The judges for Kent State’s annual Concerto Competition could not choose just one winner to perform at this Friday’s orchestra concert.

“It is very competitive. The level was very high last semester,” said the director of the orchestra, Jungho Kim. “The three judges were telling me that it was impossible to pick one. I told them, ‘OK, then pick two.’”

Greta Pasztor, graduate performance student, and Eric Vasquez, senior music education major, will be featured as performers at the Kent State Orchestra’s Friday concert. Both competed in November against other members of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music for the chance to perform.

“I was very nervous the whole time. I was refreshing my email, just waiting for it,” Pasztor said. “I saw my name and I was very happy. I called my piano teacher and my former piano teacher and my mom.”

The concert is the fourth of the orchestra’s 2019-2020 subscription series and will feature performances of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird Suite” and “Danzon No. 2” by Arturo Márquez. 

Vasquez will play a concerto by Pierre-Max Dubois on the saxophone with the string orchestra. Pasztor will play “Totentanz” by Franz Liszt on piano with the orchestra.

Pasztor said she learned her piece last year after being encouraged by her teacher, Donna Lee. Together they decided the piece would be a good addition to her repertoire.

The concert will be Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Cartwright Hall. Tickets cost $15 for adults and are free for Kent State students eligible for the Arts Pass. Students who are ineligible can attend for $8.

Previously, the subscription series has featured pieces by Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven performed by faculty and students. In April, the orchestra and Kent State’s combined choirs will recreate a performance from 1970 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the May 4th shooting.

Contact Lindsey Sellman at [email protected].