55th Nan Ackerman Memorial Music Scholarship Competition Recipients Announced!

The Women’s Committee of the Orchard Park Symphony is pleased to announce the 2023 recipients of the 55th Annual Nan Ackerman Memorial Music Scholarship Competition.

Congratulations to our 1st Place recipient, Brianna Nickson, Clarinet; to our 2nd Place recipient, Amanda Faust, Saxophone; and an Honorable Mention to Mitchel Schnaufer, Bassoon.

This year’s audition was held in person at the Orchard Park Presbyterian Church on April 22, 2023. Each year, since the 1960s, the Women’s Committee of the Orchard Park Symphony has sponsored a Music Scholarship Competition in the amount of $2000. Funds are raised through their annual Plant Sale, Car Wash Sale, and Chicken BBQ Sale.

Professional Music Adjudicators listen to the students and award scholarships accordingly. The recipients use this scholarship towards music camps, private lessons, and even new instruments.

The Scholarship Competition audition is open to a student in grades 9 through 12 is an instrumentalist, pianist, or vocalist and who meets the following requirements.

A student who attends either the Orchard Park High School, or a. public or private school and in addition is a resident of Orchard Park, NY. Also eligible is a student in 9-12th grader who is an immediate family member of Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra musicians, is a member of the Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra (OPSO), or is a student who studies with an Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra member.

A 9-12th grader, who is a member of the Southtowns Youth Orchestra, is also eligible to compete. A competing student is recommended to be a member of their school’s music organization(s). The participant must be playing at a NYSSMA Level V or VI, or its equivalent.

Nan Ackerman (1943-2020) was a remarkable woman who contributed greatly — both personally and financially — to this cause. In Nan’s memory, the OP Symphony Women’s Committee named its annual scholarship competition in her honor.

Contributions will be gratefully accepted by making a check payable to “The Nan Ackerman Memorial Scholarship” and mailing to:

OP Symphony Women’s Committee
P.O. Box 332
Orchard Park, NY 14127

Your support allows us to provide scholarships to aspiring high school musicians in the WNY community.