CWU Student Wins 'The Conti Connection'

May 14, 2004

Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/e-mail: loweryr@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash.-- Incoming Central Washington University music graduate student Alexander LaFollett has received the break of a lifetime. LaFollett, 18, from Forest Grove, Ore., yesterday was named co-winner of the Oregon Symphony's "The Conti Connection" competition.

The contest, for aspiring songwriters and composers, offered a top prize of spending a day with Oscar-winning composer, songwriter and conductor Bill Conti, probably best known for the "Rocky" theme "Gonna Fly Now" and James Bond's "For Your Eyes Only."

Next Tuesday, May 18, LaFollett will spend a day in Hollywood with the 62-year-old Conti visiting Paramount Studios, observing a working studio session at Capitol Records, attending the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Pop Awards and being introduced to some of Conti's key contacts in the music industry.

Judging was based on the work's musical integrity and marketability. The finalists' materials were reviewed by Conti, who made the winners' selection of LaFollett and Kevin Lax, a music student at the University of Southern California, based on their potential for success in Hollywood.

LaFollett, a cellist as well as a composer, will enroll at Central as a graduate student in music next fall. He will also serve as a teaching assistant in the music department. A music prodigy, he actually started college when he was just 12 years old, graduating at 17.

In his application letter to Central, he noted the university "offers interaction between students and faculty, which can only lead to a stronger base on which to develop during my academic studies at CWU... The university itself shows that it values music, not only in the selection of its faculty, but also in its financial support of the program and its specific needs to be a first-class music program on the West Coast."