Concerto Competition

Spotlights blazed, eighty pairs of eyes focused on the piano at the center of the Bowld stage. Upper Adar Tulloch adjusted his posture, placed his hands on the keys and allowed the music to guide his way.

On Sunday, Feb. 11, Exeter hosted its annual Concerto Competition, which gave nine advanced instrumentalists the chance to play in front of a panel of three judges and compete for  the opportunity to play with the Symphony Orchestra in the spring term. “The opportunity to play a concerto with the Symphony Orchestra is a rare opportunity indeed. You won’t get more than a couple times in your life, if you’re lucky,” said Peter Schultz, Chair of  the Music Department.

“[They’ve] learned so much about themselves and about music and their instruments in the process,” he said. “They’re basically like electrons in an atom. They’ve jumped their playing to a higher musical level as well.”

The three judges had no affiliation with Exeter, for objective judgment of each student’s performance. Recruited by Schultz, the judges represented a variety of professional musical backgrounds and instruments, including string instruments, wind instruments and the piano.

This is not the first time Exeter has hosted such a competition. According to Schultz, the competition from his early days at Exeter was quite different from now. “We used to have multiple winners—too many for the orchestra to accommodate comfortably,” he said. Inspired by other concerto competitions that he knew of, Schultz completely remodeled the program to provide more structure and increase the element of competition. Schultz has helped the competition evolve to what it is now, where only one winner can receive the amazing opportunity to play with the Symphony Orchestra.

Over the last few months, the competitors have been putting in their best effort to prepare for the contest. Some instrumentalists caught news of the competition before winter term began and dedicated a large amount of time from their busy schedule to prepare for the performance. “I’ve known about this competition [since] the beginning of fall term [and] I’ve started practicing my piece since the beginning of summer,” lower Nathan Sun said.

Some musicians had an even longer preparation process. Tulloch mentioned how he has been preparing his piano piece for almost a full year. Looking ahead to the competition, Tulloch expressed his excitement for the performances and hoped that the competition will spread awareness of musical talent within the community. “I think of it more as a performance instead of an actual competition because I don’t think we should play to be judged. We should play to just play for other people to [let them] hear the goodness of our music,” Tulloch said. 

Lower Penny Brant agreed with Tulloch. “Being able to take something that I’ve been preparing for so long and finally being able to show it to others—I think that’s really the part I enjoy the most,” she said. 

After months of hard work, the musicians were finally able to showcase their talent to the community. Because of the extraordinary level of skill shown, for the first time ever, the judges were unable to make a unanimous decision and awarded both uppers, pianist Adar Tulloch and marimba player Ji Yoon Ahn, the esteemed opportunity to play with the Symphony Orchestra. Ahn and Tulloch were officially named the winners of the 2018 Phillips Exeter Concerto Competition. With his graceful playing of “Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61” on the violin, lower Dacha Thurber was awarded an honorable mention.

Schultz distinguished the difference being a winner and walking away with the prize. He noted how each performance required “tremendous preparation, courage and musicianship” and, for that, the performers had already earned his respect. Reflecting on the competition, Schultz congratulated all of the participants. “[They’ve] learned so much about themselves and about music and their instruments in the process,” he said. “They’re basically like electrons in an atom. They’ve jumped their playing to a higher musical level as well.”