Composing the Future

At the age of two, Otto Ehling began taking classical piano lessons. He admits that in the beginning, this was more of a chore than a something he enjoyed, but as he got older he began to appreciate the opportunities his talent could provide and the value of being able to express himself through music.

Now a junior at UNLV in the music department, Otto is a recipient of a Liberace Foundation Scholarship and the Holly and Ben Barton Scholarship, and he is a member of UNLV's Liberace Jazz Quartet. 

"It's a big help to have this scholarship, and I'm really thankful for it," says Otto. He notes that without it, he would have a much more difficult time financing his education and would have less time for practice and performance.

The scholarship offerings available in the College of Fine Arts help the department attract top student musicians like Otto. 

The Liberace Jazz Quartet performs at numerous campus and community events and also competes in several music competitions.  Otto says these performance opportunities are good experience for him as a college student.

The jazz competitions are also a valuable aspect of the program. "It gives me the experience of working with my teammates and learning a lot more about jazz," says Otto.

The faculty of the music department are very involved with training the students and helping them enhance their practice skills and work toward their goals. For Otto, that goal is to become a composer. 

"My whole life I've wanted to write music," says Otto. "It's already starting to happen with the Liberace group.  We're getting a lot of opportunities to write music. We have such a diverse group that we all have different ideas; it's really awesome to be working with such a great group."