Notes of Distinction: WAU Students Solo at Carnegie Hall

TAKOMA PARK, MD – The Music department of Washington Adventist University is warming up the wheels for the next big event on the schedule. On Sunday 31st of March, two students from the Carnegie Scholars Program will perform as soloists in New York, at the world-famous Carnegie Hall, on the Perelman Stage.

 The Carnegie Scholars Program at Washington Adventist University is administered by the New England Symphonic Ensemble (NESE) under the direction of Dr. Preston Hawes (director of strings and orchestral studies at WAU) and is the only existing degree-accredited program of its kind within the denomination; it is similarly unique among the top music conservatories and schools in the US. This elite mentorship program brings WAU students to the stage of Carnegie Hall in collaboration with MidAmerica Productions, and mentor-members of the NESE. The performance on March 31st of Tchaikosky’s 4th symphony and Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino overture will mark the 384th performance at Carnegie Hall in which the NESE and the Carnegie Scholars have performed together. Members of the Carnegie Scholars Program have participated in performances with the NESE simply described as “flawless” (the Rhodes Magazine). The New England Symphonic Ensemble has been led by a striking roster of guest conductors, including John Rutter, Sherrill Milnes, Peter Tiboris, Helmuth Rilling, Simon Carrington, and Jonathan Willcocks. On the forefront of current trends, WAU’s Carnegie Scholars have performed world premieres that include Dinos Constantinides’ Byron’s Greece, Hymn to the Human Spirit, and Midnight Fantasy II for wind ensemble; John Rutter’s Cantate Domino, Distant Land, Magnificat, and Mass of the Children; and John Leavitt’s A Christmas Garland, and can be heard on the Naxos label in an award-winning recording of Spirituals with internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, the late Barbara Smith Conrad. 

The Carnegie Scholars have traveled the world to over 50 countries performing in the world’s greatest concert halls including Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher (now David Geffen) Hall, Moscow House of Culture, and Windsor Castle, among others, and for world dignitaries and royalty including HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana of Thailand, President Ford, and Queen Noor of Jordan. Alumni of the Carnegie Scholars Program have gone on to continue studies at the top universities of the world including Yale, Harvard, Oxford, and MIT, and serve the globe musically in roles ranging from Grammy award-winning soloists, Metropolitan Opera recording artists, and principal leaders in Broadway musicals and top orchestras around the world. While maintaining musical interests, others have gone into non-musical professions – among the alumni are several award-winning lawyers, a neurosurgeon and research scientist at the Mayo Clinic, and many other established medical professionals and business entrepreneurs. 

The Carnegie Scholars consistently boasts a diverse and international roster of pre-professional musicians. The two WAU musicians performing solos at Carnegie Hall on March 31st are trumpeter Abner Marquez who is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. Marquez is a double Music Performance and Political Science major who will graduate Cum Laude this spring. Cellist and Junior Music Performance major Sofiia Yatsyshyna immigrated from Ukraine in late 2021 and is a Junior Music Performance Major and a member of the Honors College.

The mission and vision of the Carnegie Scholars Program is to provide access and opportunity to the most deserving music students and to instill in them the discipline, motivation, and confidence that is required to achieve the highest levels of musical performance while galvanizing the understanding that music is and above all an agent for positive change both in their own lives and in the communities they choose to serve – whether in music or in other areas of professional interest. 

Yatsyshyna, preparing for her solo debut at Carnegie Hall, reflects on her journey from dreaming about performing at the venue to becoming a soloist, emphasizing the program’s impact on her development as a musician:

“Since I was a baby, I’ve always dreamed of performing at Carnegie Hall. Now, sitting next to professional musicians in an orchestra, I never thought I’d perform as a soloist. It’s a special time, filled with excitement and responsibility, representing Washington Adventist University in front of more than 1,000 people,” Yatsyshyna said. 

As takeaways, besides work and internship opportunities, Yatsyshyna mentioned the unmeasurable importance of practicing on her own, which now shapes her approach to any music performance.

In conclusion, Dr. Hawes remarked on the stellar capacity of this Music Program: “Once a Carnegie Scholar graduate walks through WAU’s Gateway to Service, as director of the Carnegie Scholars Program at WAU I am confident and proud of each one because I know the hard work they put in to build their skills, to become more globally aware, and to hone their passions into actionable ways that will make the world a more beautiful and equitable place. The resonance of the Carnegie Scholars Program is generational and global, and I believe it to be the central diamond in WAU’s crown of educational opportunity.”