That’s the quick rhyme behind last week’s annual Concerto/Aria Competition, which awarded top honors to three student-musicians for the first time in its six-year history. The winners of the competition, Miriam Rhodes, Rafael de Tablan (who also won in 2023), and Naomi Kratzer, have earned one of the most prestigious accolades on campus for musicians: the chance to perform as soloists alongside the EMU Orchestra during its spring Concerto/Aria Orchestra Concert.

Benjamin Bergey, assistant professor of music at EMU and conductor of EMU’s Orchestra, Chamber Singers, and University Choir, credited the historic moment to the strong performances of the seven student-musicians who competed.

“It was a challenge to choose only two winners,” he said. “After extra deliberation, we decided that the orchestra could accommodate three winners this year, but that’s something we don’t intend to do again in the future.”

The three winning musicians took a moment to answer a few questions from EMU News in between practicing for April’s big show. 

Miriam Rhodes

Year: Junior
From: Rockingham County, Virginia
Major: Music and peacebuilding; elementary education
Instrument: Violin

Which piece of music did you choose?
I played the first movement of Max Bruch’s “Concerto No. 1 in G Minor.” My violin teacher Maria Lorcas introduced me to the piece near the end of my freshman year at EMU, and I’ve been working on it, on and off, ever since. I’ve spent a lot of time with this piece over the past couple years, analyzing its theory and history, and performing it several times, but I still haven’t gotten tired of it. 

What was running through your mind when you found out you had won?
I was surprised that the judges had picked three winners and immediately got excited. A lot of my passion for making music comes from the joy and relationship-building that happens when you collaborate with other musicians, so I’m super excited to perform this piece with the orchestra and bring it to life together.

How will you be preparing for April’s concert?
I’ve always had some performance anxiety. After my last performance, I felt like I had already achieved a personal victory by pushing myself out of my comfort zone and improving my performance mindset—something my teacher, Maria Lorcas, and the music professors at EMU have helped me learn to do. I plan to continue preparing mentally through positive self-talk and visualization.

Rafael de Tablan

Year: Junior
From: The Philippines
Major: Music performance
Instrument: Piano

Which piece of music did you choose?
I played the second movement of Maurice Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in G Major.” I chose this piece because it’s something out of the ordinary. Fast and grand movements are usually selected for competitions, rather than slow ones. But, I chose this slow movement as a sincere dedication to my mom and dad, who nicknamed me “Ravel.”

What was running through your mind when you found out you had won?
I was confident the judges wouldn’t choose a slow piece to win, but boy, was I wrong. When the three winners were announced, I was shocked by the history-making moment. I hugged and congratulated the other two winners. Realizing that my dedicatory piece will be performed with the orchestra, I started welling up with tears thinking about how I could give even more love to my parents.

How will you be preparing for April’s concert?
Definitely practice, practice, practice. I need to polish it even more and review the judges’ feedback. One thing I love to do while practicing is to follow along with someone else’s recording of the same piece. (His piano teacher is Dr. David Berry, director of the music program at EMU)

Naomi Kratzer

Year: Junior
From: Goshen, Indiana
Major: Music performance and history
Instrument: Piano (she also plays viola and sings)

Which piece of music did you choose?
I played the first movement of Edvard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16.” My professor, Dr. David Berry, chose the piece for me, but I’ve loved preparing it over the past seven months. This is the only piano concerto Grieg ever wrote, which makes it even more special to perform. It’s also a piece that plays to my strengths as a pianist, so it’s been fun to hone those skills. 

What was running through your mind when you found out you had won?
I was glad they finally came to a decision. The process was the longest in EMU history: one whole hour. It was awesome to win with my friend Miriam and my co-conspirator-in-piano, Rafael. 

How will you be preparing for April’s concert?
I’ll keep chipping away at the shakier parts of the movement and make sure I have the entire piece under my fingers, but I also need to start preparing my junior recital repertoire. It’s going to be a full semester, for sure. 

Bergey said Rhodes played with “confidence and finesse” in a thrilling performance of Bruch’s violin concerto. “She is our concertmaster in the orchestra, so it will be wonderful to feature her in this concert,” he said.

He described de Tablan as captivating the room with his “exquisitely musical playing” of the slow movement of Ravel’s piano concerto: “This deceptively difficult movement exuded his musicality, and you could hear a pin drop at the end.”

