Orchestra Concert features Concerto Winners

The Department of Music presents the Denison Symphony Orchestra in concert featuring the student winners of the Concerto-Aria Competition. Directed by Philip Rudd, the concert will showcase Concerto-Aria Competition winners Takuto Kametsu ’25, violin, playing the 1st movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto; and Megan Barker ’25, soprano, singing Song to the Moon from Dvorak’s opera RUSALKA; and Ari Fierer ’23, violin playing the 1st movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.

The Concerto Competition was founded in 2018 by Rudd and is the only competitive opportunity that showcases individual performers, rather than groups, and serves as an important experience for some of our most accomplished music students, many of whom go on to pursue professional music careers.

Eligible singers and instrumentalists apply for the competition with the sponsorship of their private lesson professors. They perform their pieces with piano accompaniment in a live public competition, where one to three winners are then selected each year. Student competition performances are ranked by an outside expert adjudicator. The 2022-23 competition was judged by Columbus-based violist and conductor Joshua Heaphey.