Volume 59, Issue 12  - November 6, 2006

Award-winning UTB/TSC pianists perform at fest
By Marie Melendez
Staff Writer

Winners of a competition at UTB/TSC performed in the Valley Piano Extravaganza Festival on Oct. 24.

“It’s an annual festival,” said Mina Kramer, a lecturer in the Fine Arts Department and director of the Music Academy. “This is the fourth year that we’ve had the festival.”

The competition, held Oct. 20 and 24, consisted of three levels: junior division, for beginner and intermediate groups; senior division, for advanced groups through high school; and the collegiate division.

Two groups were chosen as the winners for the collegiate level.

Willie Morales and Sergio Godinez comprised one group and Luis Mendez and Juan Torres, the second. All are UTB/TSC students.

“We had a lot of different age levels competing,” Kramer said.

Students from Vela Middle School and Lopez High School competed in the junior and senior divisions.

“I think the kids were really proud of their performances,” she said. “The audience seemed to be really excited and was really supportive.”

The entire faculty participated as well. They performed in the concert with various duets.

Music by Grieg, Bach, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Moszkowski, Saint-Saëns and more was played, along with a theatrical performance of work composed by P.D.Q. Bach.

“There was a lot of preparation; putting a concert like this together isn’t very easy,” Kramer said. “I think everybody had a lot of fun putting this together. It made the experience very memorable for the kids.”

Kramer has high hopes for next year’s festival.

“Next year’s our fifth anniversary and we’ve got some really neat things planned for that!”