Students receive awards, perform at piano recital

Piano Instructor Benita Pepper of Lakeland presented 19 of her students in a recital June 4 at Lane Music Recital Hall in Germantown. Students were awarded certificates for their participation.

Eight students received medals for successfully performing 10 memorized pieces at the National Piano Guild Auditions on June 3. Raphael Guimera received a Tchaikowsky statuette for five years in the auditions and a trophy for Original Jazz Improvisation, which he performed in the recital. Savannah Brister received a Joplin statuette for eight years in the auditions and a trophy for Music Composition. She was unable to play in recital, due to performing that day in Atlanta in tryouts for NBC-TV’s “The Voice.”

Isabella DeFir received a trophy for music composition and performed two of her original piano and vocal numbers at the recital. Students Casey Melton and Caroline McClure each presented pop piano and vocal numbers as part of their recital performances.