Bergey recognized Kratzer for tackling one of the most iconic concertos of the night. “She expressed such command of the instrument through her technical playing,” he said. 

Mezzo-soprano Cassidy Williams received runner-up honors. Other musicians competing at the event were Elie Hoover, Riley Quezada, and Jacob Loya. Lise Keiter and Eric Guinivan served as guest judges for the competition. Harold Bailey and David Berry were piano accompanists. 

Watch a video recording of the competition on the EMU Department of Music Facebook page.

Read coverage of the event in the Daily News-Record .

For write-ups of previous years’ competitions, click on the links below:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2019

The musicians’ answers have been edited for grammar and conciseness.

In addition to the gala, guest artist Izaiah Montaque Harris will perform programs for over 1,000 K-8th grade students throughout the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County school system in conjunction with the Kennedy Center sponsored arts education non-profit, , which is dedicated to making the arts accessible to students throughout the region. The concert is free with a $10-$20 suggested donation.

Mezzo-soprano Reah Clymer and clarinetist Luke Haynes saw their years of hard work and countless hours of practice pay off on Monday when they were named winners of the 2024 Concerto/Aria Competition.

As part of the distinction, the two students earned coveted spots to perform with the EMU Orchestra during its spring Concert/Aria Orchestra Concert on Saturday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in Lehman Auditorium.

Which pieces of music did you choose?

Clymer, a junior from Collinsville, Mississippi, studying music and peacebuilding, sang “Batti, Batti o bel Masetto” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni.  

“This aria is an incredibly entertaining song, and I really enjoyed the process of learning it,” said Clymer, who studies under voice teacher Shannon Kiser. “A lot is packed into this aria, and it stretches me through its demanding range, repetitive arpeggios, high vocal runs, and long, lyrical phrases. I love how this song is both technically and narratively rich.”

Haynes, a senior from Staunton, Virginia, studying music performance, played Carl Maria Von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, Op. 73. He said the selection showcases his legato phrasing, while the technical passages highlight his finger agility.

What was running through your mind when you found out you had won?

Clymer said she felt “immense gratitude” for the music department faculty and music students who supported her and pushed her to perform at her best.

“Our department is terrifically talented, and I am a better musician and person because of my friends and professors there,” she said.

When Haynes heard he had won, a flurry of emotions ran through his head.

“I was shocked, happy and mystified, all at the same time, when I heard my name and realized I had won,” he said. “I was speechless. As a musician, winning this competition means that I am putting in the right work and getting amazing and special opportunities like performing with the orchestra that help me grow as a more well-rounded musician.”

How will you be preparing for April’s concert?

Clymer said she will be rehearsing with the EMU Orchestra as they learn the music for her aria.

“I am looking forward to spending time with the entire ensemble and being just one part of a tremendous night of music,” she said.

Haynes said he’ll practice with his teacher Dr. Ĺ arĹ«nas Jankauskas, associate professor of clarinet at JMU, as he works on memorizing his piece.

Clymer and Haynes were selected from six musicians who performed on Monday. Diane Phoenix-Neal, associate professor of viola at JMU, and Jeanette Zyko, associate professor of oboe at JMU, served as guest adjudicators for the program. Harold Bailey, an adjunct faculty member in the Preparatory Music Program, was collaborative pianist.

Mezzo-soprano Maggie McClary, who performed “V’adoro Pupille” from Handel’s Guilio Caesare, was named runner-up.

Watch a video recording of the competition on the EMU Department of Music .

EMU’s music maestro Dr. Benjamin Bergey earned second-place honors in one of the most prestigious awards competitions in the country for the performing arts. 

Bergey, assistant professor of music at EMU and director of its orchestra and choirs, is the runner-up for the 2023 in the college and university orchestra division. 

The annual nonprofit American Prize series of contests is among the most renowned for evaluating music ensembles, directors and solo performers in the U.S., with awards given at the professional, college/university, community and high school levels.

“The panelists and judges are often folks who have experience,” Bergey said, “so to feel that affirmation or validation in the work we’re doing here is really meaningful.”

Anna Wittstruck, director of the Boston College Symphony Orchestra, won first place for conducting in the college and university orchestra division.

