West High Students Selected For Annual Salute To Youth

Three West High Students were selected to play in the Utah Symphony’s annual Salute To Youth; a concert giving promising young artists a chance to perform with the Utah Symphony.

Peter Sawchuk, R&B Staff

Three West High Students were selected to play in the Utah Symphony’s annual Salute To Youth; a concert giving promising young artists a chance to perform with the Utah Symphony. Dora Meiwes will be performing the third movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2, Evelyn Meiwes will be playing the first movement of Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, and Megan Tandar will perform the third movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Piano Violin and Strings. These students were selected through a rigorous audition process. First, the preliminary round in which competitors were required to submit an audio recording, than passing to the final round where they were required to perform their pieces for judges at Abravanel Hall. When asked what the most difficult part of the competition was Megan Tandar responded “Most difficult part was me not being able to buy boba the day of the audition because Kung Fu Tea is closed on Mondays.” Dora Meiwes said, “The hardest part was the fact that I couldn’t control anything besides my preparation. I wish I overcame that already, but I’m not there.” Their favorite parts of the music are: “My favorite part is the main melody and the end,” (Dora Meiwes), “My favorite part is the depression and my least favorite part is the depression.”(Megan Tandar). Music tends to carry a message or meaning, so the performers were asked what they thought this meaning was. Tandar said, “It means that my hands hurt really long and of course the piano part is harder.” Dora Meiwes, about the same topic, said, “Rachmaninoff literally dedicated this piece to his psychiatrist, to him it was about overcoming his depression- for me it’s about overcoming myself and my doubts.” The students will perform Tuesday September 24, 2019 at 7:00 P.M.