04/02/2007 - MUSIC DEPARTMENT NAMES OUTSTANDING STUDENTS

The Fisk University Music Department acknowledged outstanding students at the Spring Arts Festival Awards Banquet on Sunday.  Kaylina Madison, ’10, a Piano Performance Major from Vicksburg, Mississippi, was named Outstanding Piano Student.  Kawana Williams, ’07, a Vocal Performance Major from Chicago, Illinois, was named Outstanding Voice Student.  Jacqueline Patterson, ’07, a Music Education Major from Chicago, Illinois, was named Outstanding Music Major.  The outstanding student awards are determined by the Music Faculty at their March meeting.

Recent performances by Kawana Williams include the roles of Countess “Almaviva” (The Marriage of Figaro), “Hansel” (Hansel and Gretel), and “Electra” (Idomeneo), and “The Queen of the Night” (The Magic Flute) in the Fisk University Opera Workshop scenes. She is a student of Ms. Valija Mellins-Bumbulis. Ms. Williams has been a member of the world-renowned Fisk University Jubilee Singers for four years and is also an active member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.

She is active on campus and her community as a volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club, the Nashville headquarters of the N.A.A.C.P. and other community service projects on campus.  She aspires to perform on Broadway or become an opera icon and become a national spokesperson for women with Ovarian Cancer between the ages of 18 and 25. 

Having been raised in her father’s church, Jacqueline Patterson has sung in the choir, and she became their director.  She attended Curie Metropolitan High School, where she majored in Music. While there, she participated in the Advanced Mixed Choirs all four years and led the soprano section in the gospel choir. She took part in many choral competitions, where Curie ranked Superior.

Jacqueline enrolled in Fisk in Fall 2003.  She was awarded the UNCF/Chicago Drifters scholarship for an incoming freshman, class of 2007.  She is also the recipient of the John W. Work Chorale Scholarship, the Gamble-Kennedy Scholarship, and the University academic scholarships.

Jacqueline has participated with the University Choir, Opera Workshop (singing the role of Genie in The Magic Flute), and the Fisk Jubilee Singers®.

She is looking forward to teaching elementary music, and will continue her studies on the graduate level.  Ms. Patterson I a student of Valija Mellins-Bumbulis.

04/02/2007 Kaylia Duncan Places in Hefner Competition

Pianist Kaylia Duncan (’10 Freshman Music Minor from Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines) placed third in the James A. Hefner HBCU Piano Competition at Tennessee State University on March 31, 2007.  The competition, begun in 2003 was established to promote cooperation and collegiality among piano students and piano faculty from historically black institutions.  Competitors represented Fisk, Tennessee State University, Central State University, and Morehouse College.  Fisk is the only institution to have been represented in the competition every year.  Representing Fisk along with Ms. Duncan were pianists Troika Hanna (’09 Sophomore Piano Performance Major from Nassau, Bahamas), Jessica Johnson (’10 Freshman Music Education Major from Upper Marlboro, Maryland) and Kaylina Madison (’10 Freshman Piano Performance Major from Vicksburg, Mississippi).  Mr. Hanna, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Madison were publicly recognized for outstanding musical performances.

Earlier, that day, the four pianists participated in auditions held by the Nashville Area Music Teachers Association.  The NAMTA Auditions were held at the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University.  Ms. Madison and Ms. Johnson received the rating of “Excellent.”  Ms. Duncan and Mr. Hanna received the rating of “Superior,” which entitles them to represent Nashville in the Tennessee Music Teachers Association Collegiate Auditions on November 2, 2007 at Tennessee Technological University.

Kaylia Duncan, Troika Hanna, Jessica Johnson and Kaylina Madison are students of Dr. Philip Autry.