Department of Music Students Win Scholarship Competition

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Megan Park, Matthew Swerts

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Megan Park and Matthew Swerts, students in the Department of Music, are winners in the 2020 International Trumpet Guild Conference Scholarship competition (collegiate undergraduate division). This is an international competition that awards winners $250 cash and waiver of the annual conference registration fee.

Park and Swerts prepared video/audio recordings of two pre-selected pieces: Song by Richard Lane (with collaborative piano) and Etude No. 8 "Intervalles (Les Quartes)" from 36 Etudes Transcendantes pour Trompette by Theo Charlier. 

Swerts has now won this competition two years in a row, and it is a tremendous achievement for both students to have achieved such recognition from an esteemed music association.

Park is from Greenbrier, where she graduated high school in 2018. She is a sophomore at the University of Arkansas and a member of associate professor Richard Rulli's trumpet studio, double majoring in trumpet performance and music education, and plans to pursue graduate school. She is a member of varying ensembles, including the Loblolly Brass Quintet, the Razorback Marching Band, and the University of Arkansas Wind Symphony. In addition to the ITG competition, this spring she also won a spot on the 2020 Music Department Honors Recital which will take place in September. Her goals after college are to perform with major ensembles as well as teach private trumpet lessons.

Swerts went to McKinney High School in McKinney, Texas. He is currently a student in Rulli's trumpet studio seeking a degree in music education. He is a member of the UA Wind Ensemble, UA Jazz Band, and the Loblolly Brass Quintet. Upon graduation, Swerts intends to pursue a master's degree in conducting.