Definate Success!

March 7, 2007 at 2:59 PM

Well I got THE CALL yesterday at around 4:00. I can now say that I am a three time winner of the annual Naples Philharmonic Concerto Competition. The manager (who called and talked to my mom) said that the judges didn't have a single negative comment for me on their review sheets and that they were totally "blown away!" That's really good, because I try very hard to outdo myself every year; it's the real goal I have.
The slightly unfortunate news is that I won't be playing until the autumn. There are tons of graduating seniors this year who have to play in the spring, and they take precedence over my desire to play sooner. But it's really not that bad, because I'll be playing the Lalo for college auditions in the winter anyways.

I shipped myself back to Ave over spring break...I'm getting tired of lounging in my room with literally nothing to do. It's hard for me to study in my bedroom, especially with constant noises and distractions from my three siblings. I do much better in the complete quiet of the library, with only the clacking of computer keys and various instrumentalists practicing next door. Good organ pieces are always a joy to listen to, especially when the musicians are quite good.

I discovered and fell in love with Stephane Grappelli the other day. Quite a long time ago, I heard a brief excerpt of jazz violin-ing on the TV and voiced my high opinion of it. My father recommended Grappelli, but a search for his name yielded no results on our library catalogue, so, being a miserly CD purchaser, I forgot about him. While topic browsing the library catalogue, I came across "Violinists- jazz" and lo and behold I found several Stephane Grappelli CDs that had been lousily catalogued. I love his tone- so warm and fuzzy without being scratchy...and jazz is such a refreshing break from classical. My favorite CD so far is one of Grappelli and Menuhin playing jazz together. So fun! The music sounds like it would be so enjoyable to play.

So all in all, I've had a very nice past two days. I am now abandoning all this novelty for the solace of the Ave library cave.

From Karin Lin
Posted on March 7, 2007 at 5:21 PM

WOW! Congratulations! Very impressive! That's all I can say. :)

From Terez Mertes
Posted on March 7, 2007 at 7:19 PM

>I can now say that I am a three time winner of the annual Naples Philharmonic Concerto Competition. The manager (who called and talked to my mom) said that the judges didn't have a single negative comment for me on their review sheets and that they were totally "blown away!"

Yay! A big congrats to you!

From Sydney M.
Posted on March 7, 2007 at 9:39 PM

Well, that's "knot" a surprise to me ;)

From William Yap
Posted on March 7, 2007 at 10:09 PM

Big congratulations to you! You're an inspiration.

From Neil Cameron
Posted on March 7, 2007 at 10:25 PM

Congratulations Natasha, well done!

Neil

From Natasha Marsalli
Posted on March 7, 2007 at 11:37 PM

Thank you so much you all! William, I think you go overboard when you say I'm an "inspiration" but thank you anyways. :) Thanks all you guys for the support...it's nice to know people out there (besides your parents) understand what it means to play with an orchestra.

From William Yap
Posted on March 8, 2007 at 3:40 AM

For someone that freaks out even in normal violin exams like me, seeing someone that’s brave enough to go for competition and actually winning (not to mention the 3rd time) is quite extraordinary to me. So to me, what you’ve accomplished is quite inspiring. Keep it up!

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