Josie DiPhilippo, graduate student of Laura Kargul in piano performance, won the Hanna Powell Memorial Piano Competition held at the Sanford Performing Arts Center on February 12, 2023. This is the second time the statewide annual competition has been held, and another Kargul student was named the winner – last year was Oren Lucerne Varess. First prize is $2,000. Josie holds an Augur Talent Scholarship and a graduate assistantship in piano accompaniment. She is a three-time winner of the Osher School of Music (OSOM) biennial concerto competition and has also won the OSOM Honors Recital auditions three times. She was the featured solo pianist at the OSOM gala in December and is currently serving as the pianist for the University of Southern Maine’s musical theater production of “Into the Woods“, showing March 3-10, 2023 at Russell Hall in Gorham.