Cambria Butcher named winner of Presser Scholarship at Nebraska’s Glenn Korff School of Music

Cambria Butcher
Cambria Butcher

Cambria Butcher named winner of Presser Scholarship at Nebraska’s Glenn Korff School of Music

calendar icon28 Apr 2017    

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music’s Cambria Butcher has been named the winner of the Presser Scholarship given by The Presser Foundation.

The most prestigious award given to an undergraduate student in the Glenn Korff School of Music is the Presser Scholarship. Each year, the Presser Foundation makes a grant to Nebraska to be given to an outstanding music major at or after the end of their junior year.  This student, selected by a vote of the Glenn Korff School of Music faculty, is to be designated as our “Presser Scholar.”  This national honor, which includes a cash award, is intended to recognize outstanding and meritorious achievement in music. 

Recent Presser Scholar winners include, 2013-14 – Nathaniel Sullivan, 2014-15 – John Kosch, and 2015-16 – Kathleen Johnson. Click here for more past winners

Glenn Korff School of Music Assistant Professor of Composition Tom Larson said of Butcher, "I took on Cambria as a composition student in the fall of 2015. She was relatively new to composing at the time, and didn’t have a lot written. Over the last four semesters her output has increased dramatically as she has begun to find her voice, and I’m very proud of her achievements as a composer. Cambria is also a fantastic student and role model for the Glenn Korff School of Music community. She sheds sunshine wherever she goes. She is always “in the moment,” whether in a classroom setting or a private lesson. I have not yet seen a student that is more organized. She sets goals and accomplishes them. She is also a risk-taker, willing to try new ideas and jump into learning new technologies. All in all, Cambria Butcher is very deserving to be named a Presser Scholar for 2017!"

Butcher is an undergraduate student of Music Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She spent several years pursuing studies in music composition and now devotes her time to music education and digital music composition, such as film scoring. She is a graduate of Seton Home Study School. Cambria has a wide variety of musical interests, including Gregorian chant and choral music from the Renaissance, as well as film scoring, audio recording and production, playing the piano, and recently, learning the ukulele. In May 2016, Cambria won a “Nebby” award from the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film for “Best Soundtrack” on a collaborative Capstone Project with a UNL senior animation student. Last Fall (2016), she collaborated with UNL professor and director Wesley Broulik to compose original music for the University Theater’s production of Hamlet. Most recently in Spring of 2017, she has collaborated with choreographers and dancers from the UNL Dance Department to set an original composition in motion on stage. She looks forward to more collaborations with students and professors in both the Johnny Carson School and the Glenn Korff School of Music.

The Presser Foundation was established in 1939 under the Deeds of Trust and Will of the late Theodore Presser. It is one of the few private foundations in the United States dedicated solely to music education and music philanthropy. The Presser Foundation supports music performance and education through undergraduate and graduate scholar awards, operating and program support for music organizations, capital grants for music building projects, and assistance to retired music teachers.  Much of the grant making focus of the Foundation is on organizations and institutions in the 100-mile radius surrounding Center City Philadelphia.  For more information: www.presserfoundation.org

The Silmarillion (2017) by Cambria Butcher

Dalton Stout, oboe (b. 1995)

Leah Waldvogel, cello Colleen Carney, piano