Instructors congratulate Jamie Brown-Hart on winning the Ron W. Ianni Memorial Scholarship in Music Performance. From left: Bruce J. G. Kotowich, director of the School of Creative Arts; Jennifer Swanson; accompanist Michael Oddy; Brown-Hart; Shahida Nurullah; Nicholas Papador.
Jamie Brown-Hart was excited to share two pieces that best demonstrate her vocal styles in a recital competition Jan. 19.
A soprano, Brown-Hart won the Ron W. Ianni Memorial Scholarship in Music Performance with her renditions, accompanied by pianist Michael Oddy, of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Steal Me, Sweet Thief” form the 1939 opera, The Old Maid and the Thief, and “Flagmaker 1775” from Jason Robert Brown’s 1995 musical, Songs for a New World.
“I felt incredible and fully in my element when performing the two, like I had been performing for years and years,” she said. “When those moments happen, I know I can fully escape and let my musicianship and musical performance creativity take control.”
Honouring the late UWindsor president, the $500 prize is an annual award, determined by competition in a public recital, which takes place in January of each year. Finalists for this award are selected based on their fall juries in December. Only full-time students enrolled in a music degree are eligible. The scholarship was established in 2006 by Mina Grossman-Ianni. This year marked Brown-Hart’s second time competing in the scholarship.
Brown-Hart’s undergraduate experience was a large adjustment to in-person performing from singing in front of a screen due to COVID restrictions, but it wasn’t without growth.
“I have grown substantially from 2020 and I will take everything I've learned from my incredible instructor, Dr. Jennifer Swanson, and myself into my future musical and life endeavours, wherever it will take me,” she says.
Brown-Hart hopes to continue her education by pursuing a master’s degree in musical therapy to achieve her dream of combining music with psychological therapy.