By Alexis McCarney ’25, staff writer

Lebanon Valley College’s music department once again held a Concerto Aria Competition on March 29 in Lutz Recital Hall.  This is an event where instrumentalist and vocalist students who are taking lessons through the College perform pieces for a panel of judges made up of faculty and a guest judge. 

A vocalist and instrumentalist student are chosen as the winners with the highest performance level and are selected to go perform with the orchestra in their fall concert.  

This year’s participants included Adelyn Ruth, Andrew Santoro, Caleb Schunk, Christiana Wagner and Gillian Cheezum.  Adelyn and Andrew were the winners.  Adelyn performed on the French horn and Andrew is a baritone vocalist.   

Performer Gillian Cheezum, sophomore flute player, found out she was competing last year and chose a piece that was a personal favorite. 

“Going into this competition with my own goal, like performing well and getting this one spot I had been struggling with, helped me so much in my performance,” Cheezum, said.  “I love playing my flute for people and being able to share my music, so this mindset made me forget about the competition stress, and I was able to just play.”

This competition was a valuable opportunity for the participants to gain experience performing.