The University of Rochester Music Program held its annual Concerto Competition for River Campus University students last week and selected four students to perform as soloists with the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra in the spring of 1995.
Melanie Preston and Katherine Teitler will perform at a concert on March 4. A Take Five mechanical engineering major, Preston will sing Ravel's Sheherazade. Teitler, a flutist and senior music major, will play Ibert's Concerto.
The symphony will give another concert on May 6, which will feature solo performances by Michelle Nguyen and Mitchell Mutz. Nguyen, a freshman psychology major, will play Saint-Saen's Concerto No. 2, Movement 1 on the piano. Mutz, a graduate student, will perform Mozart's Concerto No. 4 on horn.
"The opportunity to perform as a soloist is extremely exhilarating," conductor David Harman said. "These people are talented and smart."
To be selected to perform, instrumentalists and singers must perform 10 minutes of a concerto, solo or aria for a panel of judges consisting of members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
"This year was extremely difficult to judge because competition was so high. Students were superbly well prepared," Harman said.