Musicians from the West Virginia University School of Music recently competed against peers from across West Virginia in the Music Teachers National Association Competition on Oct. 24 in Huntington, W.Va.

WVU students took home top honors in two divisions, including sophomore violinist Sean Elliott in the young artist performance category and The Midas Quartet in the chamber music string class.

The Midas Quartet is comprised of graduate teaching assistants Phillip Ducreay and Diego Gabete Rodriguez on violin, Christy Oscar on cello and Ignacio Cuello Mirvalves on viola.

The winning students will advance to compete at the regional level in Glassboro, N.J., in Jan. 2016.

Rodriguez, of Zaragoza, Spain, said that the quartet performed classical, post-romantic, romantic, and modern quartet selections from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jaoquin Turina, Anton Webern and Terry Riley.

“It was a great accomplishment to see our hard work from this semester pay off, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to represent the School and state at regionals,” said Rodriguez.

The group, which practices several days a week and receives lessons from WVU School of Music Cello Professor William Skidmore, plans to perform at a few different venues and practice the program as much as they can in preparation of regionals.

They also have Rodriguez’s experience to draw on, as he performed in the MTNA National Finals in Chicago two years ago.

“I think one of our biggest priorities is to continue to become more comfortable and confident interacting with one another during the performance,” said Rodriguez. “We perform romantic music, so making the audience feel our passion makes the performance more visually engaging for the audience.”

Elliott, a native of Morgantown, W.Va., is pursuing a bachelor’s in music and plans to pursue a second degree in mathematics.

At regionals, Elliott will be performing all three movements of a Henry Vieuxtemps’ concerto, one movement of a Mozart concerto and one movement of a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Pianist and 2014 WVU alumna Juliana Yap will accompany him at regionals.

Encouraged to enter the competition by Mikylah McTeer, associate professor of violin at WVU, Elliott said that preparing for a large-scale competition has already greatly elevated his level of musicianship.

“I don’t think I would be at the level that I am now had I not decided to do this competition,” said Elliott.

Elliott said that he will continue to work with McTeer to prepare for regionals, focusing specifically on the stylistic issues of the music and how to effectively transition between selections with different styles and moods.

“I think I’m very lucky,” said Elliott. “It’s a totally new experience for me. I think having a goal like winning a competition, or performing the best I can, helps me work harder to improve my musical ability, and I think that’s a really good thing.”

Elliott, who has been playing for 14 years, said he first performed as a soloist in his senior year of high school.

“A lot of young musicians feel they’re not ready, or may be scared, but performing as a soloist is a very beneficial experience. I was scared to perform as a soloist at first and also hesitant to do this competition, but I think taking risks like that and having big goals can help propel you forward as a musician.”

-WVU-

blu/11/02/15

CONTACT: David Welsh, College of Creative Arts
304.293.3397, David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

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