Each December, the music program hosts its annual concerto competition, where students compete for a spot to play a concerto in one of the department’s second-semester concerts.
This year’s competition, held Dec. 5, attracted 22 musicians. The winners were senior pianist Annika Gho, senior trombonist Anthony Luo, junior pianist Eric Lin and sophomore clarinet player Matthew Lee — but, notably, this was the first year when no string players were selected.
Five professional judges were invited to adjudicate the performances, representing all of the string, woodwind, brass, percussion and piano sections to ensure fair judging. No SHS teacher or staff member judged the competition.
According to director Michael Boitz, the selection process began with each judge explaining their top two choices. Between the five judges, Boitz noted the diversity in each judge’s initial selections. After hours of deliberation, the final four winners were selected once the judges came to a unanimous conclusion.
After the competition, Boitz expressed his excitement to conduct each of the winners’ solos, and in particular Lin’s piece— the first movement of Piano Concerto No. 1 by Sergei Bortkiewicz — since it’s not frequently performed in the U.S. and poses an exciting challenge to learn.
Lee, who will be performing Adagio e Tarantella by Ernesto Cavallini, mentioned how even just preparing for the competition was an incredible experience.
“I just wanted to perform, and at least be satisfied with my own practice and the improvements that I’ve made over the last couple of months,” Lee said.
The directors expressed their pride in each of the 22 performers, especially the ones they’ve known for years and have watched grow throughout high school.
Boitz left a message to underclassmen, and his mindset on going through life and competitions.
“Never sell yourself short. Make goals for yourself and have targets; the only way to lose is if we ever (settle for) being second best,” said Boitz.
