UA Music Students Set Record in Southeast Competition

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Five students from The University of Alabama School of Music’s French horn studio made history by sweeping all four competitions at the recent Southeast Horn Workshop, hosted by Tennessee Tech University.

The annual workshop is sponsored by the International Horn Society and is open to graduate and undergraduate college students.

The winning UA students are Joshua Williams and Alex Morris, both of Tuscaloosa, Kaylene Beal of Chico, Calif., Arthur Diaz of Orlando, Fla., and Martin King of Harrisonburg, Va.

Williams, a sophomore music major, won the soloist division. In the final round, he was the only undergraduate student in a field of graduate students and teaching assistants from major regional institutions.

Beal, a graduating senior music major, won the orchestral high horn division.

Morris, a freshman music major, won the orchestral low horn division. It’s historically been rare for a freshman to win any SHW competition, noted Skip Snead, director of the UA School of Music.

Beal, Williams, Diaz and King received top honors in the quartet competition. The other quartets in the final round consisted only of graduate students.

Never before in the workshop’s more than 30 year history have all four competitions been won by students from the same university, Snead said.

“I am extremely proud of what the students accomplished. They represented us well and made history as the first studio from a single university to capture all four competitions in the same year,” he said.