Many thanks to our judges of the

Rochester Music Guild 2009 Scholarship Competition

Deanne Mohr - Piano division
Canadian pianist Deanne Mohr is assistant professor of music at Winona State University.  She received her Bachelor of Music degree (with great distinction) from the University of Regina while under the tutelage of William Moore. She continued her graduate studies with Marc Durand and Natalie Pépin at the University of Montréal, receiving a doctorate in piano performance in 2000. An accomplished soloist, Dr. Mohr has performed extensively in Canada and the Midwestern United States, including featured recitals in the Montreal Début concert series, the Banff Summer Festival, and the Regina Musical Club series, and has been recorded for broadcast on Radio-Canada and CBC Saskatchewan.

Paul Vance - Strings division
Paul Vance is Professor of Cello and Director of Orchestral Activities at Winona State University in southeastern Minnesota. He is an active soloist and chamber music player, and has performed in recital in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, and Wisconsin. Vance holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Cello Performance from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), a Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Music and Stringed Instruments from Minnesota State University-Moorhead. His cello teachers have been Camilla Heller, Robert Jamieson, Jerome Jelinek, and Wolfgang Laufer.

Beth Ray - Voice division

Dr. Beth Ray Westlund, mezzo-soprano, is associate professor of music and associate department head at her alma mater Luther College, where she teaches studio voice and diction.  Previous to this, she was assistant professor of voice at Ithaca College School of Music in Ithaca, New York.  She earned the M.M. and D.M.A. degrees at the University of Texas at Austin, studying with Rose Taylor and Terry Lusk. Dr. Ray is active as a recitalist and an oratorio soloist, appearing recently in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Illinois, and New York. She currently serves as Vice-president of the Iowa chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Julie Johnson - Winds division

Julie Johnson is a winds department faculty member at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, MN. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Augsburg College in Minneapolis where she was a two-time winner of the college's Concerto/Aria Competition, and served as principal flute of the Minnesota Inter-Collegiate Honor Band under the direction of Frederick Fenell. In 1999, Julie served as co-principal flute of the Rome Festival Orchestra, having received a Career Opportunity Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to spend a month in Italy performing there. She has also performed with the Duluth/Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Minneapolis Civic Orchestra, has served as principal flute of the Balcones Orchestra (Austin, TX) and was a guest soloist with the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble. Currently, in addition to her teaching, Julie performs in the Twin Cities as a soloist and ensemble member with many orchestras, chamber groups, blues bands, and jazz groups.