Concerto Competition Celebrates Student Achievement and Campus Spirit

One of many Oberlin traditions observed in late spring is the Senior Concerto Competition performances, which celebrate outstanding Conservatory students in their final years of study.

In fall 2025, four musicians advanced through a preliminary round and a final round, the latter adjudicated by an external panel of respected names in the industry. Their prize: the opportunity to perform a solo work with one of Oberlin’s orchestral ensembles, conducted by Raphael Jiménez.

With the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, clarinetist Keyvar Smith-Herold performed Claude Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie on April 2, and soprano Saige Hoffman performed Joaquin Turina’s Poema en forma de canciones on May 1. With the Oberlin Orchestra, violist William Mathangani performed Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto on April 9, and pianist William Chen will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 on May 8.

“This is a moment in the school year that is very special to me,” Jiménez says. During the concerto performances, “ you can feel how everybody is doing the best they can to accompany their friends with so much love. It represents the ethos of our institution so well.”

Winning the Competition is something that most of the participants had imagined for years. “It was something I had dreamed about since I first arrived on campus,” says Keyvar Smith-Herold, who studies with Professor of Clarinet Richard Hawkins. 

Smith-Herold enjoyed not only the performance itself, but also the experience of rehearsing the music together with Jiménez and the ensemble. “It’s an experience I’ll always value.”

Violist William Mathangani found that his intentional preparation for the Competition paid dividends. “As much as I wanted to win, I also just wanted to become a better musician, no matter the outcome,” he says. Working with Professor of Viola Peter Slowik, “I raised my standards for myself, which also led to a lot of success this year outside the competition.” 

A few months ago, Mathangani decided not to stay for a fifth year and earn a double degree, meaning that he will graduate in the spring. So “the meaning behind the concerto changed for me,” he says. “It was more a farewell to Oberlin, and I wanted to make it something special.”

On May 1, Saige Hoffman performed Turina’s Poema en forma de canciones, a song cycle with lyrics entirely in Spanish. “As a Nicaraguan-American, it brings me immense pride to be able to represent my family’s language on a bigger stage,” she says. “It is a rare privilege to perform a piece you love on a stage like this, and I plan to hold on to every moment.”

A student of Associate Professor of Voice Katherine Jolly, Hoffman adds that “it wasn't just a personal win, but a moment to acknowledge the incredible support and guidance I've received from my teachers.”

On May 8, William Chen will perform Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with the Oberlin Orchestra, an experience he says will be “unforgettable.” He began practicing the piece years ago, inspired by the recordings of pianists like Vladimir Horowitz and Martha Argerich, before really digging into it with his teacher, Stanislav Ioudenitch. 

The concerto “always gazes towards a part of the past, present, or future that we look for in some intuitive sense,” Chen says. “As I practice, I seek to imagine these lingering and fleeting feelings radiating down the rows of seats, walls, and ceilings of Finney.”

Jiménez has conducted many Concerto Competition performances over the years, and he appreciates getting to share these moments with students he has watched grow. Many “will go on to have wonderful careers,” he says. So these concerts are “a great opportunity for the community to see these people as they are taking the first step into a bright future.”

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Stephanie Manning ’23 completed her bassoon performance degree at Oberlin while finding her way into journalism as a classical music critic. She returned to Cleveland after finishing a graduate diploma in journalism at Concordia University in Montreal. A regular contributor to ClevelandClassical.com, she has also published articles with Signal Cleveland, The Montreal Gazette, and Carnegie Hall.