CPP Piano Ensemble Students Shine at Carnegie Hall
The invitation to perform at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York is a feat many musicians can only dream of. For a group of music students at CPP, that dream came true in January.
Nine members of the CPP Piano Ensemble had the opportunity to perform at the International Association of Professional Music Teachers Grand Competition Winners’ Concert on Jan. 17.
The students, one of two groups from Cal Poly Pomona selected to perform at the famed music hall that same weekend, had placed first and second at the collegiate level at two competitions that led to the invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall.
All of the students played duets by Ukrainian composers. Archeology student Catherine Gruen and Jesse Ortiz, a music performance student, performed the first movement from a suite of Ukrainian folk-style music composed by Myroslav Skoryk.
“I'm majoring in archaeology even though piano has been a lifelong passion for me,” Gruen said in a testimonial about the trip. “I've been playing piano for fourteen years, and even though I wasn't majoring in music, I wanted to continue playing. I joined the Piano Ensemble class, which opened up the opportunity to take a music trip to New York. The highlight was being able to play at Carnegie Hall, an experience I had never imagined possible before.”
Ortiz also said he couldn’t believe he had the opportunity to perform on one of the biggest stages in music.
“I have been playing piano at a serious level since 2017,” Ortiz said. “Almost a decade later, I can’t believe that enrolling in a high school class would turn into a performance at Carnegie Hall.”
Grammy-winning Music Professor Nadia Shpachenko-Gottesman, who taught and prepared the students for the concert, reflected on her students’ talent and preparedness.
“They were well-versed and ready to dive in,” she said. “Even when my students first come to Cal Poly Pomona and are a little shy or nervous to perform, once they’re here for a little bit and experience all that we have to offer, they are complete pros. My students get up on stage, they smile and just play from the heart. They really all played their absolute best. I’m really proud of them. They all have extensive performance experience, so they were completely ready.”
Playing to Packed Houses
Coincidentally, the day before the IAPMT concert a different group of CPP Piano Ensemble students performed at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 16, commemorating their first-place win at the International Ukrainian Music Competition back in May. All 14 of the students traveled to New York together.
The icing on the cake? Both concerts were completely sold out.
“It was very electrifying,” Shpachenko-Gottesman said. “When you perform in such a great, historic venue and have a full house, you feel that energy connecting with the audience. The students all felt it and played their absolute best.”
The preliminary round of the IAPMT competition was a recording that was submitted. The second round was in person at Azusa Pacific University, performed live in front of judges, where hundreds of student ensembles participated from all over the world. The CPP students who won first and second prizes at the competition won for their individual solo and/or duet performances, and they all performed duets at Carnegie Hall. The students got to perform towards the very end of the concert, which is a highly distinguished honor.
Shpachenko-Gottesman provided a lot of opportunities for her students in preparation for their performances. Aside from rehearsals throughout the fall semester and even winter break, she also frequently set up masterclasses for her students, two in particular with Donald Berman, a prestigious pianist and chair of keyboard studies at Longy School of Music at Bard College in Massachusetts.
During their time in New York, the students also got to meet and have master classes with world-renowned pianist Anna Shelest and legendary Juilliard School professor Jerome Lowenthal. Not only did the students receive advice from these musical giants, but they also got to perform for them.
Music student Andrew Mazzeo touched on this incredible opportunity in a statement about his time in New York.
“As a passionate pianist, traveling to New York with the ensemble gave me the chance to grow as a musician through opportunities I never thought possible,” he said. “The most memorable for me was getting to work with the wonderful Jerome Lowenthal. Continuing to serve as the chair of piano at the Juilliard School well into his 90s, Lowenthal offered me priceless advice and knowledge that stemmed from his own studies with golden age pianists. I’m so happy I can be a part of that lineage now.”
Shpachenko-Gottesman noted that Cal Poly Pomona’s learning possibilities enabled these students to take part in these experiences.
“CPP provides these opportunities to tour, travel, and have masterclasses, which are rare and not available to most music students, which is so wonderful,” she said. “Students here get the best opportunities for that.”
Ortiz also commented on how grateful he is to be a part of the special opportunities that CPP provides for their students.
“The Cal Poly Pomona Music Department is a force to be reckoned with,” said Ortiz. “Having the chance to go to Carnegie Hall and showcasing CPP’s name out there shows that not just Juilliard students, NYU students or the top conservatory students in the world get to have chances like this.”
A Unique Repertoire
Cal Poly Pomona also provides unique experiences for music students, specifically in music choice and creative pieces. Shpachenko-Gottesman often commissions composers to write for the piano ensemble. Students have performed works with multiple pianos, sometimes even as many as five.
“The reason we get invited to all of these top venues and universities to perform and share our music with other students and faculty is because we play music that is very unique,” she said. “We bring to the world pieces that hopefully later will be played by other ensembles. We tour and people are very interested to learn from us, because we do something that not a lot of people do.”
Ortiz said that he is grateful for the unique repertoire of music that CPP music students are able to perform, which sets the school apart from other universities.
“Here, we have been able to expand our repertoire and knowledge as far as contemporary music and modern-day compositions, which is really cool,” he said. “There are a lot of great musical ideas that I had no idea were even possible for a piano program like this. That’s what really makes our ensemble unique.”
During their time in New York, the ensemble had the opportunity to do some exploring in the city, which included getting student rush tickets to see the New York Philharmonic. The students did not arrive home from New York until 1 a.m. on the first day of spring classes, but most did not care.
“The jet lag was real,” said Ortiz. “We had to muster our strength and start spring semester the same day after being in New York only 8 or 9 hours prior.”
As their mentor, Shpachenko-Gottesman said the most meaningful part of her students’ journey was getting to watch them rise to the occasion. She emphasized that the true success of this experience lays in her students’ growth and dedication.
“To me, the greatest reward is seeing them thrive, make progress, and put their heart and soul into their performances,” she said. “Seeing them shining and doing their absolute best on stage makes me so proud and brings me so much joy. It’s the best feeling to see my students thrive and have their dreams fulfilled. This was really a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list event.”
