Loudoun's Got Talent Show Ends on High Note

By Adam Gerchick (Contact)

Originally published at 11:10 a.m., May 25, 2009
Updated at 8:08 p.m., May 26, 2009

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly inverted the names of the second- and third-place winners. We regret the error.

Who knew music paid so well?

On Sunday, three student musicians in the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra’s Loudoun’s Got Talent! competitive performance at Franklin Park Performing and Visual Arts Center in Purcellville won scholarships ranging from $250 to $1,000 for their skill and dedication to musical performance.

The concert featured the 10 finalists of the initial Loudoun’s Got Talent! Youth Edition competition, in which 49 young hopefuls sang or played instruments on May 2 at Stone Bridge High School.

Ara Bagdasarian, president of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, conceived of the event in an effort to attract more youth interest to the symphony.

“I think it went very well, particularly for our first time,” Bagdasarian said, noting that the symphony had not decided whether to host a similar event for adults.

Pianist Jason Greco, 17, a junior at Stone Bridge, won Sunday’s competition with a delicate performance of Maurice Ravel’s complex “Ondine” from “Gaspard de la Nuit.” For that performance, he took home the $1,000 grand-prize scholarship.

Greco explained that while his musical interest may look good on a college application, he competes for a less strategic reason: “It’s good for the experience. I like playing.”

The pianist, who also plays the trombone for his school band, began practicing “Ondine” at the beginning of the year, simultaneously working on at least three pieces.

The winners of the youth competition were determined by a combination of the verdicts of several official judges and the votes of the several hundred people in the audience. Each member of the audience received a ballot in his or her program and could vote for only one of the 10 competitors.

Coming in second was Loudoun Valley High School junior and vocalist Madeleine Curtis, who performed "On My Own" from the musical "Les Miserables." For her prize, she took home $500.

Heritage High School sophomore and vocalist Christi McCarthy, 15, took the third-place trophy and $250 for her rendition of “Monica’s Waltz” from “The Medium,” by Gian Carlo Menotti. Singing the roles of two of the opera’s characters, McCarthy frequently switched positions on stage to represent each character as they spoke to one another.

“I worked on trying to be more animated,” McCarthy said before the winners were announced. “There’s always something that I could have done better.”

Also competing in the concert were Loudoun high-school students Ryan Anderson, Stephanie Barrett, Young Jun Lim, Samantha Hummer, Hunter Brooks, Kaitlin Kenepp and Kate Oliphant.

As the lights came up and the audience burst into one final round of applause for the 10 contestants, Nancy Prestipino of the musical group “Moonlit in the Sun” offered a sort of benediction to the attendees.

Music, she told them, is “the one universal language that everyone can understand.”

Tagged: Loudoun Symphony, music

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