October 2009 Winner: Eric Millard

Our June 2009 Young Artist Award recipient is Ansel Norris, a rising senior at East High School in Madison, Wisconsin. Ansel was nominated by his private teacher, John Aley, professor of trumpet at the University of Wisconsin.

In 2006, the Capital Sound Drum and Bugle Corps selected Ansel as “Rookie of the Year.” He received honorable mention in the 2007 Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and the 2008 Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition. During his junior year, he received an Emerson Award, a full-tuition scholarship to attend the Interlochen National Music Camp, and went on to play principal trumpet with the Interlochen Philharmonia Orchestra.

In November 2008, Ansel was a recipient of the Jack Cooke Young Artist Award “From the Top,” which is a non-profit organization that celebrates the passion, dedication, and personal stories of the nation’s outstanding young classical musicians. As part of this honor, he was featured on National Public Radio performing Arban’s Carnival of Venice.

This past February, Ansel performed the Tomasi Concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra on a Wisconsin Public Television program as one of four Bolz Young Artist Competition finalists. This year he will continue as principal trumpet with the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and in the Winds of Wisconsin, a premier high school youth wind ensemble. At East Madison High, Ansel performs in the Wind Sinfonietta and the jazz ensemble under the direction of Scott Eckel. In March of 2009 Ansel participated in the high school solo division of the National Trumpet Competition.

Ansel’s parents, Tim Norris and Katherine Esposito, are very supportive of his musical activities, and he is very proud of his older brother Alexander, a violin performance major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Apart from his busy music schedule, Ansel enjoys creative writing.

Ansel plans to major in trumpet performance and has an exciting audition trail ahead of him. As the June 2009 recipient of the Young Artist Award, Ansel will receive a one-year complimentary membership in ITG.

Congratulations!

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