By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Aurora Wang stood out from the field at Sunday’s finals for the Dubois, and not just for her red dress that blazed on the stage of Kobacker Hall. More than her attire, her music lit up the stage.
The Minnesota 17-year-old won first place at the 13th David D. Dubois Festival and Competition for high school age pianists at BGSU.
“I thought she was an absolutely complete pianist in the sense she was so wonderfully polished technically, but also artistically satisfying,” said internationally acclaimed pianist and educator Anton Nel. Wang was “just at a very high level throughout. Very consistent.”
Nel was the festival’s guest artist and was on the panel of judges who selected the winners.
[RELATED: Piano competition judge Anton Nel looks for the X-factor in performances]
In addition to Wang winning the $3,000 first prize, other honorees were:
Cory Wu, 17, Powell, second place, $2,000
Erik Jacoby, 14, New Albany, third place, $1,000
Sophia Lin, 15, Falls Church, Virginia, honorable mention
Nel said Wu also played superbly. And, he added, “I was really touched by the third prize’s maturity for someone who is only 14 years old. He’s already playing with such depth and polish and really made you listen.”
On Saturday night, Nel played a well-received solo recital of music by Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, and Schubert.
The visit was an opportunity for Nel, who now directs the keyboard program at the University of Texas, to connect with old friends from his decade at the University of Michigan and previously at Eastman, where he knew composer Samuel Adler and his wife, conductor Emily Freeman Brown. “I had a wonderful time,” he said.
On hand after an absence of two years, was Bob Swinehart, the executor of the David D. Dubois estate.
Dubois was an educator, author, and consultant. He loved music and sang in the National Cathedral choir. The competition and festival was created to continue his interest in helping young musicians.
“It’s overwhelming what’s happened in the 13 years,” Swinehart said. “David would be a happy camper.”
He praised the work of Laura Melton, the chair of performance studies in the College of Musical Arts, who wrote the application that brought the Dubois endowment to BGSU and has coordinated the festival ever since.
The Dubois Festival and Competition, he said, “is in a very good place.”
He was pleased that it is now fulfilling one of its missions – attracting pianists to BGSU.
After a somewhat slow start in that regard, pianists involved in the Dubois are now coming to Bowling Green to study.
Melton said about six to eight pianists who have applied and competed have furthered their studies at BGSU.
This year’s winner will not be joining their ranks, however.
Wang, a high school senior, said she didn’t apply to any music schools.
She has her sights set on the Ivy League where she plans to study math or science.
She is considering a music minor and wants to keep music in her life.
Wang started studying piano when she was 5 years old at the urging of her mother. She wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea, but once she started, she fell in love with music.
In first, she played in school and the music teacher said she was touched by her playing.
That inspired Wang to take the piano seriously.
She has had success in competitions in Minnesota. She had heard of the Dubois from fellow pianists.
She played: Beethoven’s Sonata in D minor “Tempest”; the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor; Paganini Etude No. 6 in A minor by Franz Liszt; and “Poem for Piano” by Armenian composer Arno Babadjanian.
In selecting works she always looks for pieces that require virtuosity as well as musicality.
Wang said she found performing in the finals more relaxed than in the semifinals on Saturday.
On Sunday, she was able to play almost her entire program, except for “Poem,” which she had to stop because of time restrictions.
Fourteen semifinalists performed on Saturday with seven making it into the finals.
The other finalists were Levi Li, Powell, Katia Jacoby, Erik Jacoby’s older sister, and Jean Yu, Dublin.
Four of the finalists, the Jacoby siblings, Li, and Wu, Melton noted, all studied with Kathleen Sadoff and Nina Polonsky.
The competition brought in outside judges for both rounds. Joining Nel at the judges’ table Sunday were concert pianist Julia Siciliano from Chicago and Yu-Lien The, Western Michigan University . Judges on Saturday were Caroline Hong, Ohio State, Andrew Le, Kent State, and Alexandra Mascolo-David, Central Michigan University.
