Coastal Concerts awards 2020-2021 music scholarships

Coastal Concerts of Lewes announced the winners of its music scholarship awards for the 2020-21 school year.

The scholarships are awarded to middle and high school students who reside on Delmarva. This year, Coastal Concerts awarded a total of $5,000 to eight students, two of whom have recently graduated and will be furthering their music education in college.

Isabelle L. Bruening of Newark, a pianist, is this year’s recipient of the Dorothy and Elizabeth Music Scholarship, Coastal Concerts’ most prestigious honor, funded each year by Pete and Joanne Harrigan. Isabelle is entering the 11th grade at Cab Calloway School of the Arts and studies privately with Christine Delbeau of the University of Delaware School of Music. She has won numerous awards over the past few years including first place at the Music School of Delaware Piano Competition, age 13-15, in 2020. Isabelle is applying her scholarship award to the tuition for this summer’s Interlochen Center for the Arts piano program.

Nathaniel Hoang of Lewes, a pianist, is a Beacon Middle School eighth-grader who began piano lessons at age 5 while attending the Wyoming Valley Montessori School, in his former hometown of Kingston, Pa. After moving to Lewes in 2019, he took up private lessons with Louise Foster. Nathaniel plans to apply his scholarship award to future piano lessons and a piano tuning or two.

Shinnyom David Park of Wilmington is a ninth-grader at the Independence School in Newark. For six years, he’s been studying viola with Shelley Beard Santore at Music School of Delaware. He received an honorable mention at the Delaware Competition for Young Musicians in 2018, and, most recently, he achieved Level 7 at the MSD 2020 Suzuki Academy. He plans to put scholarship money toward his private lessons.

Emilee Rau of Felton is an honors student entering the 11th grade at Lake Forest High School. She studies violin with Amos Fayette at the Music School of Delaware. She plans to continue her musical career throughout college and intends to put her scholarship award toward her continuing studies. 

Marcos Salvador-Riera of Wilmington plays the viola. He is a rising eighth-grade vocal and strings major at Cab Calloway School of the Arts. He was a tenor in his school’s seventh-grade choir and a violist in the select high chamber orchestra. Studying under Julianne Murphy Ruiz of the Music School of Delaware, he intends to put his scholarship award toward music camp or future private lessons. Marcos is a winner of a 2020 Jacqueline Beach Faulcon Honor Award & Scholarship, and a member of the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Simeone Tartaglione. He is also a member of his school’s Science Olympiad team.

Nicolette Marie Sullivan-Cozzaos of Hockessin plays the viola. She is a recent graduate of the Cab Calloway School of the Arts where she was a member of the National Honor Society. Her dream is to become an orchestral musician and viola teacher. During her studies with teacher Kerri Ryan, assistant principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, she won an honorable mention in the Betsy I. Kent Concerto Competition and second place in the Delaware Concerto Competition for Young Musicians, both in 2020. She has been a key member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the Temple University Music Preparatory Youth Chamber Orchestra and a string quartet coached by Karen Kim of the Jasper Quartet. This summer she is attending the Heifetz International Music Institute and in the fall she will matriculate at the New England Conservatory of Music on a dean’s full scholarship studying under Kim Kashkashian. Nicolette intends to put her scholarship toward room and board at the conservatory.

Owen Swartzentruber of Bridgeville plays guitar.  A ninth-grader at Greenwood Mennonite School, Owen has been studying guitar since age 8 with Douglas Seth of the Guitar Academy of Southern Delaware. His musical family members get together to share their musical gifts and volunteer to play for the residents of a local retirement home. Owen has participated in the Association of Christian Schools International Music Festival at Messiah University as well as in recital at his school. He derives inspiration from the live performances of Grammy Award winner and Coastal Concerts performer David Russell and those of Mosaic String Duo, which includes his instructor. Owen’s current guitar is not full size and has a crack in it. He plans to use his scholarship award to help pay for a new, pristine, full-size instrument.

Justin Xu of Hockessin plays viola. A recent recent graduate of the Charter School of Wilmington, Justin studies viola with Shelley Beard Santore of the Music School of Delaware, where he was awarded an honorable mention at the merit scholarship competition. He was named a finalist in the Delaware Solo and Chamber Festival. This season is Justin’s second in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Previously, he played in the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, the Delaware All-State Orchestra, and the Cab Calloway School of the Arts Chamber Orchestra. Justin plans to use his scholarship award in support of continued viola study in college.

For more information, go to coastalconcerts.org.