Classical music talent descends on Wilmington for Sachs Competition at UNCW

In classical music, the individual striving for something beyond technical brilliance starts in such moments as audiences will witness this weekend when 17 young musicians perform at the Ronald Sachs International Music Competition.

The final rounds, which are open to the public, occur at the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Beckwith Recital Hall in the Cultural Arts Building on Saturday and Sunday. Beckwith will also host guest artist concerts 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1-2. For a full schedule, go to RonaldSachsIMC.com.

Five thousand dollars in top prize money and future concert dates go to the winners of the junior and senior divisions of the competition. An additional $500 will go to the top two performances of a work composed after 1950, something new for this year's RSIMC and meant to encourage a diet of music beyond Beethoven and Rachmaninov.

This is a competition. Yet, despite the pressure to win, these young musicians find camaraderie. Violinist Jason Moon returns to the RSIMC, having won the senior division in 2021. He'll play a concert of music by Schubert, Dvorak and Richard Strauss with the junior-level winner, violinist Francis Tsai, on Sunday evening. Moon, a recent Juilliard graduate, spoke to me from his dorm at Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where he is earning a master's degree.

"I know it sounds a little bit weird. Basically, we're all standing in each other's way to do well in the competition," Moon said. "But I really think that it's a little bit different from a sport where there's a clear winner and a loser, and there's a score that really makes that obvious. I think we all kind of have the mindset that when the jury is different the results can be very different, because what we do is so subjective."

Moon said the other players embrace that reality to varying degrees, and most embrace, too, that they can choose to enjoy each other and make friends. "These are the people that we're going to keep seeing for the rest of our careers. So, absolutely, I've made a lot of friends in competitions."

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Both the greatness and the challenge of classical music lie in its interpretation — the individual performances given by one generation of musicians after another that set each apart. The music provides continuity in the small black dots on lines and spaces written down for more than 500 years.

Each musician is charged with reviving the music not only through the composer's instructions but in finding something beyond the notes and markings each time they play. It becomes a personal matter — one leaning on finesse and emotional intelligence. For Moon, that level of inspiration comes from multiple sources, including literature.

"I think for me, I feel like the sort of finesse and refinement that I try to bring to my playing is something that I pick up a lot from F. Scott Fitzgerald. If I read one of his novels, it's just the way that those sentences are crafted. It's hard to really try and translate that into what we do with our fingers, but it's just something that's always in my mind. And then I also love the way that Ella Fitzgerald sings."

Aside from his graduate studies, Moon competed in the prestigious quadrennial Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition earlier this month after teaching at the Vivace Music Festival in Wilmington. It’s the sort of career that allows one to experience the world, which he said would fit nicely into a future that includes solo work but also a lot of chamber music.

An example of the life to which Moon aspires is seen in the judges and guest artists for this competition, violinist Hye-Jin Kim and pianist Marina Lomazov. They will perform together on Saturday evening. Both musicians have played to acclaim as soloists and chamber music collaborators around the globe.

WANT TO GO?

What: Ronald Sachs International Music Competition & Concerts

When: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 1-2. String and keyboard masterclasses begin each day at 9 a.m.; guest artist concerts at 7:30 p.m. each day.

Where: Beckwith Recital Hall in the Cultural Arts Building, UNCW campus. Live stream on the Ronald Sachs Violins YouTube channel.

Tickets: Admission is free for all events.

Details: 910-962-3500 or RonaldSachsIMC.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Classical music coming to UNCW for Ronald Sachs Music Competition