On Monday, January 27th, 2025 there was a concert and competition between musicians and singers in Lehman Auditorium at 7:00pm. There was a nervous energy and excitement felt as the singers started off the event. As each performer took their place and began it became evident that they all had practiced and earned their place upon the stage. By the end of the event there were announced three winners: Miriam Rhodes, Rafael de Tablan, and Naomi Kratzer, with Cassidy Williams being the runner up. Miriam Rhodes performed the first movement of Max Bruch’s “Concerto No. 1 in G Minor” on her violin. Rafael de Tablan performed the second movement of Maurice Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in G Major” on the piano. Finally, Naomia Kratzer performed Evdard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor” on the piano.
After the event was over I asked the winners a few questions.
When asked, “What was going through their minds during the competition?”
Miriam stated, “I was pretty nervous leading up to the performance, but once I got on the stage, I focused on trusting my preparation and trying to be present with the music.”
Naomi stated, “I was surprisingly calm once I got onstage, but I can’t remember very much about what went through my head. I was mostly envisioning the music as it is on the page and remembering key notes, chords, touches, and tempos that I didn’t want to miss. At one point I got the tip of my shoe stuck at the top of the soft pedal, so I worried about that for 5 seconds or so!”
Rafael stated, “Trying to remember all the details that I have learned in the past two semesters was one of the things that was going through my head. It almost felt like I was not in the “autopilot mode,” but when the middle section started, I started to relax a little bit, and then I slowly started to see the reflection of what Maurice Ravel was visualizing through his piano concerto.”
These musicians’ confidence and ability showed through in their performances, no one in the audience would believe that they were nervous before or even during their pieces.
When asked, “How did they feel when they won the competition?”
Miriam stated, “I was surprised that the judges had picked three winners and immediately very excited. A lot of my passion for making music comes from the joy and relationship-building that happens through collaboration with other musicians so I’m super excited for the opportunity to perform this piece with the orchestra and make it come to life together!
Naomi stated, “I was so excited! Miriam and I have bonded over preparing for this concerto for months, so it was a beautiful moment to realize we would continue this journey together. Similarly with Rafael, he and I are the only two piano performance majors, so it was awesome to share that victory on the keys.”
Rafael stated, “I somehow doubted that the adjudicators would pick my performance because I chose to play a slow movement of Ravel’s piano concerto. Also, I personally rooted for the other competitors instead of myself, and I have no shame in doing that because they all did amazing, and they all deserve recognition as well. But it was a shocking moment to realize that we broke the competition — from the usual two winners to three! Realizing that I get to perform with the orchestra for the second time, I teared up, knowing that I will get to share my love and appreciation with the audience, especially to my mom and dad, through music.”
They all worked very hard and deserved all of the praise and recognition for their win. Everyone that was there could feel the emotion in each performance and see the talent of each musician. The entire EMU community wishes these musicians well as they continue to practice for their next concerto on Friday, April 25th. We hope to see these musicians shine bright!
