FLORENCE – Mary Barnes, a junior at the University of North Alabama, is the latest winner of the Tau Beta Sigma Concerto Competition.
The competition was created to honor outstanding student musicians on the collegiate level. The award guarantees Barnes additional scholarship money and a personal invitation to perform at the district convention April 14, 2018 in Charleston, South Carolina.
“It feels incredible,” Barnes said. “Sometimes as a musician who isn’t first chair in their respective ensembles, it can be hard to feel like you’re making progress. Having that recognition that I’m becoming a better flute player every semester has helped me realize how far I’ve come since I came to UNA,” she said.
This is a back-to-back win for the UNA Department of Music in this competition, with Wade Dillingham, saxophonist, bringing home the top prize last year.
“It would be really cool to have our chapter win two years in a row, and I wanted do something outside of my comfort zone. I’ve never entered a musical competition before and I’ve never had to professionally record myself.”
Barnes is double majoring in Music Education and History, with plans to help future generations of students as either a band director or history teacher. She is in the studio of Dr. Whitney O’Neal.
For more information about music performance and music education programs at UNA: una.edu/music
Media Release/Vanessa Borelly Vega, UNA Department of Music
