March 28, 2002

Contact: Kerri Conan, School of Fine Arts, (785) 864-5567.

KU student takes top prize in national collegiate piano competition

LAWRENCE -- University of Kansas student Amir Khosrowpour was named best collegiate pianist during the final round of the annual Music Teachers' National Association Collegiate Artist Performance Competition on March 18 at the group's annual convention in Cincinnati.

Khosrowpour, a junior from Irvine, Calif., who majors in both performance and composition, took the top honors after completing a rigorous national process that ended with his 45-minute final performance. His instructor is Jack Winerock, professor of piano. Steinway & Sons co-sponsors the piano division of the competition, offering the winner a grand piano first prize, valued at $35,900.

"The results of this competition speak to the talent, dedication and ability of the students and faculty in the KU Department of Music and Dance," says Dr. Lawrence Mallett, department chair. "To be successful in this critical national contest provides further evidence of the high-level training and professional activity available to our students as they advance into their careers."

Founded in 1876, the Music Teachers National Association is a nonprofit organization of 24,000 independent and collegiate music teachers. The association's mission is to further the art of music through programs that encourage and support teaching, performance, composition and scholarly research. As America's oldest such organization, its annual competition is a prestigious event, one that attracts participants from small and large institutions across the country.

For Khosrowpour, who has been playing piano since he was 7, winning the competition marks a turning point in how he envisions his future. He enjoys all types of music, for one thing, including jazz piano. "Before this, I was mainly interested in composition," he says. "But maybe a concert career is not entirely out of the question."

In addition to Khosrowpour's first place in the piano division, KU trumpet student Christopher Nierman, from Lincoln, Neb., won second place in the brass division of the competition. Nierman studies at KU with Christopher Moore, assistant professor of trumpet, and plays in several student ensembles, including the basketball band. This year, he's finishing a degree in music education.

"The MTNA process is so comprehensive," says Moore, who also competed in the national finals when he was a college undergraduate. "The students are continually challenged to perfect their pieces over a long period of time. Then they must perform these same works in several different settings for different judging artists. It's an experience that prepares them for the rigors of professional performance."

Khosrowpour selected a challenging and varied program, beginning with a contemporary piece for his major work selection, "Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 36," by Lowell Liebermann, which runs about 30 minutes. After the major work, competitors must also play music from three required musical periods. Khosrowpour performed portions of Beethoven's "Sonata in F minor" for the classical category, Chopin's "Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60" for the romantic piece and "Gaspard de la Nuit" by Maurice Ravel for his impressionistic selection. Robert Koenig, faculty pianist, accompanied Khosrowpour during the Liebermann piece, playing a reduction of the orchestral part on a second piano.

There was a strategy behind Khosrowpour's repertoire. Because the Liebermann piece is relatively new, it has less history and fewer performance interpretations. "So I was more free to develop my own expression," he says.

In the case of the more familiar pieces, Khosrowpour had to balance a certain amount of tradition while striving for a signature performance. "It's a matter of finding what works for you," he says. "Sometimes that might involve adding little quirks. I try not to just take the music and play it the familiar or expected way."

The MTNA competition is considered one of the most comprehensive and grueling student events, a months-long process that begins at the state level in divisions for piano, brass, strings, voice, winds, organ and guitar. In the cases of Khosrowpour and Nierman, who both won their instrument categories in Kansas, the road to the finals first meant winning the regional competition, where they bested musicians from Colorado, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and Nebraska. In Cincinnati, both students competed against the six winners from the other regional competitions.