Student musicians will take the stage tomorrow night for the annual Concerto Competition, in which a panel of judges evaluates solo performers.
Each performer went through a long preparation process, practicing the piece over and over to fix the most meticulous things. Performers not only prepared for weeks leading up to the competition, but weeks leading up to the audition that took place on Oct. 7. Twenty auditioned, and nine made it into the competition. Now just three will be winners.
Similar to a sports tryout, being in the audition room is a very stressful experience as all of these top musicians wanted to impress the judges and perform their best.
For this year’s final round, there are three string players, two pianists, one vocalist, and four winds performing, with one of the competitors, junior Benjamin Drucker, playing both the piano and the clarinet.
Second-year qualifier on the piano, senior Sasha Giannotti, will perform Schumann Concerto in A-Minor, accompanied by Nyela Basney. The audition went well, she said: “I feel confident playing piano, and I felt natural walking in.”
But after the audition, the mental contradictions started. “After I performed I wasn’t 100% confident because like any musician, I was hard on myself and had higher expectations than what happened,” she said. Yet on the walk home she described how “I got into a positive mindset, focusing on the parts I know I played well.”
Gianotti recognized the support she has received from her piano teacher, Jeffery Capelli, “who has been really helpful, giving me interesting ideas about how to play with focus, bringing out the melody, phrasing, tone, dynamics, tempo changes etc.,” she said. “I wouldn’t get that from just listening to a recording.”
She also discussed how “working with my teacher on this piece has helped me shape my own artistic voice instead of initiating others.”
The judges for the audition, who are also teachers at the school, had to work hard to be objective, according to Patrick Pearson, OPRF’s orchestra director and audition holder for the first round. “Because we (the music department faculty) know the students, we really have to hyperfocus on that student’s performance at that given time, blocking out any other factors,” he said.
To promote objectivity, the school will hire judges who don’t work at OPRF at the final round tomorrow night in the auditorium at 7 p.m. The performance is free and open to the public.
