St. Olaf student wins national music competition
St. Olaf College student Samuel Viguerie ’17 won first place in the string division at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Young Artist Competition in San Antonio, Texas.
Viguerie, who studies cello with St. Olaf Professor of Music David Carter, will receive a $3,000 award from the MTNA Foundation Fund. His accompanist for the competition was pianist Matthew Harikian ’16, who studies with St. Olaf Professor of Music Kent McWilliams.
In addition to winning the MTNA competition, Viguerie recently won first place in the college strings division of the 2016 Thursday Musical Competition.
A member of the St. Olaf Orchestra, Viguerie was featured as a soloist on the ensemble’s 2015 West Coast tour.
His performances have also been featured on Minnesota Public Radio and National Public Radio. In addition, he has performed at the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul as a winner of the 2015 Schubert Club’s Bruce P. Carlson Scholarship Competition.
Last summer, Viguerie attended the the Centre d’Arts Orford in Quebec and the Heifetz International Music Institute in Staunton, Virginia, where he studied with renowned musicians Richard Aaron, Laurence Lesser, and Amit Peled.
Viguerie is a music performance and computer science major at St. Olaf, and he also serves as secretary of the student Honor Council.