In addition to Bergey’s second-place finish, the EMU orchestra and university choir were finalists in their respective divisions. 

“I feel proud of the group for having risen to the challenge,” Bergey said. “Even though [the orchestra and choir] didn’t place, to be a finalist in it is something we celebrate.”

For their entries in the competition, Bergey submitted a video of their performance of Dona Nobis Pacem by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The piece, which he described as “very ambitious,” was performed by both the orchestra and choir at EMU’s 2021 gala concert.

At EMU, Bergey teaches conducting classes and advises the new Music and Peacebuilding major. He also conducts the Rapidan Orchestra in Orange, Virginia. He is active as a guest conductor and clinician, leading many resourcing events for worship leaders and conducting festival orchestras and choirs. 

Where: Lehman Auditorium
When: 7 p.m., Friday
Cost: Free, with suggested donation of $10 to $20
Online:

˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř’s 2023 Music Gala Concert, says David Berry, is a labor of love for so many people.

The upcoming concert will showcase three talented guest artists and every music ensemble on campus collaborating in a special evening of dance, poetry, jazz and world music. Two compositions written for the event will premiere. And the university choir and chamber orchestra will pair up to perform Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” featuring soloists Olivia Rominiyi, Sarah Hamilton, Jordan Davidson, and Shannon Kiser.

“We’re celebrating the connectedness of community and humanity across the globe and what we can do when we come together,” said Berry, music program director at EMU. 

The concert, fittingly titled Together, begins at 7 p.m. on Friday in Lehman Auditorium. It is free to attend, with to help support EMU Music.

The World Has Changed

Embodying the theme of collaboration, an actress, dancer, orchestra and choir will join together to perform The World Has Changed. The interdisciplinary piece, based on the poetry of Alice Walker, will see its world premiere at the gala. 

composed the score for The World Has Changed. Wadsworth, an assistant professor of music at Williams College, also wrote music for this year’s Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. His compositions have been performed at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and at Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II.

The World Has Changed will feature a narration of Walker’s poetry from actress of the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton. “We needed a voice that would communicate the text well with the orchestra, with the choir and with the dance, so we knew we needed someone special for that,” Berry said. He credited EMU Provost Tynisha Willingham, a board member of the theater company, with connecting Bellamore with the production.

Paula Facci, an assistant professor at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, will perform a dance that her class, Creative Approaches to Peacebuilding, helped to choreograph.

Berry described the music of The World Has Changed as “ethereal, powerful and soulful” and said the composition serves as “a celebration of what could be.”

Amahoro Suite

The other original piece premiering at the concert will be the world jazz fusion composition Amahoro Suite by , a man of many talents and cultures.

The Liberian-German composer, musician, singer, storyteller and pastor plays jazz flute, piano and percussion. He’s performed in Vatican City for Pope John Paul II and at Madison Square Garden. He is the director of , a Christian ministry affiliated with Mosaic Mennonite Conference.

“He’s really just an amazing artist and person,” Berry said. 

Makinto and his wife, Mukarabe, will recite poetry as part of Amahoro Suite. Amahoro is the Kirundi — the official language of Burundi — expression for “peace.” Amahoro Suite will include musical performances from Makinto and the EMU Jazz Band. 

“It’ll involve all kinds of things from Duke Ellington to djembe ensemble to African jazz flute,” Berry said.

‘Ode to Joy’

Those attending the concert will be treated to a choir and orchestra recital of “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The ode, with its lyrics by poet Friedrich Schiller, has been sung at important movements throughout history to inspire and instill courage and hope, Berry said. 

“It’s been a symbol, since it’s creation, of our shared humanity, our connectedness as a human race,” he said. 

In the days leading up to the concert, about 1,500 students from Harrisonburg and Rockingham County will watch Makinto perform music and share stories as part of a unique collaboration with . EMU Music is a premier artist partner with The Kennedy Center-sponsored arts education nonprofit. 

Other collaborative partners for this event include the American Shakespeare Center, the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU’s Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and sponsor Everence Federal Credit Union.

For those who cannot attend in person, a livestream will be available to watch online through the .

