WINSTON-SALEM – Students from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) School of Music won in two categories at the state competition sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), held recently at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Eunea Trio took first place in the chamber music competition. Members are Kait Moreno, a graduate student from Wesley Chapel, Fla., who studies violin with Kevin Lawrence; Shane Rathburn, a college senior from Burnsville who studies saxophone with Taimur Sullivan; and Annah Kim, a graduate student from Raleigh who studies piano with Allison Gagnon. The ensemble is coached by faculty artist Eric Larsen.

In the senior strings competition, violinist Dustin Wilkes-Kim, a high school junior from Winston-Salem, took first place.  Wilkes-Kim previously won the state MTNA junior strings title for four consecutive years. In 2011 he won the Southern Regional MTNA title and was a national finalist. Violinist Maura Shawn Scanlin, a high school senior from Boone, took second place in the senior strings competition.  Both are students of faculty-artist Sarah Johnson.

Another trio coached by faculty artist Dmitri Shteinberg received an honorable mention in the chamber music competition. Its members are violinist Kevin Murphy, a college freshman from Wake Forest, who studies with Kevin Lawrence; clarinet player Andrew O’Donnell, a high school senior from Tampa, Fla., who studies with Oskar Espina-Ruiz; and pianist Clera Ryu, a graduate student from Duluth, Ga., who studies with Shteinberg.

“The success of UNCSA students at competitions like the MTNA is testament to their talent and hard work, and the dedication of our faculty artists in the School of Music,” said Music Dean Wade Weast. “All of our participants are to be congratulated.”

The winners advance to the regional competition in January at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

As America’s first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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