Once again, a dozen young musicians will walk on stage and perform a single movement from a famous concerto. Each will bring the high hope of performing with the Festival Orchestra on the final weekend of Music in the Mountains.
The Music in the Mountains Conservatory’s Concerto Competition is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday in Roshong Recital Hall. It offers a rare opportunity to hear the best young musicians compete with each other for the coveted slot in the Aug. 1 concert in the Festival Tent.
The competition has been around since 2009. The brainchild of the late Arkady Fomin, the brilliant and affable founder of the Music in the Mountains Conservatory, it launched with a well-thought-through scheme. Conservatory students apply and audition for a finalist slot. If chosen, they perform on competition night. They come prepared with a memorized work, usually a movement from a famous concerto by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven or a number of modern composers. Conservatory faculty members play the piano transcriptions of each orchestral work. And a panel of faculty members plus MITM’s Guillermo Figueroa will select the prize winners.
Many of the chosen works are show pieces, demonstrating a student’s virtuosity. Others may be equally surprising as stirring interpretations of less flashy pieces. The competition has been particularly popular with audiences eager to hear young musicians at their best.
The competition was not held in 2014 because of Fomin’s unexpected death from cancer. But Matt Albert, the conservatory’s new director, has reinstated it for 2015, partly to honor his remarkable predecessor.
Tickets are $20 and $10 and are available online at musicinthemountains.com, by calling 385-6820 or at the door. Seating is limited, and advance purchase is recommended.
jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, art historian and arts journalist.