By: Fitz Harris
Milligan hosted the Sonata Festival, which included a high school senior musical competition last Friday at Seeger chapel.
The two day event is a musical competition providing experience for musicians regardless of age. In its 10th year, the festival began with an opportunity for students to learn a sonata, which has a special form of musical development.
“This is a professional performance evaluation,” said Ivy Blair, executive director and founder of the Sonata Festival. Participants are auditioned and get rated by two qualified artistic judges on their performance level.
Festival adjudications are the main event at the Sonata festival. Participants are judged based on their performance on the piano, strings, voice, band instruments, drama or dance.
Featuring participants from Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, competitors can obtain merit scholarships by receiving double superior marks from both judges. First place receives $500, second place $300 and third place $100.
Initially hosted at ETSU, the Sonata festival was moved to Seeger to be a recruiting tool for Milligan, according to Blair. Students could help by becoming part of the staff, helping with monitoring, being in the audience and providing community service Blair continued.
Operating under the Tennessee Arts Commission with approximately $10,000 worth of grants, the Sonata festival hopes to increase scholarships and continue the level of musical performance.
“It is a great way to spread and popularize classical music,” said Yusuke Yamanaka, winner of the seniors piano section. “I would advise students to participate” Yamanaka said.
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