FHS student to perform with Toledo Symphony

A Findlay High School sophomore will perform at a Toledo Symphony Orchesta youth event titled "Introducing the Orchestra" on Feb. 11. Miki Kawamura, 16, the daughter of Hiroaki and Sachiko Kawamura, of Findlay, is one of three winners of the The Toledo Symphony League Young Artists Concerto Competition held in January at the University of Toledo. Kawamura, who has studied piano since age 5, will play the Rubenstein Piano Concerto no. 4 mvmt 1 at the event. She has trained in classical piano for 11 years with instructor Kathleen Price. Mary Borus, a student at Bowling Green State University, won the saxophone competition. And 10-year-old Hayool Lee, a fifth-grade student at Central Trail Elementary, Sylvania, won the violin competition. The event will begin at 3 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Trinity Episcopal Church, 316 Adams St., Toledo, with Conductor Daniel Brier. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.toledosymphony.com "Introducing the Orchestra" is an interactive event that will feature small groups of musicians performing throughout Trinity Episcopal Church, who will come together for a finale featuring the competition winners performing with the full orchestra. Despite having participated in a "plethora of competitions," Kawamura said she was so nervous at the young artist competition in January that she doesn't remember much. "... but I remember the piano in the concert hall, which was such a beautiful Steinway. It is always so fun to play on such beautiful pianos. Though, unfortunately, that is also the worst part of competing, since you have no idea what the piano will be like," Kawamura said. "Also, the students that participated in the competition were phenomenal musicians. I still cannot believe I won, I remember walking out of the concert hall feeling so dejected from my performance. I was so shocked when I heard the news because it had actually been a very bad performance of my concerto." Kawamura has taken numerous awards, including first place in the 2019 Junior Division of the Friends of Fort Wayne Symphony Concerto Competition, second place in the 2021 Marylin Walter Young Musicians Award and third place in the 2022 Charlotte and W. Alfred Gray Competition. In addition to piano competitions, she also participates in the National Guild of Piano Teachers' yearly auditions at the national level and in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, in which she has participated 10 years of piano solo, with all superior ratings, and seven years of piano concerto. Aside from piano, she plays first violin in the Findlay High School Orchestra and participated in the Northwest Region Orchestra in 2021 and 2022. She is also very involved in ballet, training at the Findlay Academy of Ballet with instructor Judith Reading. She performed in the Toledo Ballet's 82nd Nutcracker in 2022 as a soloist and a corps de ballet member in numerous roles. "I don't really remember why I started piano, but I remember watching my mother play piano when I was a toddler and also dancing ballet to symphonies and piano concertos with my sister in the living room," said Kawamura. "I have been surrounded with music since I was little because of my mother, so it was natural for me to start taking lessons after my sister did." She plans to study cosmetology at the Millstream Career Cooperative, and English literature and fashion design in college. "I would like to continue my study in classical ballet and classical piano, but I do not have the dedication nor absolute passion to be able to pursue a career with them," she said. "Ballet and piano are a part of my identity, so it will be hard to part with. If I do continue to play piano, I would like to divert from competitive classical piano and focus more on composition and improvisation." For now, it's "practice, practice practice," said Kawamura, as she prepares for the Toledo performance. Practice includes the "never-ending technical side," which means "hours and hours of rhythms with the metronome, and constant, repetitive practice," she said. "On the other hand, there is also musicality. For musicality, the main practice I do is listening. I try to think of what Rubenstein (the composer) wanted, and what he was trying to achieve. I try to question the purpose, intent, and placement of each individual note," she said. "My goal for the next two weeks of practice is to create a performance that moves someone ... I need to show the mastery of piano, and how rich and musical a piano, which is a percussive instrument, can sound. I hope I can be truly satisfied and proud of my performance."