Piano competition winners awarded
Piano: The 26th annual Edward E. Montgomery, Jr. piano competition was held at the Triple Locks Theater on Sunday evening, April. 6. Pictured are Lydia Abernethy, (left) the senior division winner and Rachel Roman, the junior division winner. Beacon photo by Mark Fortune
COSHOCTON – Six area youth finalists competed in the 26th annual Edward E. Montgomery, Jr., piano competition held Sunday evening, April 6 at the Triple Locks Theater. Two categories of competition are held, junior and senior. The junior division are youth in the seventh, eighth and ninth grade. Freshmen have an option of competing in the junior or the senior division.
Once a youth wins a division level, they cannot compete in that category.
Junior division competitors were Kaitlyn Clark, Maggie Myers, Lauren Prior and Rachel Roman. Rachel Roman, the daughter of Sabrina and Alan Roman won the junior division performing Le Petit Negre by Claude DeBussy. She is an eighth grader at Coshocton Junior High School. She has studied piano for eight years under the direction of Jan Coffman.
Roman said of the honor, “It’s really great. After all the practice it really feels good at the end. My instructor Mrs. Coffman suggested the piece and I really like the sound of it. I enjoy piano because it is a great way to express yourself.” Romans suggested that other youth learn to play the piano, “sports are great but the piano somehow finds its way into your heart.”
There were two finalists competing in the senior competition; Lydia Abernethy and Jacqueline Roman. Lydia Abernethy won the senior division performing Three Preludes for Piano (II & III) by George Gershwin. Lydia is the daughter of Dana and the late Christopher Abernethy and is a home schooled senior. She has played the piano for 13 years and presently studies under the direction of Jan Coffman.
She said of the award, “It feels great to finally win. This is my fourth year competing so to finally get it is great.” She said that her piano teacher gave her a couple of suggestions – “I chose the Gershwin piece because I felt that it represented me the most. That is important to a piano player because it lets your personality come out. I considered it a challenging piece of music. I think playing piano is a way to let your emotions come out without anyone else around, just dealing with things all by yourself.”
Linda Scott, who organizes the competition for the sponsor and host of the event; The Montgomery Foundation, said, “This really truly gives our community exposure to the classical music that maybe they don’t get in other venues. I think we saw tonight that we just have some amazing talents here – a lot of time we hear the negative about the young people and this really puts a positive spin on what we truly have in this community.”
In addition to the wonderful performances from the competitors, guests also enjoyed beginning pianists performing and last year’s junior and senior division winners; Madison Miller and Matthew Prior.
mark@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Arts & Entertainment, Photo Galleries
