News Release

Local angles: Banner Elk, Boone, Cary, Raleigh, Winston-Salem; Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Photos: For photos of the Kenan Music Scholars, click on http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/students/kenan/2007/

First four Kenan Music Scholars to study at UNC on full scholarships

CHAPEL HILL – Three instrumentalists and a vocalist are the first recipients of new four-year merit scholarships in music to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The university’s first Kenan Music Scholars, 2007 high school graduates who will enroll in UNC this fall, are Cynthia Burton, a violinist from Banner Elk; Jessica Kunttu, a bassoonist from Cary; Daniel Hammond, a horn player from Raleigh; and Lauren Schultes, a soprano from Grosse Pointe, Mich.

The scholarships, valued at approximately $12,500 each, are funded by a $4 million endowment created last December by the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust of Chapel Hill. The trust also contributed another $4 million for a new UNC music building, now under construction on Columbia Street.

Each scholar also receives $6,000 for the four years, for study abroad, internships, attendance at music events and travel to audition for graduate schools.
 
A committee of music faculty members chose the recipients for their academic excellence and outstanding ability in music. Four new Kenan scholars will be selected annually.

“Our first class of Kenan Music Scholars emerged from intense competition,” said Tim Carter, music department chair and David G. Frey distinguished professor of music in the College of Arts and Sciences. “I am particularly pleased with their geographical spread and range of interests: They reveal just how much musical talent there is across the state of North Carolina and beyond.”

Burton, the daughter of Kathryn and the late Samuel Burton, graduated from Watauga High School in Boone. While in high school, she studied violin and played in the orchestra at Appalachian State University in Boone. She also attended the Governor’s School of North Carolina (West) in Winston-Salem (2005) and traveled to Austria and the Czech Republic for study abroad. Burton was a finalist for a National Merit Scholarship and a member of the National Honor Society.

Kunttu, the daughter of Debbie and Kurt Kunttu, attended Cary High School but graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, where she was a peer tutor and residence hall peer leader. She attended the Governor’s School of North Carolina (West), played in the Triangle Youth Philharmonic and was chosen for the North Carolina Allstate Honors Orchestra. Kunttu has a lively interest in history and the sciences and plans to double-major in music and physics.

Hammond, the son of Donald and Laura Hammond, graduated from Wakefield High School in Raleigh, where he was named outstanding senior. He also was drum major, band president and Web master. He was a concerto soloist with the Triangle Youth Philharmonic and principal horn player with the Allstate Honor Band in 2006. Hammond has won an award in environmental science and a Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology from the University of Rochester (N.Y.)

Schultes, the daughter of John and Karen Schultes, graduated with honors from Grosse Pointe South High School. She studied musicianship in the University of Michigan Youth Program and was a winner in their regional voice competition, participating in the finals in San Francisco in May. Schultes also represented Michigan at the 2007 International Thespian Festival at the University of Nebraska. She has received awards for achievements in French, dance and distributive education.

“This very impressive first class of Kenan Music Scholars represents precisely what the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust anticipated when we established the program,” said Richard M. Krasno, Ph.D., executive director of the trust. “They are an extraordinary group of young men and women with great talent and capacity for benefiting from the broad educational experience ahead of them at UNC.”

The philanthropic family trust was established in 1965 through a bequest of Kenan, a chemist, engineer, industrialist, business executive and farmer. The trust supports education across the United States and has established more than 125 professorships at 56 colleges and universities. Reflecting Kenan’s love of his alma mater, the trust has given generously to UNC-Chapel Hill.

The Kenan family’s ties to Carolina date to 1790, when James Kenan, a member of the state legislature and the university’s first board of trustees, contributed $25 toward construction of Old East, the nation’s first state university building. The William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust has long supported faculty and facilities at Carolina, but the Kenan Music Scholarships represent its most generous gift directed to students.
 
“William R. Kenan Jr.’s three sisters – Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, Sarah Graham Kenan and Jessie Kenan Wise – were all musically talented in singing, piano and organ,” said Thomas S. Kenan III, trustee of the Kenan Trust. (His father, Frank Hawkins Kenan, was a cousin of William’s.) “As we approached the closure of the highly successful Carolina First Campaign, the Kenan Trust felt it fitting to strengthen the cultural life of the university – and what better way than to offer full scholarships to the most talented artists to study here.”

Web sites:
UNC Department of Music: http://music.unc.edu/
Governor’s School of North Carolina: http://www.ncgovschool.org/overview/
North Carolina School of the Arts: http://www.ncarts.edu/
National Merit Scholarships: http://www.nationalmerit.org/

Music department contact: Tim Carter, cartert@email.unc.edu
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339, deereid@unc.edu
News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589