BRHS Senior Named Finalist in Piano Competition (The BReeze newspaper published on March 2016)

Post date: Feb 29, 2016 1:51:12 AM

[The BReeze, Bridgewater, NJ on March 2016] Bridgewater-Raritan High School senior Irene Koc is one of the top seven national finalists in the 2016 Music Teachers National Association Senior Piano Duet Competition. 

This is the second time Koc has represented the Eastern Division in the national competition, after having competed in 2015 at the MTNA National Finals Competition in Las Vegas.

Koc will travel to San Antonio, Texas, in April to compete.  Koc earned the chance to compete after winning the Eastern Division of the MTNA Senior Piano Duet Competition.  A total of 12 states were represented, and Koc and her duet partner had to memorize a 30-minute repertoire and practice for individual technique and synchronization in technical passages and musical interpretation.  

According to a release, Koc has been studying piano for more than 12 years, and plays piano duets while also being an accomplished piano soloist.  In summer 2015, Koc won first prize and the Chinese prize in the International Young Artists Piano Competition Finals, allowing her to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.    Koc's winning solo performance was broadcast on McGraw Hill's Young Artist Broadcast on the WQXR Public Radio in February 2016.  

In addition, Koc has received first place awards in many piano competitions, resulting in performances in places like Zankel Hall and Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center and more.  She has also been invited to perform piano at the Hubay Jeno Music School and the Rozsavolgyi Mark Arts School in Budapest, Hungrary.

Besides piano, Koc is a flutist and, in 2015, was selected as the first chair flutist in the NJ Central Region Symphonic Band and as a flutist in the NJ All-State Symphonic Band.