WINSTON-SALEM – A high school harpist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) can add an international title to his already-long list of accomplishments. Ian McVoy, an 11^th grade student from Richmond, Va., recently won the International Harp Competition in Mexico City, Mexico.

 McVoy won the advanced division -- the highest level of the competition --  and his prizes include a cash award, an expense-paid entry at the USA International Harp Competition in Bloomington, Ind., this summer, and a solo performance at the Rio de Janeiro International Harp Festival in Brazil in May. The competition was open to harpists up to 35 years of age.

McVoy studies at UNCSA’s School of Music with faculty-artist Jacquelyn Bartlett.

“Ian’s international win is the latest addition to his extraordinary list of accomplishments,” said Dean of Music Wade Weast. “He has done an exceptional job of working for perfection in his technique and musicality, guided by our phenomenal School of Music faculty artists. Harpist Jacquelyn Bartlett is to be commended for her work with Ian, preparing him for the extensive repertoire this competition required.”

McVoy’s other accomplishments include performances for the U.S. State Department, The White House, the Austrian Embassy and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; and Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2010, he completed a performance tour of Austria, and he has performed in opening concerts for the American Harp Society’s Summer Institute and the Mid-Atlantic Harp Festival.

McVoy is the son of Michael and Julie McVoy. Prior to entering UNCSA in 2010, he studied for three years at the Academy of Music in Richmond, Va.

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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