CNYAMT 2023 COMPETITION WINNERS
perform at The Oaks at Menorah Park on 7/16/2023 and The Nottingham on 7/20/2023!
Seven winners of CNYAMT competitions were able to fit into their busy summer schedules some time to play a recital for The Oaks broader Jewish community on Sunday, July 16th, 2023 at The Oaks at Menorah Park in Dewitt and for The Nottingham retirement community on July 20th, 2023. Five winners performed 75-90 minutes of challenging music for each of the concerts.
Daniel Yang (student of Peter Rovit), the youngest at age 11, opened both concerts with some virtuosic violin playing of the Bach Partita for Violin No. 2, Giga, and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3, Rondeau. He returned near the end of both programs with a Fritz Kreisler piece that was very well received by both audiences. Cousins Max Clark, bass (Spencer Phillips), and Colin Chin, cello (Pam Devenport and Elizabeth Simkin), made their strings sing as The Oaks program continued, and, of course, when the bass played, everyone smiled. Colin performed the Lalo Cello Concerto in D minor and Max held forth with incredible harmonics in the Keyper Romance and Rondo for Double Bass. Frank Wang, saxophone (Kathy Freer), played a colorful Tableaux de Provence (Pictures of Provence) by Paule Maurice made up of five very interesting, colorful, varied and challenging musical portraits. Between Colin's and Max’s segments, Madalynn Hilt, soprano (Gayle Ross), sang a short Vaccai piece followed by a rendition of Mozart’s challenging aria, Ach, Ich fühls, from “The Magic Flute”. She returned to finish The Oaks bill of fare with a lovely aria from Kurt Weill’s opera, "Street Scene” titled What good would the moon be and the always loved Earnest Charles song, Let My Song Fill Your Heart. There were just over 50 in the audience which showed their appreciation warmly for these fine artists and the interesting and varied program they provided. As part of this post competition experience, the artists were encouraged to introduce themselves to the audience and share something of interest about their repertoire choices. They showed a notable increase in audience communication skills over the course of the two concerts.
Daniel, Frank, and Maddy took part in The Nottingham concert and were abetted by Sean Alvaro, trombone (David Digennaro) and Elijah Gebers, bass. Sean played a short a cappella Bernstein piece written in memory of a friend’s cat titled Elegy for Mippy II and followed it with Saint-Saëns Cavatine. He returned later in the program to perform a very challenging work, Sonatina, by Kazimierz Serocki. Elijah started his early segment with Mozart’s Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from the “Magic Flute” and Verdi’s Come dal ciel precipita from “Macbeth”. He ended the concert with another “Street Scene” aria, Let things be like they always was and the poignant “Coat Aria” from Puccini’s “La Boheme”. There were 60 in attendance at The Nottingham. They were a very discerning audience and gave our artists enthusiastic and appreciative applause.
Frank and Elijah are off to Eastman in the fall. Sean will attend SU. Colin, Max, and Maddy will be seniors in high school next year, and Daniel will begin sixth grade.
All young artists had a rehearsal with Sabine Krantz some days before their performance. Sabine, as per usual, was attentive to their physical, emotional, and musical needs. Some of the music required extra rehearsal, which she ensured took place. We are extremely fortunate to have her and the other collaborative pianists with whom we work support our endeavors with their wisdom and skills. Our students’ experiences are much enhanced with these high level performance experiences that have them providing a rock solid foundation. Because both venues were able to pay for the programs, the income covered the collaborative piano expenses. This was a win/win/win for all concerned!
