March 26, 2021
Winners of the 2021 Spring Concerto Competition
Congratulations to the winners of this year鈥檚 Spring Concerto Competition, which took place on Wednesday, March 17 in Kulas Hall.
Doctoral piano student Jacob Bernhardt (Pontremoli/Jones) and undergraduate viola student Alyssa Warcup (Irvine) will both perform their chosen concerti with the xxxx视频 Orchestra during the 2021-22 academic year, under the direction of a special guest conductor.
When asked about their initial reactions to hearing the good news, both students expressed feeling a great joy and an overwhelming gratification that came with seeing their hard work pay off. 鈥淚t was also rewarding,鈥 Bernhardt said, 鈥渂ecause it has been a lot of hard work and my teachers have invested lots of time into me as I learned the piece.
For the competition, Bernhardt performed Prokofiev鈥檚 Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 26. 鈥淚 love Prokofiev's orchestration and can't wait to hear it up close,鈥 Bernhardt said.
Warcup also expressed a great excitement about performing her selected work, Schnittke鈥檚 Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, with the xxxx视频 Orchestra in the fall semester.
鈥淧laying the Schnittke Concerto is exhilarating, and I am looking forward to performing it with the full scope of colors that the orchestra has to offer,鈥 Warcup said. 鈥淧erforming alongside my good friends and colleagues in the xxxx视频 Orchestra is the perfect ending to my undergraduate experience.鈥
Faculty members Mary Schiller (voice), Todd Wilson (organ) and Sam Bivens (music theory), along with Cleveland Orchestra principal horn player Nathaniel Silberschlag, served as competition jurists.
Written by first-year master鈥檚 student Abigayle Williams, who studies with Mary Schiller.