The summer of 2005 has been a competitive one for 26-year-old pianist Spencer Myer ’00. Not only has he been entering competitions, but he also has been succeeding in them. He took the silver in the 2005 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati in July and placed fourth in the 2005 Cleveland International Piano Competition in August.

In Cleveland he walked away with more than the $10,000 cash award. He also received the $1,500 Cairns Family Prize for his performance of the Samuel Barber Sonata, and won the $1,500 Contemporary Prize for his opening-round performance of the 1990 Piano Sonata by Australian composer Carl Vine.  Of equal or greater value, artistically speaking, was the opportunity to play Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra and conductor Jahja Ling at Severance Hall, which Myer did as one of the finalists.

Up next for Myer is the 2005 Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy, a long way from his hometown of North Ridgeville, Ohio. He would have tried out for the other world-class musical contest taking place this year, the 2005 Cliburn International Piano Competition, but he had a major scheduling conflict: while it was underway in late May and early June, he was engaged in a concert tour of South Africa, thanks to his first-prize win last year at the 10th Unisa International Piano Competition in Pretoria.

Not all of Myer’s plans this summer have centered on competitions. In June he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University, and in late August he appeared at the Bard Festival in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where works by featured composer Aaron Copland were interspersed with less-than-typical programming fare by other composers. Myer accompanied mezzo-soprano Jennifer Dudley and soprano Ann Panagulias ’84 in songs by Ruth Crawford and Israel Citkowitz, respectively.

While at Oberlin, from 1996 to 2000, Myer studied with Professor of Piano Peter Takács and Emeritus Professor of Piano Joseph Schwartz. Takács’ focus, says Myer, was on the structural side of music, teaching his student how to shape a phrase to make it speak. From Schwartz he learned to concentrate on producing a beautiful tone.

Myer’s career as a solo pianist didn’t truly kick into high gear until 2003, when he entered and took home a prize from the New Orleans Piano Competition. After that, he began to build up momentum, traveling the world for competitions in Montreal, Sydney, and New York.

But even globetrotting concert pianists need to take an occasional coffee break. Myer took one the day before the final round of the Cleveland competition, meeting up at a local coffee shop with freelance music journalist Zachary Lewis for an iced chai and a conversation about music, life, and Oberlin. Here is their exchange:

Since you’re the only Obie competing at this event, do you feel an additional pressure to represent Oberlin well to the world?
There usually are a couple of us at every competition, but this time I feel like I’m waving the American flag, the Cleveland flag, and the Oberlin flag all at once. It’s an amazing experience.

How about the audience at a piano competition? Clearly these are not your average listeners.
It’s harder because they know the music, but at the same time, I know they’ll respond. But actually I enjoy the atmosphere of the audience. That’s one of the best things about competitions, in fact. The energy is really palpable.

What else besides your solo piano training did you take away from your undergraduate years?
Oberlin is where I discovered my love for foreign languages. We had to take 24 credit hours of liberal arts classes and I used them to study French, German, and Italian. Musically, it’s also where I got my love of accompanying singers.