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Wilkes piano students perform for Ga. music educators
The students were Christina Albertson and Troy Colvard, piano duet; Christina Albertson, soloist; and Ian Coe with Genevieve Coe, piano duet. All performed except Troy, in the Mozart K. 358 duet with Christina. Troy, current senior and STAR Student at W-WCHS, was assigned to a college scholarship weekend, and instead traveled to Oglethorpe University for an essay competition towards college. This regrettable cancellation nevertheless resulted in Troy being offered a $60,000, fouryear scholarship from the event. This was a third time All-State winning for Troy, the fifth for Christina, the sixth for Genevieve, and the seventh for Ian. Christina's solo, initially placing seventh, was moved to fifth due to cancellations, thus giving her performance status.
Troy's parents are Stacey and Greg Colvard. Christina is the daughter of Daphne and Steve Albertson. Drs. Elizabeth and Stan Coe are parents of Ian and Genevieve. This is the fourth year that the conference, including piano, was held at Savannah's International Trade and Convention Center on Hutchinson Island. Some events continue to be held at the Savannah Civic Center, Christ Episcopal Church, and the Westin Savannah Harbor Hotel and Resort. GMEA events have been held in Savannah since 1973, and Savannah has been the home of the In-Service Conference since 1988. Christina performed in the Solo Piano Master Class (grades nine through college) on Saturday. Her winning solo was a Toccata from Children's Album, Book II, of Khachaturian. The clinician was Dr. Scott Price who is professor of piano and piano pedagogy, head of the piano area, coordinator of group piano, and coordinator of piano pedagogy at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Price emphasized the awesome difficulty in memorization incurred in the Toccata, and gave Christina great praise for "not missing a single note." In addition, Christina had done in-depth research on Khachaturian's Armenian background and his experience in one of the oldest and richest of recorded ancient folk-song cultures; together with the potential folk-song influence on her piece. Christina is a junior at W-WCHS. Dr. Richard Bell, President of GMEA, spoke of "great student ensembles" that were scheduled for performance in every division, and "professional learning sessions" presented "by some of the country's best clinicians." Students and teachers had the advantage of visiting 155 exhibits in the Convention Center. Due to the unusual number of outstanding duet performances from a total of 27 competing teams, a special "Honors Recital" of the top eight teams was held on Friday. Ian and Genevieve performed the Hungarian Dance, No. 7, from Book 2 of Johannes Brahms. Ian is a senior at W-WCHS, and Genevieve is home schooled. The piano division was honored with hearing many outstanding master classes, recitals, and lectures. Some of them were "Autism and Piano Study" given by Dr. Scott Price; "The Piano Works of Henry Cowell" by Dr. George Lucktenberg, a well-known performer to Washington-Wilkes audiences in years past; Master Classes and a brilliant four-hands recital given by Dr. John Noel Roberts and wife Jean in which students and teachers heard a rare performance for piano of "Vltava" from Smetana's "My Country." Dr. and Mrs. Roberts are on the faculty of Mercer University where he is the Callaway Professor of Piano.
Students and parents, along with their teacher, Ruth Harris, enjoyed the historic area of Savannah as well as Greek and Irish restaurants in the area.
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