Congratulation Daniel Colaner – 2024 Winner!
Daniel Colaner captured international media attention at the age of 12 with his same-day performances on piano at Carnegie Hall and on organ at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Since then, his talents have been showcased on ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, The Harry (Connick Jr.) Show, and the BBC World Service Newsday. He has been featured on the NPR radio show From the Top (Show #377), performing “Jupiter” from Gustav Holst’s The Planets, and on PBS with the American Pops Orchestra in One Voice: The Songs We Share–The Sacred. In 2023, he made his orchestral debut with Joseph Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra under Carlos Kalmar.
At the age of 16, Daniel was chosen for The Diapason magazine’s “20 Under 30,” a select group of young adults at the forefront of the organ field. He received the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award in 2020 and was named a National YoungArts Finalist with Distinction in 2023. As the winner of an Anthony Quinn Foundation Scholarship, he traveled to France to perform on the great organs of Paris last summer. Daniel has also been the top prize winner in numerous organ competitions, including the Arthur Poister Organ Competition, the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition (HS Division), the National High School Organ Competition, and the L. Cameron Johnson Organ Competition.
As a pianist, Daniel made his Severance Hall debut with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, performing Nikolai Kapustin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and has performed Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Euclid, Lakeland, and Suburban Symphony Orchestras. He has been a laureate of the American Protégé Piano Competition, the Steinway Junior Piano Competition, and The American Prize Lorin Hollander Concerto Competition. An avid chamber musician, he and his Meraki Trio earned 1st Place at the inaugural Glass City Chamber Music Competition and were semi-finalists at the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Daniel’s exposure to classical music as a pediatric cancer survivor unleashed his passion for the piano at age 5 and the organ at age 10. He received his pre-college music education at the Cleveland Institute of Music and as a private student of Dr. David Higgs. A dedicated church musician since the age of 12, he has served as the Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, OH, and for the 2024 RSCM Washington, DC Choral Residency. Daniel is currently a student of Alan Morrison at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Michael Stairs Organ Scholar at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, PA, and an Assistant Grand Court Organist on the Wanamaker organ at Macy’s Center City in Philadelphia.
Previous Winners
Ryan Giraldi
Anne Maria Lim
Katherine Jolliff
Hannah Engwall
Nathan Pennington
Elena Baquerizo
Jeremy Paul Jelinek
Alden Wright
David von Behren
Colin MacKnight
Katelyn Emerson
Amanda Mole
Mary Pan
Kevin Neel
Nicholas Capozzoli
Christopher Howerter
Scott Montgomery
Susan Beisner Powell
Frederick Teardo
$4,000* Award for 2024 (* up to $8,000) – See us next February 2025
A scholarship fund was established in 1998 to honor the life and work of Dr. M. Louise Miller (1914 – 2008), a founding member (1948) of the Greater Bridgeport chapter, and to recognize her great achievements in the fields of church music, organ playing and teaching. In 2015, through a generous gift from the estate of Dr. Paul E. Knox (1930-2015), an esteemed colleague of Dr. Miller and outstanding church musician and teacher, the Greater Bridgeport Chapter of the AGO renamed the scholarship. A $4,000* scholarship will be awarded in July 2024 to an undergraduate student pursuing study in fall 2024 at an American college, conservatory, or university, leading toward a career in organ performance and church music. The winner will also be invited to play a recital in Connecticut for the AGO.
The application process includes writing a short essay and submitting a recording of two standard organ pieces (Bach and Romantic). Application deadline is June 1, 2025.
Click here for the .doc application form and detail instructions (check you Download area for the .doc). Please email lmillerpknoxscholarship@gmail.com the completed form or any other questions.
*The Greater Bridgeport AGO Chapter is also pleased to inform scholarship applicants that John Polo is also the Program Director of the Greenville SC AGO Chapter (Robert & Nancy) Powell Scholarship. Both scholarships have the same criteria and timeline but submitted separately and have separate judges. This is a unique opportunity to win up to $8,000 in scholarships. That application is available at this link.
John J. Polo
Program Director & Treasurer, M. Louise Miller-Paul E. Knox Scholarship Program
Current Judges – Galen Tate, Dr. Alice Caldwell, Dr. Stephen Rapp, Kevin Bailey, Alex Hodgkinson
Former Judges – K. Bryan Kirk, Dr. Paul Knox (In Memory), Dr. John Michniewicz, Rev. Dr. Paul Jacobson, Dr. Heitor Caballero,