Two pre-college students of Wartburg College music professor Dr. Suzanne Torkelson earned first-place honors in a statewide piano competition.

Ashley Fruhling of Marion won the senior competition and Harrison Sheckler of Charles City took top honors in the junior division of the Terrace Hill Endowment for Musical Arts Piano Competition, held in February at the Iowa Public Television studio in Johnston.

A performance by the three senior finalists, including Fruhling, will air on IPTV Monday, April 16, at 8 p.m.

Fruhling received the First Lady of Iowa Scholarship, which will go toward the study of music at an Iowa college or university. A senior at Linn-Mar High School, she is the daughter of Wartburg alumni the Rev. Perry and Marlys (Olson) Fruhling, who have longtime ties with Torkelson.

“Marlys studied piano with me as my first high school student during my three-year employment near Spencer,” Torkelson said. “Then she attended Wartburg as a music therapy major.”

Fruhling has studied piano for a total of 11 years, including four years with Torkelson. She will continue her studies in the fall as a piano and viola major.

Sheckler, along with Joshua Chen of Iowa City, received the opportunity to participate in a master class led by the two judges immediately following the performance. A home-schooled sophomore, Harrison is the son of Dr. Kent and Ellen Chabot Sheckler. He has studied piano with Torkelson for five years and also studies violin with Dr. Daniel Kaplunas, assistant professor of music at Wartburg, and performs with the Wartburg Chamber Orchestra.

The THEMA Piano Competition began in 1986 as a tribute to Iowa’s young musical talent. The endowment principal was initially created with private donations remaining after the reconditioning of a 1901 Steinway piano which now resides in the music room in Terrace Hill, the governor’s official residence.

Two fundraising concerts have enhanced the endowment, including one in 1996 by Simon Estes, now a distinguished professor and artist in residence at Wartburg.

To learn more about THEMA visit www.terracehillpianocompetition.org.