Wawasee Violinist Earns Gold At State
After missing a state gold medal by a mere half point last year, needless to say Wawasee High School student Carly Erst was elated to actually earn one this year. The senior earned a gold medal with her violin solo Saturday in Indianapolis at the Indiana State School Music Association state contest.
Getting to Indianapolis was no easy task. Only gold medal winners in the top level of the district contests statewide are invited to the state contest. At the state contest, the level of competition increases and competitors are rated in nine different categories. Erst earned a gold medal at the district competition in early February at Goshen Middle School.
It was the first gold medal for her at the state level in three tries. She played an eight-minute piece, “La Folia” by A. Corelli for her violin solo, a piece chosen by her private lessons teacher.
Erst saw her mother, Jennifer Erst, play the cello and became interested in string music. “I always loved her playing,” Carly said. Carly began playing the violin at school in the fifth grade when the orchestra program was offered to fifth-graders (it has since been changed to beginning with sixth-graders).
Erst also plays violin with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Youth Symphony and plans to pursue a career in music. She has been accepted to enroll at Anderson University and plans to audition there with her violin Friday where she also hopes to be accepted into the school of music.