By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
This weekend a couple dozen of the best teenage pianists in the country will converge on Kobacker Hall on the Bowling Green State University campus for the David D. Dubois Piano Festival and Competition.
They will perform music for solo piano for a small audience panel of judges, fellow pianists, and a few anxious family members. Music lovers from the community are welcome as well and will be rewarded by hearing talent akin to what’s heard on the National Public Radio show “From the Top.”
There won’t be jokes, and endearing stories though. Just music played in the most rigorous setting a musician can encounter.
At stake are cash prizes. The winner receives $3,000, second place $2,000, and third place $1,000. The semifinals will take place Saturday from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m. with the finals Sunday from 9 a.m.to noon. The winners will be announced at 12:30 p.m.
This year the guest pianist will be Spencer Myer. (Christopher O’Riley, host of “From the Top” did the honors in 2012).
Myer performed in many competitions, especially as he was launching his career.
Even when he didn’t get past the first round, he feels he gained from those experiences. He made contacts and was heard. “Things always came from that exposure.”
A competition like the Dubois pushes students to learn a number of pieces, most of them memorized. The Dubois participants prepare programs 20 to 30 minutes long. They must select pieces from three of four musical eras, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary, including at least one classical sonata. All music written before 1945 must be memorized.
“Also I gained a lot of performance experience under very high level of pressure,” Myer said. More tension than a normal performance. “Just having that jury adds that huge element of pressure.”
His experience as a juror has also been “revealing in terms of how one musician to the next can really have the absolute opposite opinion.” An interpretation that’s blatantly wrong for one juror may be just what makes a performance special for another, he said.
As in football, competitions have an element of “any given Sunday.”
As BGSU Professor Laura Melton, who has coordinated the festival since its inception, has said, on another day any of the best competitors could come out on top.
“That’s what makes art wonderful,” Myer said, “that it is subjective.”
Not that makes it any easier on the competitors or their families. “It is hard on the parent,” Myer said.
He suspects his mother is still bitter that he wasn’t named the winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, though, Myer said, “I’ve long gotten over it.”
Competitions “have proven to be a great vehicle for giving young people performance opportunities.”
For listeners they’re a way to discover new talent and hear great piano playing.
Also as part of his residency Myer will perform a concert Saturday at 8 p.m., also in Kobacker. Tickets are $10. (See story http://bgindependentmedia.org/2016/02/07/globe-trotting-pianist-spencer-myer-visits-familiar-ground-in-bowling-green/)
And he will give a master class with BGSU students on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Bryan Recital Hall.
“I always try to bring a balance of the musical aspect and the technical aspect,” said Myer. “I find that the student always reacts very positively if you make some technical change that really helps them. So much of the struggles that young students go through to bring their musical ideas forward are technical. They have trouble with a passage, so it doesn’t sound as they want it to.”
Given at a master class the teacher only has a half hour or less, “you really have to hone in on the main points students really need.”
And, he said, “you have to recognize it’s an education for the audience as well.”
Pianists selected as semifinalists for the 2016 Dubois Competition are:
Yung-Yi Chen, Interlochen, Michigan (Interlochen Arts Academy)
Chris Chengshi, Allison Park, Pennsylvania Heather Gu, Troy, Michigan
Isabelle Lian, Novi, Michigan
Eric Lin, Falls Church, Virginia
Catherina Lu, Northville, Michigan
Maggie Ma, Brooklyn, New York
Logan Maccariella, Maumee, Ohio
Abhik Mazumder, Columbus, Ohio
Poom Pipatjarasgit, Sylvania, Ohio
Alexandra Rice, St. Louis, Missouri
Laylo Rikhsieva, Interlochen, Michigan (Interlochen Arts Academy)
George Shum, Broadview Heights, Ohio
Andrew Sung, Lorba Linda, California
Henry Tang, Brooklyn, New York
Taylor Wang, Centerville, Ohio
Ji Hoon Woo, Broadview Heights, Ohio
Baiheng Wu, Rochester, New York (China)
Carolyn Wu, Northville, Michigan
Yuhao Xie, Rochester, New York (China)
Tiffany Wu, Sandy, Utah
Minyi Zhang, Interlochen, Michigan (Interlochen Arts Academy)
Shuheng Zhang, Canton, Michigan
John Zhao, Midvale, Utah
Joshua Zhen, Canton, Michigan
Alien Zhang, Interlochen, Michigan (Interlochen Arts Academy)
