On Friday, Feb. 17, the music department hosted the Class of 1969 Recital Competition, in which a number of advanced student musicians enrolled in music lessons through the department were set to perform in Egner Memorial Chapel. The winner was Lily Arovas ‘23, a concert pianist who has consistently found ways to share her gift and talent for music through the student performing arts scene on campus.
Arovas began learning piano as a classical musician at the age of eight, and explained that when they entered tenth grade, they began taking the art form even more seriously.
“I was so moved by listening to classical music, and I just wanted to be able to elicit that in people, so that’s what really drove me to work to build a much more profound craft there.”
-Lily Arovas ’23
“High School was a big turning point where I switched teachers and I started this whole new trajectory of learning,” explained Arovas. “It was a lot more cutthroat, it was a lot more strict, but I was seeing that I was becoming a better musician.”
Arovas comes from a very musical family, as both of her parents are “avid classical music fans who grew up playing musical instruments.” They describe that their father studies the classical genre, and how that helped her go from “just taking lessons and learning the basics of piano to actually really wanting to be able to produce the music that I was listening to.”
“I was so moved by listening to classical music, and I just wanted to be able to elicit that in people, so that’s what really drove me to work to build a much more profound craft there,” explained Arovas.
At the competition itself, Arovas competed alongside selected vocal musicians, all of whom were accompanied by staff accompanist Vincent Trovato, and Arovas was the only instrumentalist to perform that evening.
“I know I definitely want to preserve my love… for classical music and continue to take lessons and further my craft.”
-Lily Arovas ’23
“It was short and sweet,” explained Arovas. “I was last on the order because the program went in reverse alphabetical order, and overall it was a wonderful experience to perform alongside colleagues who love to make music.”
As the winner of the Class of 1969 Competition, Arovas will perform at the honors convocation at the end of the spring 2023 semester, and, like many others in the senior class, has been thinking about their future beyond the halls of Muhlenberg.
“I’m applying to grad school for more research intensive fields like data science and social science and things like that,” explained Arovas. “I know I definitely want to preserve my love… for classical music and continue to take lessons and further my craft, even if I don’t take it so far as to seek out an educational route.”
Arovas continued, “I have performance anxiety, and working with my teachers and working with people in the [music] field to help me muster the poise that would be needed for performance has been incredibly helpful. I know that I don’t want to go into the professional concert musicianship world because of all of that stress, but it would still be really nice to keep it as something I can still gain opportunities from.”
