Lara Lambert, Kyshana Lowe, Sariah Mourik, and Emily Barrett, Music

As the Brigham Young University piano and string instrumental quartet, made up of Lara Lambert, Kyshana Lowe, Sariah Mourik, and Emily Barrett, we wish to express sincere gratitude to the BYU Office of Research and Creative Work for the grant received last year.

Upon receiving the grant, we had decided upon a project which involved the recording and performance of a piece by living composer, Carlos Surinach. With the help of the grant received and other various forms of faculty assistance, we were able to complete these tasks as well as gain several unexpected opportunities and rewards that fulfilled some of our highest dreams and expectations.

At the time we applied for the grant, we had recently won the Music Teacher’s National Association Chamber Music Competition at the state level. This achievement allowed us to represent B YU at the division level of the competition, held in Sacramento, California, and then proceed to the national level, held at the annual MTNA convention in Washington D.C.

At the national level we competed against chamber ensembles from the top music schools in the nation, and took first place in both the Solo Piano and Chamber Collegiate divisions. As a group carrying the name of the university, we were able to promote the name ofBYU for it’s quality music department at this gathering of fine music teachers from across the nation. While there, we were privileged to meet with Senator Orrin Hatch and tell him of our achievements. He was quite pleased to have Utah so well represented at one such national level. The funds provided for us by the grant from your office allowed for the expenses involved in traveling to and from Washington, D.C.

Shortly after the grant had been awarded to us last year, we recorded the quartet by Carlos Surinach, along with another required piece. We sent this recording for application to the Fischoff International Competition, held at South Bend Indiana. We were accepted into the competition, and traveled in April to South Bend. Again we represented BYU well as we performed and received very positive commentaries from those present.

Upon returning from these competitions, we were named the honored chamber ensemble of the year at BYU. We were honored at the Music Department Honors Assembly, as well as in BYU Today Magazine.

As part of our project, we were able to perform the quartet by Carlos Surinach at all of these discussed events, in addition to our recording of the work. More recently we were able to contact Mr. Surinach and inform him of our successes with our performances of the work. He was quite pleased that we were performing his piece and achieving such success with it. This fine composer discussed with us many important aspects of interpreting the work in an artistic way.

As the Brigham Young University Piano Quartet, we are grateful for the events of the past year and the assistance of the Office of Creative Research. We thank you for the grant that allowed us to fulfill our highest expectations in our own field of creative research.