First-year piano student Rafael de Tablan and junior vocalist Afton Rhodes-Lehman won the 2023 Concerto/Aria Competition, earning them each performance spots with the EMU Orchestra during its spring Concerto/Aria Orchestral Concert on Saturday, April 22, 2023, at 7 p.m. in Lehman Auditorium.

De Tablan, a music performance major who hails from the Philippines, played Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Rhodes-Lehman, a studio art major with music and honors minors from Dayton, Virginia, sang “The Silver Aria” from The Ballad of Baby Doe to win the competition.

When de Tablan heard his name announced, he cried. “Playing with the orchestra is one of my biggest dreams,” he said. Rhodes-Lehman echoed de Tablan’s comments. “Not that many young people can say they’ve sung with an orchestra by the time they’ve graduated.”

According to EMU Music Program Director David Berry, “Our winners this year are both excellent musicians and passionate about music. Rafael’s flair and virtuosity at the piano is something truly special. And Afton is a wonderful singer with a beautiful, rich and resonant voice.”

Berry is de Tablan’s piano instructor at EMU, and Rhodes-Lehman studies voice under Shannon Kiser. Both de Tablan and Rhodes-Lehman had been working on their pieces for several months prior to the competition. Kiser selected Rhodes-Lehman’s aria, and de Tablan says growing up with the Disney movie Fantasia 2000 inspired him to learn and chose his concerto.

“The competition gives performers the chance to work up some of their most challenging repertoire… and the winners an opportunity to perform as a soloist with an orchestra, which provides so much learning beyond what students are used to when performing with a collaborative pianist,” shared EMU Orchestra conductor Benjamin Bergey.

De Tablan and Rhodes-Lehman will perform their selections at the spring Concerto/Aria Orchestral Concert. Also performing will be the Shenandoah Valley Youth Symphony and Dan Ott, dean of the School of Theology, Humanities and Performing Arts.

The EMU Chamber Singers and Chamber Orchestra will share their musical gifts as part of this fall’s musical ‘gala.’ Photo by Matt Gillis

EMU’s music department will showcase its choral and instrumental groups in a concert 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, in Lehman Auditorium.

The EMU Chamber Orchestra will play “Simply Symphony,” a short work for strings that British composer Benjamin Britten wrote based on songs and instrumental pieces he had composed as a child. EMU junior Benjamin Bergey will conduct the 30-member chamber orchestra.

The EMU Jazz Ensemble, directed by James W. (Jim) Warner, will perform “Yardbird Suite” by Charlie Parker, arranged by Roger Pemberton; “A Day In The Life Of A Fool” by Lui Bonfa, arranged by Frank Mantooth’ and “To God Be The Glory,” arranged by Aaron Weitekamp.

Ken Nafziger, professor of music
Lynne Mackey, associate professor of music

The EMU Chamber Singers will present a collection of popular songs from the 1970s-80s by Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, Dolly Parton and Carly Simon and a spiritual that figured prominently in the anti-war movement.

Kenneth Nafziger, professor of music, will conduct the Chamber Singers, the EMU Choir Without Borders and Lynne Mackey, pianist, in Ludwig von Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasia,” considered by some as a “practice piece” for the writing of his “Symphony No. 9.”

Admission to the concert is a suggested donation of $10 to benefit the EMU music student scholarship fund.

For more information, call 540-432-4225.

The EMU orchestra will perform 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 30 in Lehman Auditorium at EMU.

The 45-member ensemble, directed by , department chair, will feature the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with the strings playing the popular “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.”

, assistant professor of music, will play Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 20.”

The program will conclude with Enesco’s “Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1.”

Mozart’s work is being featured in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the Austrian composer’s birth.

Admission is free; donations are welcomed for the EMU Music Student Scholarship Fund.

The ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř orchestra will present a concert 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Mar. 23, in Lehman Auditorium at EMU.

The 33-member orchestra, comprised of EMU students and community members, will perform “Waltzes From Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss, “Grande Polonaise Brillante and Andante Spianato” Opus 22 by Frederic Chopin featuring Dr. Stephen W. Sachs on piano, and an original work by conductor Anthony VanPelt titled “The Miller Cottage.”

The concert is part of weeklong events leading up to the inauguration of Dr. Loren Swartzendruber as EMU’s eighth president.

Admission to the program is free; donations are welcomed for the EMU Music Student Scholarship Fund.