Student pianist Allegra Sorley to perform live on WFMT after winning You Tube contest

Posted: 04/17/2012

Allegra Sorley, an undergraduate piano major in Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, has been selected as top soloist in the University’s Piano Showcase by viewers who watched the recital on You Tube and then voted for their favorite artist.

Sorley, 21, an Indianapolis native who has been playing the piano since four years of age, won the most You Tube votes, among six student soloists from CCPA, all who performed during the University’s fall 2011 Piano Showcase recital.

“I’m very excited to be selected,” said Sorley, who, as winning soloist, will be giving her Piano Showcase recital live at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 3, on WFMT-radio in Chicago. “It’s a great opportunity for me as a soloist to get myself out into the public,” she said.

Sorley was selected as CCPA’s top 2011 Piano Showcase soloist by viewers who watched video recordings of all six student pianists performing during the Nov. 9, 2011, Piano Showcase held in the University’s Ganz Hall. The entire concert was broadcast live at that time on WFMT and a recording of the recital has been posted on You Tube since late January.

“Allegra (Sorley) is a hard worker and a valuable member of our community,” said Winston Choi, director of Roosevelt’s Piano Program and Sorley’s piano instructor. “She performs with a great deal of freedom and creativity – and that’s not something that is easy to teach. It’s a gift that she has as a performer,” said Choi.

During the recital that is part of WFMT’s Impromptu Series, Sorley will be interviewed about her life as a pianist and will give a 35-minute concert, performing two Preludes by Claude Debussy, General Lavin – Eccentric and Bruyeres, George Gershwin’s Preludes for Piano, Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne in C minor (Posthumous), Maurice Ravel’s Jeux d’eau and Abegg Variations, Op. 1 by Robert Schumann.

“I’m not only excited but I’m also thankful,” said Sorley, who won the Indiana Music Teachers Association piano competition in the high school division and who also has raised thousands of dollars for different charities by performing in recitals. “This opportunity is possible in large part thanks to WFMT, Dr.Choi and my friends and family,” she said.

While voting has ended, the soloist’s recital performance as well as Piano Showcase performances by CCPA soloists John Urban, Jana Pavlovska, Chenyang Alice Xu, Chanmi Ryu and SangHee Han can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/user/PianoProgramCCPA

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