By Sky Pinkett
Staff Writer
The winners of the 2024 Concerto Competition, Matthew Brown and Hriday Parikh, are slated to give their winning performances with the Wind Ensemble on March 13 and the TCNJ Orchestra on May 2, respectively.
“It’s beyond exciting,” Brown said. “And especially after the COVID lockdown, it’s not something I take for granted at all.”
Both Brown and Parikh are junior music education majors studying clarinet. Brown will perform the “Concerto for Clarinet” with the College’s Wind Ensemble, while Parikh will perform the “Concerto for Bass Clarinet” with the College’s Orchestra.
For Brown, winning the competition was surreal. “When I found out that I had won, it didn’t feel real. They announced the results a few days earlier than they initially planned, so I wasn’t totally mentally prepared, and it’s such big news to take in. After a little while it sunk in, and I was just overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity.”
Associate professor of music and coordinator of keyboard studies, as well as one of the faculty members who helped coordinate last year’s Concerto Competition, Tomoko Kanamaru, recounted the competition’s history at the College.
Kanamaru explained that former faculty member Philip Tate brought along his fellow colleague and pianist when he became director of the College’s Orchestra back in 1997. The addition of this guest pianist gave the orchestra essential experience in concerto accompaniment, which was a demanding role at that time.
“This also prompted Dr. Tate's interest in developing a student concerto competition to give student instrumentalists an opportunity to shine as soloists and, equally importantly, for the Orchestra to continue learning accompanying skills. The first TCNJ Orchestra Concerto Competition took place in Fall 1998 with the resulting winner's performance on May 1, 1999,” Kanamaru said.
The competition took a hiatus after Dr. Tate’s retirement and the start of the pandemic in 2020. In the fall of 2022, the College’s Department of Music reinstated the competition with two new features: that any student who is enrolled in private lessons through the department could compete regardless of major, and that the College’s Wind Ensemble could take part in the event similar to the Orchestra.
This latter addition to the competition makes it possible for Brown to perform the “Concerto for Clarinet” by David Maslanka with the College’s Wind Ensemble on March 13.
“The members of the wind ensemble have done a great job preparing their parts, which aren’t easy,” Brown said. “It’s a stunning piece of music that’s just full of room for expression. I’m really excited to share this music with the audience.”
Brown admitted that he’s had to work really hard on his mindset to make it to this point.
“The way I perceive my playing is something I’ve struggled with for a long time,” he said. “I used to be very self critical with some perfectionist tendencies. My freshman year at TCNJ, negative thoughts would sometimes distract me during performances, but my mindset has gotten much more positive in the past few years.”
Now in his junior year, Brown spoke on how embracing his artistry in full has improved his self-esteem and made him a better musician.
“I’ve learned to notice and celebrate what I’m doing well in my playing rather than just focus on my faults, and I try my best to accept that failure is part of the process of growth,” Brown said. After my audition for the concerto competition, I was just really proud of myself and all the work I had put in.”
Both Brown and Parikh had already been studying the clarinet with professor Joshua Kovach. Even though both students already have core experience in the ensembles, their soloist roles in the upcoming performances will further enrich their learning experiences and prepare them for their future aims as music educators.
The 2024 Concerto Competition also resulted in sophomore music major Emily Bielski and sophomore music education major Olivia Huegi being runner-up winners with their flute performances. Junior biology major Darren Leopold was the competition’s honorable mention with his piano performance.
“It is an opportunity for one's musical and personal growth regardless of the results. You would practice very hard and get up on the competition stage to perform under pressure,” Kanamaru said.
As a result of their hard work, Brown and Parikh both have another opportunity for such musical growth with their performances in March and May. Check out the College’s website for the Department of Music to buy tickets for the performances.
