Hailed as the best in Ohio, our annual competition provides support for talented students embarking on careers as music educators and performers.
Now in its 70th year, Tuesday Musical's 2026 Scholarship Competition is Saturday, March 21, in Guzzetta Hall at The University of Akron. (Organists will compete at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Akron.)
Invited to apply each year are music performance and/or music education majors who are Ohio residents or studying with a music teacher at an Ohio college or university. Categories include music education, brass, classical guitar, organ, piano, percussion, strings, voice, and woodwinds.
29 scholarships are available ranging from $750 to $2,000 each. In 2026, we will award more than $41,000!
The first- and second-place winners in the performance categories will be invited to perform in the competition’s Final Round/Winners Concert on Sunday, May 3, 2:30 p.m. at The University of Akron’s Guzzetta Recital Hall, 157 University Ave.
Two additional adjudicated scholarships — one for $1,000 and one for $2,000 — will be awarded. The audience will also pick the winner of the John M. Ream Jr. DDS People's Choice Award of $500.
The May 3 Final Round/Winners Concert and post-concert reception are free and open to the public.
New in 2025 were a 2nd-place award in the organ category and 2 other named and anonymously endowed scholarships: the Barbara Kingsbury Eaton Scholarship in the voice category and the George Pope Scholarship in the woodwinds category. Both are named for longtime Tuesday Musical board members and supporters.
Bravo to all who competed and are embarking on careers as music educators and performers.
And, bravo to the many volunteers, donors, judges, and teachers who make the competition possible every year!
Results of Final Round/Winners Concert
Violist Kiarra Saito-Beckman and organist JoEllen West won the two top awards in Tuesday Musical’s 2025 Annual Scholarship Competition Final Round/Winners Concert on May 4. Pianist Philippe Gagne won the People’s Choice Award.
Saito-Beckman, a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, won the $2,000 Arden J. Yockey Scholarship. West, a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, won the $1,000 Arden J. Yockey Scholarship. Gagne, also a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, garnered the most audience votes to win the $500 John M. Ream Jr. DDS People’s Choice Award.
The final-round judges were conductor Dean Buck, composer Margi Griebling-Haigh, and retired journalist and music critic Elaine Guregian.
Held in Guzzetta Recital Hall at The University of Akron, the 2025 Scholarship Final Round/Winners Concert featured performances by 12 first- and second-place winners of Tuesday Musical’s Annual Scholarship Competition in March.
Now in its 70th year, Tuesday Musical's 2026 Scholarship Competition is Saturday, March 21, in Guzzetta Hall at The University of Akron. (Organists will compete at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Akron.)
Invited to apply each year are music performance and/or music education majors who are Ohio residents or studying with a music teacher at an Ohio college or university. Categories include music education, brass, classical guitar, organ, piano, percussion, strings, voice, and woodwinds.
29 scholarships are available ranging from $750 to $2,000 each. In 2026, we will award more than $41,000!
The first- and second-place winners in the performance categories will be invited to perform in the competition’s Final Round/Winners Concert on Sunday, May 3, 2:30 p.m. at The University of Akron’s Guzzetta Recital Hall, 157 University Ave.
Two additional adjudicated scholarships — one for $1,000 and one for $2,000 — will be awarded. The audience will also pick the winner of the John M. Ream Jr. DDS People's Choice Award of $500.
The May 3 Final Round/Winners Concert and post-concert reception are free and open to the public.