New Artistic Director for Young Texas Artists Music Competition jazzed to help winners make a statewide splash

CONROE, TX – As the new artistic director for the Young Texas Artists Music Competition, Emelyne Bingham is ready to put her decades of professional experience and passion for music to work to promote the 23-year-old Conroe, Texas competition and the winners it produces.

“I want to increase the visibility of our winners and of the competition across the state,” said Bingham, a four-time judge of the annual contest. Bingham is a former assistant conductor and long-time bassist for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and is a Vanderbilt University professor. “One of my goals is to create performance opportunities for the winners, perhaps do a small, statewide tour of the winners. I believe in the mission and the good work of this competition, and I’m excited to be involved much more than I have been in the past.”

But before she can promote the competition’s winners, Bingham said she hopes to draw more young musicians to the contest and encourage them to go back to their peers and teachers and share their experience of performing and receiving feedback from qualified judges.

“We really need a sense of artistic direction, a way of seeking out top young musicians to improve the quality of the competition,” she said. “We want to enhance the lives of young performers and make this where it feeds back into the university system, to help others gain inspiration and help the universities do what they do.”

To that end, Bingham said she will work to strengthen ties with those programs and universities that regularly produce contest participants, but she said she is also ready to take to the road and seek out new talent.

Bingham, who lives in Nashville and plans to commute to Texas at least once a month, said her passion for expanding the competition’s reach comes from the importance she places on performing for judges and receiving professional criticism, a crucial element for any artist pursuing a musical career.

“I know how difficult the job market is and how necessary it is to put yourself out there and get good experience and good feedback,” she said. “In order to get a job you have to audition well and perform well, and this competition is one more way for students to gain the necessary experience.”

Susie Pokorski, chairwoman of the Young Texas Artists Music Competition, set for March 13-15, 2008, said Bingham’s fresh ideas and energy are just two of the reasons she created the artistic director’s position for Bingham.

“With Emelyne’s artistic integrity and years of performance experience, she’s going to lead us to even bigger and better things,” said Pokorski.

Bingham hopes to live up to those expectations, but she said with the support of the Conroe community behind her, those expectations can come to fruition.

“In the years that I’ve come to know the competition, I’ve learned it’s such a wonderful reflection of the people of Conroe who support this and look forward to it all year. You can’t buy that kind of enthusiasm,” she said. “I would like to take that energy and run with it and do good things.”

The Young Texas Artists Music Competition, part of the Montgomery County Performing Arts Society’s season, is a three-day event held in Conroe’s historic Crighton Theatre. Divisions in strings; voice; piano; and winds, brass and percussion are judged by nationally distinguished leaders in the music field. Eligible competitors must be between the ages of 18-30 and residents of Texas or students at a Texas college or music school. Winners will be awarded cash prizes and performance opportunities.

For more information about the competition and entry rules, visit www.YoungTexasArtists.org.

ABOUT THE YOUNG TEXAS ARTISTS COMPETITION
The Young Texas Artists Music Competition was created in 1983 by the Montgomery County Performing Arts Society, a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization, to promote excellence in musical performance, to encourage young musicians in their pursuit of high artistic standards, and to foster a love for the performing arts in the community and throughout the state of Texas. The Montgomery County Performing Arts Society is funded in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Conroe Commission on Arts and Culture.


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