Music excellence

WWU student wins piano competition

Yena Cho, junior music and pre-dentistry student at Walla Walla University, placed first in the Grande Ronde Symphony Association’s Concerto + Aria competition. She performed the third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

As part of the reward for winning the competition, Cho has been invited to perform with the symphony at their spring concert on May 25, at Eastern Oregon University, in La Grande. A cash award will also be given at the performance.

Cho said she selected this piece to perform because, “Beethoven is my favorite composer. He is a transitional figure between the Classical period and the Romantic period, it was also interesting to see how the piece has mixed components of the Classical and the Romantic era. I really liked the distinct characteristics of each movement as well. Since I really liked this piece, it was not hard to interpret it. And the more I worked on this piece, the more I got to love it. I’m genuinely glad that I chose to work on it.”

Cho has been playing piano for 18 years, and at WWU she is studying under Jinhyang Park, assistant professor of music. Submissions to the competition were online due to COVID, so Cho recorded the piece in the Melvin K. West Fine Arts Center auditorium.

To learn more about the Department of Music at WWU, visit wallawalla.edu/music.

 

Posted March 10, 2022

girl with dark hair smiling at the camera
Cho has been playing piano for 18 years, and at WWU she is studying under Jinhyang Park.
Piano keys stretching away out of frame
Cho performed the third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3.