The only stories in sports on this date are about the unexpected victories of the men’s basketball team from Florida Gulf Coast University in March Madness, and so even we are compelled to take a closer look.
But this is not a story about basketball, whether the Eagles were seeded properly in the bracket, whether Georgetown was seeded properly in the bracket, or the inevitability of Cinderella teams. Instead, this is a story about a triumph in music, also out of Florida Gulf Coast University.
On March 7, 18-year-old pianist Priscila Navarro debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York. Her performance was part of the package that comes with winning the Chopin International Piano Competition in Corpus Christi, Texas. In last year’s competition, she was the youngest competitor. Even the men’s basketball team wasn’t dead last in the seeding.
Her recital included works by J.S. Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, and Gershwin, as well as two world premieres: “Priscila Prelude” by FGCU assistant professor of composition and music Jason Bahr, and “Ceantu” by Peruvian composer Jimmy Lopez. Ms Navarro is from Peru.
Many people in Florida had not heard of the university until the men’s basketball team became yesterday the first No. 15 seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen Round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. About 13,000 students attend the university. In athletics, men have opportunities in baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, and tennis; women have teams for basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, volleyball, and even sand volleyball.
And let’s not forget the varsity musicians at the Bower School of Music, which Ms Navarro has put on the map. She studies with Professor Michael Baron there. Sure, news of the basketball team overshadows her debut for the moment, but a Carnegie Hall recital culminates a lifetime of dreams. And she’s only 18!
“When I started studying music in Peru, we always heard of Carnegie Hall and all the famous people playing there,” she told WGCU radio and TV last year. “I never thought I could be performing there, but it’s very exciting.”
