Spotlight on...Emily Kim Goldsmith '08

Author: Andrew Throdahl

Emily Kim Goldsmith '08, winner of this year's Alan and Joyce Beucher Concerto Competition, will be playing the first movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in the College Orchestra concert on April 25. The Middlebury Campus caught up with the violinist on how she got started with music and what she plans to do with her $200 of prize money.

The Middlebury Campus: How long have you been playing the violin and what got you started?
Emily Goldsmith: I started playing when I was five years old. So I guess, that makes 16 years. There's actually a funny story about how I got started. I was sitting in the back of the car with my parents, who were both musicians (they would always play classical music in the car) and of all the instruments I heard, I picked out the violin. I begged them from the time I was two if I could learn the violin.

MC: Why did you choose the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto for the Concerto Competition?
EG: I have wanted to play the Mendelssohn ever since I heard one of my teacher's students play it in middle school. A lot of my teachers were reluctant to teach it because it is the most popular violin concerto, even though it's probably one of the hardest as well. I have been working on it casually since my senior year of high school. I take lessons with Katherine Winterstein, and this is the first year that she has taught the Mendelssohn, although she's been playing it since she was 16. Teaching something and playing something you've been playing since you were little are very different things. My old teacher refused to teach the Mendelssohn because it drove one of her students nuts.

MC: Could you tell us what you plan on doing with your prize money?
EG: I'll probably end up saving it in some form for next year when I'm a starving college grad. But a kind of funny story is that I was being a real scrooge for Winter Carnival, and everyone was convinced that if I won, I should go to the Winter Ball, which I did. It ended up being a good night.

MC: How do you expect your past experiences playing with orchestras will effect playing the Mendelssohn?
EG: I won a concerto competition with my local youth orchestra in high school, and I played the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole. It's a big power trip in front of an orchestra. A lot of my friends are supportive of the Mendelssohn as a piece, and I'm glad that they won't be bored by the Mendelssohn. There was some stiff competition this year, but I got the feeling that since they made the competition more of a sponsored thing it has become more competitive and just a bigger deal. Everyone seemed like they were really prepared and really into it. I got lucky!

MC: What other music related projects do you have, or rather, are you practicing for, this semester?
EG: I'm trying to learn the second two movements of the Mendelssohn, which I won't actually perform in the concert. The third movement is really really difficult, so it wouldn't be feasible anyway. Troy also planned the concert around the first movement. I'm disappointed I won't get to play Ezra Axelrod's piece, which is on the program. And I'm working on a few selected movements from string quartets by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schubert. I'm playing part of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden," which I worked on last semester, for the CFA dedication ceremony next weekend.

MC: Do you plan to continue with music after you graduate?
EG: In some way, definitely. I'm not going to go to grad school for music, because I'm pursuing languages. I always want to play, and I get upset when I'm not playing, and when I'm not playing well. But it is something I want to maintain.