University of Alabama at Birmingham
The Alabama Music Teachers Association named Mary Elisa Wagner the winner in the prestigious College Concerto category, and she will now perform at the AMTA state conference. piano student Mary Elisa Wagner was named a winner in Alabama Music Teachers Association State Concerto auditions in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, April 29. As a winner, she will perform the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto at the AMTA state conference in June.
Wagner, 20, of Birmingham, is a rising senior at UAB, majoring in biology and minoring in music and chemistry in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences and in the Honors College’s University Honors Program. She graduated from The Altamont School in 2020.
Wagner studies piano with Department of Music Distinguished Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman, DMA. Kasman played and will play the orchestra part for Wagner during her performances.
“Our piano students have often won AMTA Concerto auditions, but this year was special,” Kasman said. “We have returned to in-person auditions after three years of online recording submissions, and that felt amazing. Also, this year only one of our students competed in that prestigious College Concerto category, and she won. We are very proud of her achievement, and we are looking forward to performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Concerto, first movement, at the AMTA State Conference, which is a great honor and a great exposure for UAB Music.”
Before college, Wagner studied piano for 11 years with Tatiana Kasman, adjunct faculty in the Department of Music and wife of Yakov Kasman.
“I chose to study science at UAB to prepare for a career in the health care field,” Wagner said. “And having taken piano from Mrs. Kasman since I was 7, I knew I wanted to continue my musical journey from Dr. Yakov Kasman at UAB. Over the years, I have been a state winner in piano solo and concerto competitions at the pre-college and college levels. I have established a small piano studio on the side, and I enjoy teaching very much.”
At the UAB Department of Music’s recent spring semester honors recital and award presentation, Wagner played “Forgotten Melodies Op 39: IV, Canzon Matinata” by Nikolai Medtner and was awarded Best Piano Student for being “hardworking, dedicated and talented.” Days later, she performed a junior recital at UAB, which Kasman said is not required of minors but that “Mary Elisa’s junior recital is a business of love and passion for music, which is a beautiful thing.”