I invite you to imagine this situation: there is an almost-full concert hall with dozens of people attending. On the platform, a full orchestra tuning on A440Hz, preparing for the performance. You are there on the side, behind the stage door. You feel nervous and excited at the same time, but you know you have been preparing for this moment. Your fingers are shaking, your heart is beating faster, and your body is full of adrenaline. The orchestra finishes to tune, and now it is your time to enter with the orchestra conductor. The lights are pointing at you, and after being received in applause and bowing to the public, when the conductor raises his hands to start, you know your time to shine and show your talent has come. That is what the soloists felt last Saturday night at HPAC. The night of the Young Artists!
For some of the students in the music department, the preparation and training starts just the semester before; for others, it takes even years of preparation and practice to achieve this musical goal. Either way, the Young Artist competition is not easy to travel to. Those who wanted to perform as soloists accompanied by the orchestra had to prepare one movement (or a selection of pieces) for their instrument with orchestral accompaniment. For the competition, a piano accompanist would play that orchestral part, so both the pianist and the soloist had to prepare and rehearse together. The soloists gave their best, and from the participants, eight winners were chosen—five for the main concert and three to be set to perform at future orchestra concerts. As someone who participated in the competition, I experienced all the effort, strength, and dedication needed to participate and perform.
And while it seems that, after the competition, it is done and you are ready to play, the soloists still had to practice more to improve their performances. They also had to dedicate extra time to rehearse with the orchestra to match the timings, the dynamics, and the feeling to be communicated to the audience. All of this to prepare for one of the most important nights of their lives! What an adventure it is to be a Young Artist winner!
That night, the audience heard a high-quality selection of pieces by Beethoven, Debussy, Dvořák, Bizet, and Brahms. Starting with the Piano Concerto no. 1 in C Major by Beethoven, the piano soloist Carlos Lugo (junior, music performance piano) mentioned to me that this concert represents “a new beginning” and “happiness.” He described the piece as majestic and brilliant. His playing of the cadenza (a part of the piece for solo piano, without orchestra) left many people shocked–in a good way–even the orchestra members. After him, Jason Marquez (senior, music performance clarinet) performed the “Premiere Rhapsody” for Clarinet and Orchestra by Debussy, which was a combination of colors and characters not common in classical music, but that created such a magical journey full of light and energy. To finish off this program's first half, Jamison Moore (senior, music performance cello) played Dvořák’s Concert in B minor for Cello and Orchestra with astonishing technique. Jamison told me that, among the few pieces of classical music he likes nowadays, this piece in particular called to him the most, so he was more than willing to learn and perform it.
After the intermission, the room was thrumming with energy when Davielle Smith (junior, music performance voice and mathematics) came out in a beautiful green dress to perform Bizet’s extracts from the opera "Carmen". She interpreted Carmen, the protagonist, and her friends Elsie Mokaya (graduate, music performance voice) and Taznir Smalling (junior, business) filled the roles of Frasquita and Mercédès. Their voices filled the hall with brilliance and an expressive demonstration of the lyrics since they are in French and not English. Finally, to conclude such a wonderful night, a tall guy in red pants (which means he was really serious about his performance) came onto the stage. It was none other than Simon Luke Brown (senior, music performance violin), a violinist known around campus for his eccentric style, who took the challenge to perform Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D minor, a piece known for its length and complexity. Simon also described the piece as a work that “has many things to say, but also it says it in various ways.” The performance amazed the audience, giving the night such a shining ending. In the end, all soloists came to bow to the public as a sign of gratitude.
All the performers, soloists, and orchestra members were exhausted but very satisfied with the concert. Dr. Élysée, the conductor of the Orchestra, mentioned that “the soloists were able to demonstrate they can represent not only AU’s talent but also to represent their own abilities as artists.” Everybody was really pleased with what they could see and hear, and the night ended with excitement to see what would be the next steps of those promising artists. From the Student Movement, we wish the musicians all the best in their future endeavors, and we hope to see them succeed in their careers!
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.