Concerto Competition Winners Announced
By Ashley Jiang, Anna Kim, CJ Smith, and Sophia Turner
On Sunday Feb. 6, eleven student soloists— seniors Oscair Page, Sava Thurber, and Alana Reale, uppers Minseo Kim, Jesalina Phan, Hannah Rubin, and Isabella Vesely, as well as lowers Aden Lee, William Lu, Cee McClave, and Jane Park— performed a dazzling array of pieces and displayed their meticulous preparation and virtuosity.
After a brief deliberation of the panel of three outside judges from the New England Conservatory— Gabriela Diaz, Joshua Gordon, and Randall Hodgkinson, Rubin, who enticed the audience with her first movement Allegramente of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, was announced the winner of the 2022 Concerto Competition. McClave and Park also received honorable mentions for their performances.
Rubin reflected on her experience and growth during the competition: “I was trying to get into the music as much as possible and enjoy it. I guess I have a tendency sometimes to overthink things while I’m performing, but I think it’s getting better with each performance,” she said. “I think especially towards the end, I was able to enjoy it and I had a lot of fun overall.”
Instructor of Music Rohan Smith shared the importance of this competition. “Compared to playing by yourself, for example sonatas and shorter pieces, a concerto is the largest scale performing opportunity that an instrumentalist will often ever have. And the concerto repertoire across the several hundred years that concertos have been written and are still being written is tremendously ambitious musically.”
The Concerto Competition has two rounds— the preliminary and the final live performance. “The preliminary round is a screening of the contestants to be sure that they are ready for the exposure of the competition. It’s just to be sure that they have got the piece to the level where they can perform and do themselves proud,” Smith said. “This year, the screening round brought forward 11 very capable performers who were very well qualified to participate.”
Smith also explained the process of selecting judges for this competition. “We reached out to professional musicians who are established and distinguished performers in their field, and we try to ensure a balanced selection of representatives of the different instrumental groups that are performing in the competition,” Smith said.
Contestants shared their reasons for participating. “It’s a great opportunity to put myself out there, really get myself out of my comfort zone, it’s a good way for me to put some external pressure on myself and …. That kind of pressure of the competition brings out my best work,” Lu said.
“It’s fun to have a healthy competition with other folks, especially [when] it’s a competition within the school, because I know all the other competitors, and we are all [somewhat] close, so it can be fun to see who ends up on top,” Thurber said.
Rubin planned to participate in the competition even before attending Exeter. “When I was in 8th grade applying to Exeter, I came to watch the Concerto Competition, in Feb. 2019, and I was really amazed and inspired because I had never seen people only a couple years older, playing such beautiful and difficult repertoire,” Rubin said. “So I promised myself then that if I came to Exeter, I would perform in the Concerto Competition.”
McClave agreed. “It’s an opportunity to perform and therefore to learn and grow as a musician. It’s also a great way to get feedback from musicians who aren’t your teachers!” McClave said.
Contestants also addressed the mental obstacles that accompany the prestigious competition. “The most challenging part of performing, for me, is knowing that I have one chance,” Thurber said. “It can be really frustrating knowing that you put in so much work, and [the piece] didn’t come out the way that you had hoped.”
“[It can be tough] knowing that people are critiquing you actively, and oftentimes the critiques are really good and really helpful, which is why I like competing, but it’s important to know to put them in context,” Thurber continued.
Park agreed. “[The competition] was hard at times cause I felt the pressure and I don’t really perform well under pressure,” she said. “[But] it’ll be fun to play with an orchestra [eventually], especially with my friends.”
“When we think about competition, we think about toxicity sometimes, but … music is a lot about self improvement, it’s not about comparison,” Lu added. “[The competition] is a great venue for ‘kiddos’ who are passionate about music to share that passion.”
Rubin expanded on her goals for the competition: “It’s not really about winning. It’s just about having a better relationship with the music that you play in and with the composer and with yourself. And at first that was hard to accept, but I think now I’m content with where I am,” Rubin said.
Preparing for the competition is a long and painstaking process, which involves more than simply playing the piece. Page outlined his preparation process for the competition. “I’ve been working on my performance piece for a couple of months now with help from my teacher in private lessons. I generally try to practice for an hour or two every day and I’ve recently been focusing on refining some of the more difficult passages and memorizing the music.”
“I started working on my concerto at the beginning of the term. I listened to recordings, practiced with a metronome, all the usual methods for getting familiar with a piece. Once I was comfortable with the notes and rhythms my teacher and I focused on making my playing as expressive as possible,” McClave added.
Other contestants expressed similar sentiments: “It’s a lot of work practicing slowly by yourself, making sure you know every note and thinking very critically about the interpretation, the phrasing, and the sound quality,” Thurber said.
“It’s very important that you know how to perform— not just that you know the notes, but your stage presence— and how to interact with the audience,” Thurber continued. “In my practice, I try to simulate what it’s like to perform, [so] I play through a piece, from start to finish without stopping, which is what I’ll do in a concert.”
Members of the audience were wowed at the artistry of the performers. Prep Henry Xue attended the concert. He said, “Knowing all of the performers put their heart into these pieces, it was amazing to see all the musicians show out,” he continued. “Jane’s performance was out of this world beautiful and Hannah’s touch on the piano was incredibly elegant. As a musician myself, I found inspiration from the performances.”
Prep Catherine Chen explained her reaction to the concert. “I think it was the most exciting concert I’ve gone to yet at the school. And I’ve gone to almost every single one.”
Smith reflected on the competition. “I feel so heartened by the dedication and enthusiasm of these students who are just so daring and committed to playing music. There was a quite famous quote by the composer Bela Bartok who said that competitions are for horses, not artists. Judging musical performance is a very subjective thing, because it involves so many things that are artistic considerations and can’t be measured,” Smith said. “So, we are looking at the whole person and how they bring their musical and emotional selves to performing on their instruments. I just love hearing the amazing possibility and potential that comes out when we hear these performers.”
The Concerto Competition illustrated the extent of passion and dedication students have for music at Exeter. On February 6, Hannah Rubin ’23 was announced as the winner of the competition, with Cee McClave ‘24 and Jane Park ‘24 as runners up.
Rubin described what it felt like to win: “I was happy with my performance and I didn’t really have any expectations, so I was happy that I had won, but I was also really, really surprised,” she said.
As the winner of the concerto competition, Rubin also looks forward to performing in the spring term accompanied by the orchestra, “I guess it’s just being part of something larger than yourself. That seems really exciting to me,” Rubin concluded.
