The recent concerto competition, sponsored by the Symphony of Oak Park-River Forest began with a nerve-wracking November day of auditions. This Sunday at Oak Park and River Forest High School, it ends with four young musicians appearing center stage playing standards of the professional concert repertoire from the 19th and 20th centuries.
This year’s “Family Concert,” a January tradition, will be “family” in the truest sense of the word, since two of the competition winners are brother and sister. Parents are routinely called on to rule in favor of the victor in sibling fights over toys and DVDs, but Ryan Murphy, a junior at Maine South High School in Park Ridge, and his sister Christine, a freshman, went public and allowed professional referees to rate them as they battled for first place in the fifth annual competition.
This year’s competition was perhaps not so easy even for the professionals to judge. The results were a draw for both Murphy siblings. Maestro Jay Friedman and a committee of judges awarded two first-place prizes, one to brother Ryan and the other to Ben Mildenhall, a sophomore at OPRF High School. In what must have been an extreme fit of indecision, two second-place prizes were awarded as well, to Ryan’s sister Christine, and to Adèle-Marie Buis, a senior at OPRF. Would that all rivalries ended on such an equitable note.
The Murphys began studying piano as young children with informal lessons from their mother, who had no expectations of professional careers for her children. Now they are both considering the possibility of further study at a conservatory after high school. “I really don’t know how they became so interested in music. We’re not musicians; we’re both lawyers,” pleas their mother, who watched Ryan and Christine, the elder two of four children, support and encourage each other through the rigors of preparing their solos. That is, up until the day of competition when “they took sibling rivalry to another level!” Mom said. “But even so, this year’s competition was really not a big deal among the performers. They all had their own practice rooms and everybody was really friendly.”
Ryan and Christine also have to compete at home for practice space and practice time. “Sometimes it gets pretty noisy around our house. We do get in each other’s way practicing,” said Christine, who explained there are two other younger siblings in the family now learning to play the violin. Both musicians have much quieter hobbies for their free moments: Ryan likes to read what he describes as “good books” and Christine draws and paints.
The brother and sister have found themselves together in numerous performances with the Midwest Young Artists, and they have competed before in the same events, although in different categories. Previously Ryan soloed with the Northwest Suburban Symphony Orchestra and Christine with the Knox-Galesburg Symphony. But Sunday’s performance will be the first time they have stood on the same stage after competing against one other. Of sharing the spotlight, Ryan says: “It’s pretty cool.”
He will perform Allegro moderato from Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D, Opus 35. Christine tackles the formidable 3rd movement from Jacques Ibert’s flute concerto. In their first rehearsal with the orchestra, both said they felt really comfortable in their roles. “It’s a great feeling to have the full force of an orchestra behind you!” said the older brother.
Ben Mildenhall won out in a rivalry of a different sort, since the 2008 competition is the second in which he was declared a winner. His rivalry is with himself. Currently a sophomore at OPRF, Ben entered the 2006 contest as a violinist, winning over older musicians with the glittery Tsigane of Maurice Ravel. Prohibited from competing a second time as a violinist, but undaunted, he stayed within the rules by entering again this year as a pianist.
Sharing first prize with Ryan Murphy, Ben will perform an athletic and dramatic work for solo piano, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. His teacher, Angela Wright, gave him a choice of preparing the Liszt concerto or the more frequently played concerto of Edvard Grieg. He listened to both pieces and decided that Liszt would be the winner. So far, Ben has been able to manage the competing demands of playing violin vs. piano. He also enjoys competing in math contests, which “are usually a lot less stressful than performing, until you get to the last five minutes.” At OPRF, he also uses his hands for something quite different: competing in the school’s ping pong club.
Oboist Adèle-Marie Buis could develop some familial rivalry of her own since she comes from a musical family where her father is a music professor and an oboist. Adèle-Marie has previously won concerto competitions with the Protégé Philharmonic and Bach & Beyond. In her junior year, she won an oboe seat in the Illinois Music Educators Association All-state orchestra. She has twice performed on WFMT’s “introductions” program, featuring Chicago’s exceptional young musicians. Her choice for this concert is the first movement of Strauss’ oboe concerto.
The concert also includes Jacques Offenbach’s famous Cancan & Quadrille (think: kick lines and cartoons, although like many cartoon tunes, this one originated in the opera house.) While family concerts are usually designed to appeal to children, Maestro Friedman will not be dumbing down his usual professionalism just to suit them. The high-level interaction between the orchestra, soloist, and conductor should be exciting enough to hold the attention of younger music lovers. (Bring binoculars!) The last rivalry to be decided might just be who has the proudest family.
Admission is $10 at the door, 201 N. Scoville. The concert starts at 4 p.m. For more information, go to www.symphonyoprf.com.
