Concerto competition winners will display abilities in two performances

Julia Zatsarinskaya

The Concerto Kaleidoscope on Saturday will highlight performances by three winners of the 2002 University Concerto Competition, followed by the Mostly Mozart Concert in May, featuring a fourth winner. The four winners––pianist Julia Zatsarinskaya, pianist Benjamin Lynerd, trombonist Peter Martens and flutist Joanna Messer––were selected by a panel of five judges from 22 students who competed for the honor.

The Concerto Kaleidoscope, scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, April 27, in Mandel Hall, will feature performances by Zatsarinskaya, Lynerd and Martens, who will appear with the University Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Barbara Schubert, Senior Lecturer in Music.

The program includes Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2/i, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Launy Grøndahl’s Trombone Concerto and Leos Janácek’s Sinfonietta.

Benjamin Lynerd

Zatsarinskaya, who will perform Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2/i, left Russia after receiving a full scholarship to study piano at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She earned her B.A. in music and in economics from Oberlin College in 1996. A Laureate of the Russian National Diagilev Competition in Moscow and the Beethoven International Competition in the United States, Zatsarinskaya has given numerous recitals around the United States and overseas. She now is a second-year M.B.A student in the University’s Graduate School of Business.

Lynerd, who will perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, earned his B.A. in piano performance from the University of Maryland, College Park, under Anne Koscielny. He has been a fellow of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival and the National Orchestral Institute. He currently is the pianist at Holy Trinity Church in Hyde Park and is a first-year doctoral student in Political Science at Chicago.

Peter Martens

Martens, who will play Grøndahl’s Trombone Concerto, earned a B.M. in music education and a B.A. in classics at Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisc.), where he studied trombone with Nick Keelan. Locally, he is the music director of the Hyde Park Youth Symphony and is a founding member of the Midway Brass Quintet. Martens also is assistant organist at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in McKinley Park and is a fourth-year graduate student studying music theory.

The Concerto Kaleidoscope will be held in Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th Street. Tickets are $8 general, $5 students and may be reserved by phoning (773) 702-9075.

Messer will perform Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G Major, accompanied by the University Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Steven Huang. Messer’s performance is part of the Mostly Mozart program, which will feature Symphony No. 35 in D, Haffner, and Thomas Gregory’s Music for Strings.

Joanna Messer

Messer began studying flute at the age of 10 and later earned a B.A. in music performance, magna cum laude, from Lawrence University. She was a member of the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra for three years, serving as principal for two years on such pieces as Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. She also played in the Lawrence University Wind Ensemble for two years and recorded with the ensemble.

Messer joined the University’s New Music Ensemble in the fall and currently studies with Molly Barth of eighth blackbird. In fall 2002, Messer will pursue an M.A. in music performance at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Mostly Mozart Concert will be at 8 p.m. Sunday, May 12, in Fulton Recital Hall, 1010 E. 59th St. Admission is free.