WADDEN WINS FIRST PRIZE AT MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA YOUNG ARTIST COMPETITION

The competition's first prize was awarded to Nuiko Wadden, performing in the final round of the 49th annual Minnesota Young Artist Competition on Sunday, January, 16, 2005. The 24-year old harpist earned her Masters of Music in 2004 from Rice University as a student of Paula Page. She received the $3,000 Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Award; the $2,250 WAMSO Achievement Award; a performance with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä; a taped performance on McGraw Hill's Young Artist Showcase, WQXR in New York City, and the Erma Strachauer medal.

NUIKO WADDEN, international performer and Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra Competition winner is pursuing her master's degree in harp performance at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, where she studies with Paula Page.

Ms. Wadden is winner of the first prize in the American String Teachers Biennial competition and the Prix Renie from the American Harp Society. This past summer she was the winner of the Ann Adams Competition in Salt Lake City. In Spring of 2002 as winner of the Concerto competition she performed as soloist with the Oberlin Orchestra. In 2002 she was also a featured performer on both Chicago's WFMT and New York's WQXR "Young Artists Showcase"; and presented the world premiere of a contemporary music piece at the World
Harp Congress in Geneva, Switzerland.

She appears frequently in the Chicago area, mostly recently as recitalist at the "Music in the Loft" and with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). Ms. Wadden currently performs as Principal Harp with the Shepherd School Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and as a substitute with the Houston Symphony.