Emmanuel Padilla, harp, won the Fifth Latin American Music Recording Competition on Sunday in Auer Hall. Padilla is a sophomore student at the Jacobs School of Music and is studying with Distinguished Professor Susann McDonald.
The event was hosted by the school of music’s Latin American Music Center.
The winner was chosen by a jury that included music school faculty members Carl Lenthe, Eugene O’Brien, Thomas Walsh and guest Erzsébet Gaál. Gaál is an alumna of the school.
The winner of the competition receives the ability to professionally record a CD produced by LAMC. Additionally, the winner will perform a concert at 8 p.m. March 7 in Auer Hall, according to a press release from the LAMC.
This year’s final round consisted of three finalists performing in mini-recitals for approximately 20 minutes each. Other finalists were the Melos Saxophone Quartet and trombonist Felipe Brito, students of professors Otis Murphy and Peter Ellefson, according to the release.
Music selections included pieces originating from Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico. Padilla’s performance featured Mexican harp music and pieces by composers Francisco Cortés-Álvarez, born in 1983, and Mario Ruiz Armengol, born in 1914, according to the release.
Padilla also obtained the composer’s permission to create his own arrangement of Arturo Marquez’s famous Danzón No. 2., according to the release. Marquez was born in 1950.
The inspiration that started this five-year-long event came from the Annual Competition in the Performance of Music from Spain and Latin America that started in 1998.
In 2011, when LAMC celebrated its 50th anniversary, the format of the competition was changed to focus on Latin American music. The grand prize was a professional recording project. The Guillermo and Lucille Espinosa Fund for Artistic and Research Projects of the Latin American Music Center financially supported the event.
All recordings are available for purchase through the Jacobs School of Music Marketplace, Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby.
Audrey Perkins
