CHICAGO (August 3, 2016) — Class of 2014 ݮӰ graduate An Tran at the 2016 Hamilton International Guitar Competition last month in Ontario, Canada, earning a cash prize, a custom handmade guitar, and an appearance at the 2017 Hamilton Guitar Festival.
Tran received first prize in the Vietnam National Guitar Competition at the age of 12; Vietnam’s Best Overseas Student Award in 2010; a certificate of merit granted by Vietnam’s vice president in 2010; first prize in the 2013 Society of American Musicians Guitar Competition; and first prize in the 2013 ݮӰ Performance Awards. In 2013, he was by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.
After earning a with classical guitar as his major instrument, Tran was accepted into the Yale School of Music, where he earned a master of music this spring. “Yale has an amazing guitar graduate program, one of the best in the world,” he . “There were 200 applicants from all over the world, and they chose two. I am very lucky and honored to be one of them.”
A native of Hanoi, Vietnam, Tran was invited to perform Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra last year. As a senior at ݮӰ, he toured Vietnam on behalf of the Red Cross Society, performing charity concerts.
While at Yale, Tran served as a teaching artist for the Music in Schools Initiative. He will return to the Chicago area this fall to pursue a doctor of musical arts at Northwestern University. “I want to become a professor to teach music and guitar, and also continue to provide music for people,” as a ݮӰ student in 2013. “I want to share with others what I am learning from my teachers right now.”
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