James Dusek
Judges seek “best of the best” performers.
By James Dusek
jdusek3@student.alamo.edu
The music program is preparing for its yearly showcase of superlative students. Each spring, the student music performance showcase exhibits the program’s most talented students.
After a thorough audition process, a small group of students will be chosen to perform before a public audience.
The showcase will be at 7:30 p.m. April 10 in the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts Center and will be followed by a reception in the lobby.
Fine arts Chair Jeff Hunt said the showcase has been a part of this college for more than a decade.
“As chair, it is by far my favorite concert of the year,” he said. “It really does highlight the incredible talent that we have in our students here at SAC in our music program.”
Students’ music advisers can nominate them to be eligible for the showcase.
If students are nominated, they will audition before a panel of four full-time music faculty judges, who will score their performance.
Those with the highest scores will perform at the showcase.
Students are scored on musicality, skill and the difficulty of the piece they perform, music program Coordinator Andrew Gignac said.
The audition process is intense, but Hunt said it’s intended to give students an opportunity to prepare for auditions after college.
“We try to give our students as many opportunities that are very realistic that they’re going to experience in the future, so when they go to that audition, they’re used to that sort of practice,” he said.
Gignac said the judges are concerned only with the quality, not the variety of performers.
“We want to showcase the best of the best, and if that means all of them are vocalists or all of them are pianists, that’s OK,” he said.
Gignac said performers must be the “best of the best” to earn a spot in the performance.
“If they really want to be at this, they are going to have to play their very best that day,” he said.
The event will be free and open to the public. For more information, call Gignac at 210-486-0269.
