Association of

Professional Orchestra Leaders

Awards tuition scholarship to

2006

BRADLEY WEST
A graduated senior from Wesmont High School who will be attending Millikin College in the fall of 2006, majoring in clarinet and voice in the honors program. A multi-talented instrumentalist on saxes, clarinet and piano, he also has had extensive voice training and performance. Bradley began his extensive music studies in the fifth grade on clarinet and was active in choir as well. He also has studied privately in both areas through his elementary school and high school years. Upon entering high school, he branched out into cross-country, College Bowl, theater, the chess team, madrigal choir various saxophone doublings, piano and student government activities. He has been active in numerous IMEA and Musical Carousel competitions instrumentally and vocally and played in the pit band for “The Music Man’, “Man of La Mancha” and “Anything Goes”. He comes highly recommended by his private clarinet teacher Brian Patti and high school director Bill Riddle.

2005

AUGUST "AUGIE" HAAS
a Milwaukee-born trumpet major and a senior at the Roosevelt University College of Performing Arts, Chicago. As a founding member of the campus Tau Kappa Epsilon music fraternity, Augie has also accumulated strong performance credentials as well. His appearances with the Philly Pops Orchestra, a Disney all-star band, the big bands of Rob Parton and Dave Liebman and as a sideman backing the likes of Peter Nero, “Doc” Severinsen and Toshiko Akiyoshi indicate a high level of musical ability very early in his career. His scholarship application audio CD also demonstrates that he is equally comfortable in popular, jazz and classical music settings revealing a depth of musical interpretation and technique quite advanced for a college musician. As he adds performance piano, music history and arranging to his performance skills, he is sure to become a valued and versatile leader as well.

BETHANY HAMILTON
A jazz and classical voice major and a junior at the Roosevelt University College of Performing Arts, Chicago. Like Augie Haas, she also comes highly recommended by Roosevelt professor Scott Mason. She has seriously studied voice and music theory with a dozen or so local performing instrumentalists and vocal teachers. In high school, Bethany was a choir section leader in charge of the warm-ups and occasional conducting of two vocal jazz ensembles. She has developed a strong interest in jazz piano, averages two-dozen public performances and recitals each year with three or four different vocal ensembles and arranges music in a variety of styles for various size groups. She is a co-founder and leader of a campus Christian fellowship organization involved in community service and recently was part of an all-state vocal jazz workshop for high school students. We of the APOL believe both students exemplify our organization’s underlying principal of recognizing and financially supporting the performing and leadership activities of young musicians who realize the importance of live music in our American culture.

2002

KYLE ZARS:
Recommended for an APOL scholarship by York High School band instructor Curtis Merrill and APOL member/percussionist Russ Knutson, multi-percussionist Kyle Zars received his first of two APOL $500 awards in the summer of 2002 as he finished his senior year. His audition tape showed his talents on bells and castanets with the Classical Symphony Orchestra, tympani with the Protégé Philharmonic Orchestra, an improvised drum set solo and a snare drum contest solo and three xylophone solo excerpts on “Flight of the Bumble Bee”, “Gypsy Dance”, “Dance Macabre” and “Porgy & Bess”. He has served as percussion section leader all four years of high school, is rapidly developing advanced keyboard and mallet skills, is lead drum set player in the school’s big band, has purchased his own set of tympani, plays in a student rock group and a jazz combo and has regularly attended summer music camps. Kyle received his second $500 scholarship award in the fall of 2002 as he went off to college.

MAX ZBIRAL-TELLER:
Max was recommended to us by Evanston High School music instructors Kat Eggleston and David Fodor and received the first of his two $500 APOL scholarships in the fall of 2002. His second $500 award was presented in the spring of 2003. Multi-percussionist Zbiral-Teller, in his application, detailed many school and community groups in which he has served involving activities as diverse as paleontology, film production, soccer playing and hammered dulcimer playing. He has produced his own performance CD, been honored by two professional honor societies and received leadership award from the high school history department and the Congressional Youth Leadership Council in Washington, D.C. His list of dozens of public performances is equally diverse from festivals, religious institutions, and cultural institutions to retirement homes and neighborhood pubs. At many of these, he organized the players, arranged the music as well as performed. And finally, Kyle has provided us with a list of newspaper articles detailing his performances and six interviews and live performances in which he has been involved. We feel Max certainly exemplifies the characteristics of leadership and live music performance we of the APOL strive to promote.

2001

DAVE SCANLAN
Dave, an 18-year old woodwind player, is currently finishing his senior year at Westmont High School and was brought to our attention by that school’s band director Bill Riddle. He began his instrumental music studies 10 years ago on flute and clarinet and began doubling on tenor saxophone in junior high, adding alto sax and piccolo in high school. During those four years he was able to participate in numerous college level clinics and honor bands, sing in the show choir and madrigal group, play lead in the steel drum band and serve as the band’s drum major in his senior year. All this time, Dave has continued to study privately and take composition, arranging and music theory classes from Mr. Riddle. He eventually plans to gain experience on all the band instruments and go into a teaching career as well as performing. Dave has consistently received 1st division ratings at local and state solo and ensemble contests, sung in church worship groups and will pursue his college studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

LINNEA KRIEGER-STROPE:
Senior student Linnea was also brought to our attention by Westmont High School band director Bill Riddle. She did not include any details of her elementary school music studies on flute and piccolo but the list of her high school activities is extremely impressive. She has doubled on alto and tenor saxes in the jazz band, sung major roles in the school’s annual musical productions as well as show and concert choir, madrigal ensemble, played in the marching and symphonic bands, steel drum and woodwind ensembles, taught flute to elementary school students, was the high school drum major one year and has a history of church related musical activities and summer band performing. Linnea has also been involved in many community senior citizen and fund raising activities for many of her 18 years and also plans to go into teaching and continue performing following her college studies at Olivet Nazarene University.

2000

ETHAN STARTZMAN
On September 17, 2000, the Association of Professional Orchestra Leaders (APOL) awarded its first tuition scholarship to bassist Ethan Startzman, who is currently a junior (‘02) at Roosevelt University. Ethan was selected from a large number of applicants for his high level of musicianship and his ability to become a successful leader.

Ethan Startzman is from Indianapolis, IN and was attracted to the jazz program at Roosevelt University. He is a student of bassists Jon E. Gee and Scott Mason. In addition, Ethan is a composer/arranger, plays piano, French horn and leads the band “Half of You.” His musical tastes are broad, encompassing jazz to reggae, funk, samba and salsa. Ethan performs with nearly all of the student ensembles and theater productions at Roosevelt University. This past summer, Ethan performed every Tuesday at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis and for 10-weeks aboard a Holland America cruise ship.