Upper West SC News

NEWBERRY — Newberry College congratulates the winners of the fourth W. Darr Wise Piano Competition, held Feb. 11 on campus. This year's competition included a record 29 entrants across three divisions, which covered grades six through 12.

The division winners received cash prizes of $250, $100 and $50, respectively, along with additional Newberry College scholarships available for high school juniors and seniors at the judges' discretion. The winners are:

Division I

First Prize: Jonathan Mei (Mount Pleasant)

Second Prize: Brandon Luo (Apex, North Carolina)

Third Prize: Zhanshuo Zhang (Greer)

Honorable Mention: Vanessa Nguyen (North Charleston)

Division II

First Prize: Xavier Galloway (Columbia)

Second Prize: Benjamin Stickney (Lexington)

Third Prize (tie): Henry Sun (Greer)

Third Prize (tie): Spencer Smith (Greenwood)

Honorable Mention: Joseph Minka (Greer)

Honorable Mention: Sylvia Tong (Durham, North Carolina)

Division III

First Prize: Bryan Ouyang (Greer)

Second Prize: Roger Luo (Central)

Third Prize: Alexia Liu (Simpsonville)

Honorable Mention: Dominic Minka (Greer)

The judges were Dr. Howard Kim, of Anderson University; Dr. Eunjung Choi, of Claflin University; and Dr. Linda Li-Bleuel, of Clemson University. Newberry College music students helped run the competition's logistics. The event was hosted by the Newberry College Department of Music and organized by Dr. Sarah Masterson, associate professor of music and concert pianist.

The competition, which began in 2018, is named in memory of W. Darr Wise, professor emeritus of music. He taught piano and music theory and served as college organist for 42 years until his retirement in 1998. Wise passed away in 2021 at the age of 92.

Original source can be found here.