Mobile’s arts calendar is especially full this week, with a milestone piano competition, a visit from one of Alabama’s most decorated historians and the announcement of scholarship winners in a prestigious opera competition all happening within days of one another.
The Mobile Music Teachers Association will hold its 50th annual sonata contest on Feb. 2 at the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center on the University of South Alabama campus. This year’s contest drew 217 participants across 20 levels of difficulty, ranging from beginning students up through college level and noncompetitive adult musicians. Competitors will perform individually for judges in rooms throughout the Laidlaw facility before everyone gathers in the concert hall later in the day for the awarding of trophies. The event is free and open to the public.
“We think it’s a big deal,” MMTA Parliamentarian Vincentine Williams said, noting that she and fellow instructors, including University of South Alabama faculty member Dr. Holm and Lin-ya Hsu, have entered the most students in the contest over the years.
Williams, who chaired the contest for 18 years, said turnout has fluctuated significantly over the decades. The high-water mark came in 1987, when nearly 500 students took part; last year’s contest drew 256 participants. “One year I might have 10 trophy winners and the next year not have any. It’s just how they prepare,” she said.
Williams has taught music for 40 years, though she didn’t move to the Mobile Bay area until the late 1970s. In that time, she said she has watched generations of students pass through the program, later returning as parents to bring their own children to the awards ceremony. Some have gone on to build careers in music, including a niece Williams began teaching at age 3, who traveled from Mississippi each year to compete and went on to earn a doctorate before joining the vocal performance faculty at Troy University.
The Mobile Music Teachers Association was founded in 1919 and launched the sonata contest to mark its own 25th anniversary, meaning the group itself will soon approach the century mark. It is an affiliation of independent music teachers who instruct students out of home studios, a model Williams said has been squeezed in recent years by the growing prevalence of lessons offered through retail music stores. She said part of the group’s mission is reminding the public that independent instruction is still thriving in the area.
“There are studies that show music instruction does more, as compared to other art forms, to help the brain,” Williams said. “We’re building future responsible citizens, people that are responsible and disciplined and understand the value of hard work, because it does take hard work.”
Separately, the University of Mobile will mark the state’s bicentennial with an appearance by acclaimed historian Dr. Wayne Flynt at the school’s Weaver Auditorium on Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. Flynt, professor emeritus of history at Auburn University, will deliver a lecture titled “Pulitzers and Politics: The Best and Worst of Alabama on Our 200th Birthday.” The event is free and will include a book signing.
Flynt began his academic career as a ministerial student at Samford University before double-majoring in history and speech. He went on to earn a doctorate from Florida State University and spent 40 years teaching at Samford and Auburn, where he collected 18 teaching awards along the way. He has lectured internationally, including appearances at Oxford and Cambridge universities, and his scholarship has ranged across religion, poverty and literature in addition to traditional history. Flynt has authored 11 books, two of which received Pulitzer Prize nominations, and published a memoir, “Keeping the Faith,” in 2011. He has also been the subject of two Alabama Public Television documentaries and received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Samford in 2000.
In the world of opera, three scholarship winners have been named in the 2019 Madame Rose Scholarship Competition, held Jan. 12 at the Larkins Music Center. The competition drew 10 finalists from five states in the Southeast, all vying for cash scholarships to help fund their college and graduate-level studies.
Kimberly Milton of Valdosta State University took first place, followed by Elana Gleason of LSU in second and Samantha Dapcic of the University of North Texas in third. Joanna Burrell of Georgia State University received honorable mention. The remaining finalists were Samantha Anselmo, Natalie Bodkin, Christine Cummins, Carol Marie Gomez, Kyle Melton and Monica Music.
The competition is named for the founder of Mobile Opera, and this year’s finalists were judged by a panel of opera industry professionals that included Kathleen Halm, Tyler Smith and Betsy Uschkrat.