St. Olaf music student wins string competition
St. Olaf College student musician Hannie McGarity ’19 won first prize in the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota String Competition.
As the winner of the competition, she will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Bergen, Norway, in late October. She will perform in the home of Grieg, the celebrated Norwegian composer and pianist, in connection with a seminar titled “Romantic Piano Meets the Hardanger Fiddle: Edvard Grieg’s Chamber Works and Solo Piano Music.”
Each of the finalists in the string competition played a whole Grieg sonata, another piece by a Scandinavian composer, and a Grieg miniature.
McGarity played Grieg’s Sonata in C Minor, Christian Sinding’s Suite in A Minor, and Ved mannjevningen by Grieg.
“I feel so lucky to have the amazing opportunity to travel to Norway for the first time, and I am looking forward to continue learning about Scandinavian music as I study Grieg’s and other Scandinavian repertoire,” McGarity says.
McGarity, who is majoring in violin performance, is a member of the St. Olaf Orchestra. She toured with the orchestra in Argentina and Uruguay last summer, and next spring she will study music in Vienna, Austria. She is a native of Bellingham, Washington.