Playing as a soloist with an orchestra is a unique experience that many musicians dream of, but opportunities to make this dream a reality are few. Luckily enough for the music majors and minors at ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University, this dream has been made more achievable thanks to the ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University Department of Music’s annual Young Artist Competition, which allows winners the opportunity to perform in concerts accompanied by the orchestra. Four of the winners of last year’s competition played with the orchestra at the Howard Performing Arts Center on the night of Saturday, Feb. 8. I had the chance to talk with the three pianists who played that night about their experiences.
One of these pianists, Jonathan Clough (sophomore, mathematics and vocal performance), said that this was his first time being accompanied by an orchestra.
“I’ve been playing in bands and singing in choirs for a while, but it’s a completely different experience to solo with an ensemble instead of playing inside,” he said.
Although Clough is mainly a voice student, in this concert he played his second instrument, the piano.
For Jonathan Watson (graduate student, music), his performance on Saturday evening was also his first time playing accompanied by an orchestra. Watson described it as “nerve-racking and exhilarating.”
“Although I was nervous, I felt secure in practicing the piece that I played and enjoyed the collaboration with the orchestra and the conductor,” he said. “The experience was simultaneously awesome and humbling!”
Clough played the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, and Watson played the second movement of Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, nicknamed “The Egyptian.”
However, unlike Clough and Watson, this was Carlos Lugo’s (senior, piano performance) second win at the Young Artist Competition. He played previously in 2023, performing the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major. For this year’s concert, he performed the first movement of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor. Playing this piece was a dream that he had since he was a teenager—he encountered the piece for the first time at the age of 13. His favorite part was “sending the message to the audience, feeding people’s hearts,” and he was more than excited to make his dream come true.
All of the soloists expressed their commitment to their instruments, spending several hours of practice each week. “I practiced the music until it was second nature to me,” said Watson, while Clough noted that "Beethoven did a great job at notating everything that he wanted to be performed, but sometimes it’s difficult to ensure that you’re remembering all of it!” As for Lugo, he said that “the best part is just thinking of what each melody means in terms of storytelling.”
The soloists’ detail-oriented mentality and their passion for what they played brought them to the stage. Despite having less than a month to rehearse with the orchestra, everyone involved made it work—including Professor Marc Élysée, conductor of the symphony orchestra, and all the orchestra members.
However, before the pianists could begin practicing for their performances, they had to pick a piece that best represented what they wanted to reflect on the audience.
For Clough, it was reflecting the composer’s signature, noting that Beethoven “existed in the classical period and inherited all of the traditions thereof, but he was always experimenting and figuring out how he could take those structures and mold them to express his ideas.” He recommended that “anyone who has never listened to a concerto before” listen to this piano concerto by Beethoven.
On the other hand, Watson chose his piece because hewanted to share his passion for the piece and touch on some of his cultural roots—he has Egyptian heritage through his father.
“My father often listens to beautiful Egyptian music and melodies, so I have some rudimentary knowledge and familiarity with the tonal language of Egyptian music,” he said.
Musical motifs from Egyptian traditions were present in the piece, which Watson enjoyed when playing with the orchestra.
In Lugo’s case, it was recreating the details that made him choose the piece. “Its massive texture and dramatic orchestration called my attention,” he said. “Brahms started thinking of the piece as a sonata for two pianos. Later on, he realized that the texture was too thick to be played only by four hands, so instead, he decided to transform it into a concerto. There is some influence of Beethoven in the writing of the orchestra part as well.” Lugo believed that playing this piece proved he grew as an artist.
People like Clough, Watson and Lugo look forward to sharing more of their passion and musicality with more people, showing that musicians on campus can change the world, opening their hearts one note at a time.
If you want to hear the performances of the remaining young artist winners, the following performances will occur on Feb. 27, 2025, November 2025 and April 2026. For more information, contact the music department at music@andrews.edu.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, ¶·Å£ÆåÅÆ University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.