On February 13, three performers from the IWU School of Music performed their solo concerto pieces at the Henry Charles Memorial Concerto/Aria Concert in Westbrook Auditorium, a prestigious honor for music performance majors.
The IWU School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra accompanied performers sophomore Benjamin Heinz, senior Connie Kim and sophomore Matt Wells on euphonium, flute and piano, respectively.
Heinz faced a unique struggle in selecting music, as the recent invention of the euphonium meant there was almost no original repertoire for euphonium prior to the Romantic period of music.
He played Pantomime by Philip Sparke, personally written in 1986 for a soloist the composer knew. “Pantomime was one of my only options, but it was a fun piece to learn and play,” Heinz said.
Connie Kim played Poem for Flute and Orchestra by Griffes, with a shift from a moody beginning to a folk dance at the end.
Matt Wells played Piano Concerto no.2 in F Major by Dimitri Shostakovich, written in 1957 as a gift for his son’s birthday. “One of the biggest challenges that I faced with this process has been keeping the piece fresh and not getting tired of playing it everyday,” Wells said. “The best way to get past this was to look for something new to get excited about each time I practiced.”
The Henry Charles Memorial Concerto/Aria Concert process begins with multiple rounds of auditions in the fall, and they are judged by faculty within the School of Music. Instrumental students prepare a concerto, which is typically 20 minutes of music, and vocal students prepare an aria piece, which is about 10 minutes long.
For the 2025 concert, all of the accepted performers were instrumental students, but past winners have included many vocalists.
“Concerto Aria is uniquely challenging because we are competing against instruments that are completely different from our own,” Heinz said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about the aspects of Connie and Matt’s playing that come more naturally on their instruments, and it was discouraging. I was surprised to learn everyone else was thinking the same thing.”
All of the performers had been preparing their pieces since at least the summer, with some auditioners preparing almost a year in advance.
“All of the hard work that I’ve been putting in over the last year came together in this concert, and that’s something I’ll take away with me for a long time,” Wells said.
“This performance is special to IWU because most institutions are dominated by the graduate programs,” Professor Logan Campbell, conductor of the IWU Symphony Orchestra said. “This is just a drop in the bucket to the rest of these performers’ careers, but it will stay with them forever.”