2021 SCHOLARSHIP & PRIZE WINNERS
Micah Gleason has been recognized for her diverse performance abilities as a conductor, vocalist, and chamber musician. Interdisciplinary collaboration and community building are at the core of Micah’s music-making. She is curious about the most effective ways to disrupt the stasis and comfort of the modern concert hall; to examine how the disciplines of music research, performance, and perception can grow more aware of each other, and how artists, activists, and researchers can most effectively collaborate.
Micah holds degrees from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and Bard College-Conservatory of Music, and is an alumna of notable training programs including the Aspen Music Festival and the Conducting Institute at Oxford. Micah has appeared with professional ensembles including the Grant Park Symphony Chorus and the American Symphony Orchestra’s Festival Chorale. Micah also served as the Alto Artist in Residence at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at The University of Chicago for two years, where she was a regularly-featured soloist.
Micah is now pursuing master’s degrees in Conducting and Vocal Arts at Bard under the tutelage of James Bagwell and Stephanie Blythe. From 2019-2021, she served as the assistant conductor of the Bard Symphonic Chorus, and co-conductor of the Bard Opera Workshop. Micah was named a 2021 conducting fellow at the Eastern Music Festival, where she studied with Maestro Gerard Schwarz.
Recent performances include leading The Orchestra Now in a performance of works by Gustav Mahler, Gabriela Lena Frank, and the world premiere of Christopher Bell’s new piece, Inure; and performing as a featured soloist in György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments, and leading the Eastern Festival Orchestra in a performance of the overture to Verdi’s La Forza del Destino. In 2022, Micah will serve as the assistant conductor for Bard Graduate Vocal Arts Program’s production of The Cunning Little Vixen, directed by Stephanie Blythe.
Cameron Smith is a freelancing composer and orchestrator who enjoys both contemporary classical composition and composing for film and media. She recently graduated from Berklee College of Music with degrees in film scoring and music composition and a minor in contemporary conducting. While at Berklee, Cameron performed as a pianist with music composition chair Richard Carrick’s composer’s sinfonietta and also joined the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra as a violinist for a season. In her final year she was awarded the Vuk Kulenovic Memorial prize for her collection of piano works entitled ‘Scenes from My Childhood’.
Since graduating, Cameron has pursued work in the film world, working as an assistant orchestrator for film and documentaries produced by companies such as Apple TV and the BBC. Though primarily passionate about orchestral writing, Cameron’s classical piano training has also gifted her with several students who inspire and encourage her daily.
Melissa Yanchak (she/her/hers) is a faculty music director for the School of Theatre at The Pennsylvania State University and is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Theatre with emphasis on Music Direction and Arts Administration. Prior to arriving at Penn State, Melissa served Wright State University in Dayton, OH as a music director and vocal coach, where she completed a B.S. in Organization Leadership with a minor in Nonprofit Administration and a Certificate in Arts Management. Melissa also earned a Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) credential through Nonprofit Leadership Alliance and is a member of Grant Professionals Association, AFM Local 60-471, Phi Kappa Phi, and Maestra Music. Melissa was the music director and conductor on the National Tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and was the last Keyboard 1/SFX artist for the Blue Unit of Ringling Bros, residing and traveling on the legendary circus train across the United States. Regional credits include Pittsburgh CLO in PA, Tuacahn Center for the Arts in Ivins, UT, Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, and Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota, FL. Melissa can also be seen on PBS’s Broadway or Bust series as a member of the creative and production team for the Jimmy Awards (NHSMTA) in NYC.
Jane Kozhevnikova is a composer, pianist, and educator. Her works have been performed at regional, national, and international level music events. She has been working as a composer and musician in theatres, performing original music with her jazz band, and teaching piano. Jane composes in various styles and genres, from classical to jazz and tango, tastefully blending them. In 2020, she released a jazz-tango album Tango Avenue with her original works.
In 2019, Jane received a DownBeat Magazine Outstanding Performance award in the Latin jazz category with her original jazz-tango compositions. In 2019, she became one of the winners of the "Music Now" contest, a part of Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival. Jane became a runner-up at the University of North Carolina Greensboro Call for Scores and Competition. Her choral works were awarded the 1st Prize and a Special Prize at the 2020 International Composers’ Competition Opus Ignotum (Czech Republic). In 2021, she was awarded 2nd Place of the American Prize in Chamber Vocal Composition (student division).
Jane holds two master’s degrees, in Music Composition and Music Performance, from Western Michigan University. She is working on her doctorate degree in Music Composition at the University of Florida.