Featuring two strings, one voice, one woodwind, and a piano, this year’s concert cycle promises a well-rounded set of Concerto Competition winning musicians as has not been seen in several years.
The jury selected five of the auditioned musicians, including seniors David Lehe on cello, performing the Antonin Dvorak Cello concerto, and Jacob Martin on Oboe performing Bohuslav Martinů’s Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra, juniors LaRae Ferguson on violin performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, and Soprano Claire Ziegler performing “Kommt Ein Schlanker Bursch Gegangen,” from the opera “Der Freischutz” by Carl Maria von Weber, and sophomore Taylor Flowers performing Edward McDowell’s Piano Concerto No. II in D minor.
The orchestra has shown a great deal of excitement for both the variety of instruments and the prestigious level of the selected pieces for the upcoming concert. For example, a wind instrument has not been selected as winner since the 2010-11 year, when a trumpet soloist was featured.
“I’m excited for all of them,” Ziegler said. “I love the variety of instruments among the winning performers: strings, woodwinds, voice, and piano. There’s something for everyone.”
The first concert, March 6, features Martin, Ferguson, and Ziegler. It will be a flashy show, with prominent showpieces for both the oboe and violin and a playful, taunting aria in German.
“I’ve never played in front of the orchestra before, though I have played extensive solos within it, but I’ve never done anything where I am so in the limelight before,” Martin said. “It’s really frightening, but there hasn’t been a wind since my freshman year, and I don’t even know the last time there was a woodwind –– not since I’ve been here –– so I’m excited.”
Playing a piece by a lesser-known, modern composer, Martin said he is excited to perform one of the oboe’s “few particularly flashy repertoire” and to hear and support in the orchestra the other pieces.
“You really can’t go wrong with any of the solos being played because they’re all by great major composers who write fantastic music,” he said. “I am especially excited for David’s because I have heard he is fantastic and he is playing what is known as the most difficult cello concerto.”
A concerto competition winner for the second year in a row, Ferguson said she looks forward to performing an entirely different type of piece this year that is classical, and a concert cylce which features a strong cross-section of the orchestra.
“I’m really looking forward to performing with the orchestra [as a soloist] again, as it is such a huge privilege,” Ferguson said. “I’m especially excited to have a woodwind this year, as they have been somewhat underrepresented lately, and this concert cycle gives a much rounder representation of our music department.”
tsawyer1@hillsdale.edu
