Three student winners of the Ithaca College School of Music Concerto Competition will perform as soloists with the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jeffery Meyer, on Saturday, February 28. The free concert will begin at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.
Graduate student Adam Butalewicz will perform a movement of the concerto for clarinet by Mozart, senior Jacqueline Christen will play Mozart’s G major flute concerto, and senior Mary Raschella will perform a movement from the Sibelius concerto for violin. The concert will open with the symphony orchestra playing John Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" and conclude with "La Mer" by Claude Debussy.
Held annually, the concerto competition is open to Ithaca College students enrolled in private lessons with a School of Music faculty member during the semester of the competition. This year, 15 students made it through the preliminary auditions and proceeded to the finals, where they performed for a seven-member faculty committee.
Adam Butalewicz is a native of Richmond, Virginia, where he received a B.M. in clarinet performance at Virginia Commonwealth University while studying under Charles West. He is finishing up his master's degree in clarinet performance with Michael Galván. This is his second Ithaca College concerto competition win.
Flutist Jacqueline Christen studies with Wendy Mehne. She made her solo debut with the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra in 2005 with the Hue Fantasie. Christen is currently principal flutist of the Ithaca College Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. She has also attended numerous summer festivals, including the New York State Summer School of the Arts, Eastern Music Festival, and Domaine Forget.
Mary Raschella is a senior music education major in the violin studio of Susan Waterbury. Raschella is a two-time winner, having received the honor in 2008 with her performance of the first movement of Barber's Concerto for Violin.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20090224120154466