A trio of excellent pianists performed select pieces from their professional repetoire.
Desireé González
Desireé González was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. She started playing the piano at the age of 2 ½. She studied with the Mexican-German concert pianist Alicia Monfort when she was 14. Later, she applied to the School of Music of UANL in Monterrey, in which she studied with Natalia Vladimirovna Tibets. Desireé has performed in Shostakovich, Mozart, Grieg, and Glinka’s Homages in Monterrey and Mendelssohn and Chopin’s Recitals in Provo, Utah. Desireé won 2nd place in the 2007 Czerny-Liszt Competition in Monterrey, and 3rd prize in 2008 Parnassós National Piano Competition also in Monterrey. She has performed in the Assembly Hall at Temple Square, the LDS Conference Center Theather, De Jong Concert Hall, BYU’s Museum of Art, Madsen Recital Hall, among others.
She has had master-classes with Logan Skelton, Nelita True, Arkady Aronov, Alexander Pashkov, Stanislav Puchekin, Anna Bogolyubova, Yaron Kohlberg, Jorge Federico Osorio, and Leonel Morales just to name a few. She transferred to Brigham Young University’s School of Music on Fall 2008.
Desireé has been part of the jury for Heber Piano Competition and Arts City Piano competition. Also, she served as the pianist of BYU’s Wind Symphony Orchestra and the Symphonic Band 2010-2011. She served as the Vicepresident and currently is the President of the BYU Music Teachers’ National Association Chapter. Recently, She was chosen to be one of the four Reid Nibley Scholars for 2010-2012. She is currently studying with Dr. Jeffrey Shumway.
Halie Augustus
Born in Mapleton, Utah, Halie started lessons when she was 7 at the feet of her mother. Since then she has taken from Dr. David Glen Hatch, Carmen Hall, and is currently studying with Dr. Scott Holden at Brigham Young University.
She made her orchestral debut playing with the Nactumusik Orchestra at the age of 11. She has attended the BYU Summer festival, and has participated in local festivals. During high school Halie was the concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra, the accompanist for the choir’s, and accompanied many individuals.
She recently returned from the Atlantic Music Festival where she studied with Bruce Brubaker, Joe Irrera, Sang Woo Kang, and Natalya Antonova. She accompanied the Mapleton Chorale to help them prepare to travel to the Lincoln Center. Halie was in BYU’s Chamber Woodwind Sextet this past year. Halie is the accompanist for the BYU Women’s Chorus under the direction of Jean Applonie.
John Sargeant
With special guests, Catherine Winters playing the flute, Rebekah Willey on violin & Catherine Willey on cello.
John Sargeant is the 21-year-old son of Mark & Rosie Sargeant of Orem. He began private piano lessons at age 6, with teachers including Cheryl Norman, Gary Amano, & Ralph van der Beek. John
was on scholarship as a piano major at Utah State University for a year and at Weber State University for a semester. He has won many notable piano competitions on the state, regional, & national level. Highlights include 1st place at the MTNA National Jr. High Baldwin Competition in Seattle, WA in 2005, & 1st place at the inaugural Snowy Range Piano Competition in Laramie, WY in 2008. John has performed piano concerti with 7 Utah orchestras, including the Utah Symphony twice (with Keith Lockhart conducting). He is a fully invested accompanist, which keeps him very busy in solo, choral, & other settings. John is currently the accompanist for the Mapleton Chorale, under the baton of Cory Mendenhall. He has 13+ hours of varied background music, which he has used at wedding receptions & restaurants for 8 years. John’s favorite musical avenue is recording, & he has given away hundreds of CDs of his personal recordings. In 2008, John started a tradition of presenting a free, 80-minute recital of new music every year, featuring solo piano music, his own arrangements, & various guest artists. This year’s concert will be held in December & will be called “Pixar Potpourri”: a unique, colorful tribute to the fantastic music of the 12 Disney/Pixar films! John loves to arrange & transcribe music, sing, mess around on electric pianos, create musical collages, take silly pictures, eat pasta, entertain at senior citizen centers, hang out with his cat (Aida), & rollerblade!
