On May 6th, 2023, Eli Parrish received the John and Mary Virginia Foncannon Award for Conducting/Coaching provided through the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation and Music Honor Fraternity. This annual award is provided to one recipient from an international pool of undergraduate students, masters students, PHD students, post-doctorate students, and alumni of Mu Phi Epsilon. The recipient of the Foncannon Conducting/Coaching award is selected by the president of the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation, and the award’s endowment remains as one of the highest monetary values of their vast array of scholarships.

The funding provided by the Foncannon award will support his honors composition-performance hybrid recital entitled “Unifying Principles of Performance and Compositional Intent,” to be held in Emerson Hall, spring 2024. As a capstone of his musical endeavors at Emory, this recital will feature Eli performing solo clarinet repertoire by Leonard Bernstein, originally composed chamber music that he will both play and conduct, and self-conducted original compositions for symphony orchestra featuring members of EUSO, EWE, Emory alumni, and the Emory Young Peoples’ Concert Orchestra, an orchestral ensemble he conducts each semester. 

The overarching purpose of this recital is to identify a collection of musical principles that intertwine musical notation, instrumental performance, and conducting practice to further translate a composer’s artistic intent to both performers and audience members. 

He thanks his fellow Mu Phi executive board members as well as his conducting mentor Dr. Paul Bhasin and composition mentor Dr. Davor Vincze during this application process.