet

2017 Fischoff Competition

Participating in the Fischoff competition has had a profound impact on the way we live and work in the world as musicians and human beings. For us, Fischoff is about people and how we build creative relationships. Between the competition and the Double Gold Tour, we met countless fellow competitors, judges, staff, educators, students, and community members who welcomed us and our music with open arms. Fischoff not only inspired us to prepare and perform our music as best as we could, it also affirmed that music connects communities, helping us find belonging with each other.
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Pacifica Quartet 8_credit Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Pacifica Quartet

1995 Fischoff Competition

In our early years as a quartet, participating in the Fischoff competition was transformational. The experience of preparing our pieces to the highest level we could, performing for the jury and our peers, and listening to all the wonderful young chamber groups was truly inspiring for us. We left Fischoff secure in our dreams of becoming a great quartet. I believe the Fischoff competition is one of the reasons we have so many wonderful young groups in America today.

WindSync Educator Award 2022

WindSync Wins 2022 Ann Divine Educator Award

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WINDSYNC WINS FISCHOFF’S 2022 ANN DIVINE EDUCATOR AWARD

Notre Dame, IN (March 9, 2022) – The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association is delighted to announce that WindSync has been selected as the winner of Fischoff’s 2022 Ann Divine Educator Award. This national award recognizes the educational outreach work of Fischoff Competition alumni who have demonstrated outstanding and imaginative programming for children and youth in the United States. It honors musicians who have established professional careers in chamber music, and have proven their ability to successfully build a career in both chamber music performance and educational outreach.

Named in honor of longtime Fischoff Executive Director Ann Divine who retired in 2018, this award recognizes her visionary leadership in cultivating community outreach through chamber music. As winner of the Ann Divine Educator Award, WindSync will receive a coveted endorsement from Fischoff, a cash award, and a weeklong residency in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties in November 2022 to conduct workshops and masterclasses, and to perform interactive concerts in schools, community centers and libraries. The week will include performances of Fischoff’s flagship Stories and Music: S.A.M. I Am program in area schools, which musically reenacts a children’s book and will be featured as part of the St. Joseph County Library’s Explore-A-Story program. WindSync will work with Fischoff’s Chamber Music Academy and Elkhart County’s El Sistema (ECoSistema) students to further introduce chamber music to new audiences, particularly children and teens who would otherwise not have access to these opportunities.

This past November, Fischoff’s S.A.M. I Am featured the fall favorite Creepy Carrots for second graders across Michiana. Over 650 students in under-resourced schools in South Bend, Elkhart and Goshen participated in this transformational reenactment intended to help teachers bridge the learning gap after more than a year of virtual or hybrid learning. “Through a terrific partnership with Scholastic Books, not only were we able to present each classroom with a copy of Creepy Carrots, but every student also received a paperback copy of this Caldecott winning book as a gift to take home. Teachers have reported that after participating in our fun musical reenactment, students were genuinely excited to re-read the story on their own, devouring Creepy Carrots during independent reading time and sharing the book with their families,” reported Lisa Casey, Fischoff Board member and Education Committee Chair. Casey went on to remark, “We can’t wait to present S.A.M. I Am again with WindSync.”

WindSync, comprised of Garrett Hudson (flute), Emily Tsai (oboe), Elias Rodriguez (clarinet), Kara LaMoure (bassoon) and Anni Hochhalter (horn) has established itself as a vibrant chamber ensemble performing wind quintet masterworks, adapting beloved music to their instrumentation, and championing new works by today’s composers. The quintet creates an intimate connection between themselves and their audience by often performing from memory, and is “staunchly dedicated to pushing the boundaries of wind quintet performance with a youthful, pop-rock sensibility.” This personal performance style is combined with the ensemble’s three-pronged mission of artistry, education, and community-building.

WindSync’s educational work includes tour stops at public schools and ongoing collaborations with the social music programs Sistema Ravinia and Houston Youth Symphony Coda Music Program.  They have been featured in educational concerts presented by the Seattle Symphony, the Hobby Center, and Orli Shaham’s “Bach Yard.” Their concerts for young people reach over 5,000 students per year.

WindSync has appeared in recital at the Met Museum, Ravinia, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. World premieres include “The Cosmos,” a concerto for wind quintet and orchestra by Pulitzer finalist Michael Gilbertson, and works by Mason Bynes, Ivan Trevino, John Steinmetz, Marc Mellits, Erberk Eryilmaz, and Akshaya Avril Tucker. Forthcoming commissions include new works for wind quintet by Viet Cuong and Nathalie Joachim.

Fischoff Executive Director Kara Kane, and the entire Fischoff team, are excited for the return of WindSync to South Bend and the surrounding Michiana area. “WindSync took Fischoff by storm in 2016 with their unforgettable performances garnering them our Gold Medal. They returned presenting their imaginative rendition of “Peter and the Wolf” along with other educational outreach, and blew away our audiences. The past five years they have grown both in breadth and depth, delving into the intersections of science, technology and art, all the way to one of their newest commissions celebrating their Texas roots in Two Stepping. We are thrilled to be able to share the talents of WindSync with our community and have some wonderful surprises in store. They are an ensemble who perfectly epitomizes the creative power Fischoff’s chamber music ambassadors live and breathe.”

Anni Hochhalter, hornist and Executive Director of WindSync responded that “Winning gold at the 2016 competition was instrumental to the success of WindSync’s career as touring concert artists and Ann Divine quickly became one of our most important mentors as community-driven teaching artists. We are honored to have been selected by the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association for this award and look forward to creating and presenting new programming in the fall inspired by Ann’s vision for education and community engagement.”

Fischoff’s Educator Award Residency is generously made possible by Lead Sponsor The Judd Leighton Foundation, Inc.

Visit our Educator Award page for more info.

  • Contact:
  • Kara Kane, Executive Director 
  • 574.631.0984 
  • kara@fischoff.org 
  • www.fischoff.org

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