SR pianist to show her skills in Ireland
SLIPPERY ROCK — Most teenagers wouldn’t want to spend their summer riding the bench, but when Kaitlynn Sinclair was 14, it suited her just fine.
“My friends were on the beach enjoying the sunshine and I was fixated on becoming the best pianist I could be,” said Sinclair of the summer before she entered eighth grade when she spent hours on the piano bench practicing.
The senior music therapy major at Slippery Rock University, who battles performance anxiety, will find herself on the bench again this summer as one of 18 budding pianists from around the world to take part in the 4th Dublin International Piano Festival and Summer Academy, July 23-Aug. 1 in Dublin, Ireland.
The nine-day festival offers an intensive educational experience for advanced piano students such as Sinclair, as well as a concert series open to the public featuring top international pianists.
“I’m still speechless (that I was selected),” Sinclair said. “It’s incredibly humbling knowing where I came from to where I am now. I’ve gone from crying before recitals to being afforded the opportunity to showcase myself before world famous pianists.”
Sinclair had to submit videotapes of two live performances to be chosen from 52 applicants.
“Taping them was a lot harder than I thought,” she said. “I did Rachmaninoff’s ‘Prelude in C Sharp Minor’ and Debussy’s ‘Engulfed Cathedral.’”
“I sent those off in April. About a week later I got an acceptance, but I didn’t know it because the congratulations went to my junk e-mail,” she said, adding it was days before she finally checked her junk queue.
In the final day of the festival, Sinclair will participate in a collaborative recital with the 17 other invitees.
“I don’t consider myself a concert pianist because I’m afraid to perform,” she said, adding she hopes to eventually become a music professor.
Originally enrolled at Cedarville (Ohio) University in 2011, Sinclair entered her freshman year full of enthusiasm, certain that her passion and playing were sufficient to guarantee her acceptance into the piano program.
However, the university saw it another way.
“I simply didn’t know enough,” Sinclair said.
“It was a fantastic university. I had only five years on the piano, that’s not a lot of time. Most are doing it since they were 5,” she said. “I only knew 10 classical pieces. You cannot major in piano on that.”
It was a blow to Sinclair’s spirit and forced her to choose a different path. She chose voice as her field of study.
While Sinclair possessed talent as a vocalist, the disappointment of not being at the piano led to disinterest at school and eventually drove her back to her parents’ home in Slippery Rock.
It was there that she was reunited with an old friend, the same piano bench that had been her companion through hour upon hour of practice. In a moment of almost defiant determination, Sinclair chose to leave Cedarville for SRU, hoping for a chance to prove herself and her skills at the piano once again.
Little did she know that another former ally was already on the SRU campus.
“Kaitlynn and I go way back,” said Glenn Utsch, associate professor of music performance. “I gave her piano lessons when she was in high school, but she had no idea that I worked at the university. When I saw her again and heard her story, I knew I could help her regain sight of her potential.”
