The 2016 National Recorder Competition has a Winner!

Piffaro, the Renaissance Band, sponsors the National Recorder Competition biennially.  Piffaro received the ARS Distinguished Achievement Award in June 2015. 

The winner this year is Teresa Deskur, who is 15 years old and hails from the Binghamton, NY area. She impressed the judges not only with her technical facility, but her depth of understanding of each piece she played (especially Jacob Van Eyck’s “Fantasie en echo") and the sense of rapport that she established with harpsichord accompanist Leon Schelhase. Piffaro look forward very much to working with Miss Deskur next season, as she joins Piffaro in a concert program in February 2017.  

We would like to congratulate ALL of the 2016 finalists, who performed commendably! From left to right, they are: Alexis VanTassel, Robert Dorsey, Mathilde Sundaram, Sridhar Shenoy, Teresa Deskur, and Henry Bransdorfer (not pictured: Noah Shipley).

Highlights for many in the audience were Jacob Van Eyck’s “Fantasie en echo” played by Teresa, an original composition that Henry wrote based on Dido’s lament from Purcell’s opera “Dido & Aeneas,” a gigue from one of Bach’s unaccompanied partitas for violin played by Noah, and a lentement movement from a French sonata played by Mathilde.

The three younger performers offered a variety of pieces, from Robert’s crowd-pleasing rendition of “Pilgrim” (by a contemporary neo-celtic group) accompanied by guitar and percussion, to Alexis’ unaccompanied, memorized performance of a prelude from The Division Flute, and Sridhar’s soulful rendition of a Klezmer melody. The judges were unable to pick one winner from the younger group - a 3-way tie!

Piffaro extends thanks to Leon Schelhase for his sensitive accompaniment, to the judges -- ARS member Gwyn Roberts and Steven Zohn -- and to everyone who turned out to support & encourage these talented young people!