Carleton musical talent Suren Barry took the top piano prize at the 2012 National Music Festival earlier this month in Fort McMurray, Alta, beating out 600,000 performers across Canada, according to the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals.
Barry competed in the run-up to the national competition that featured musicians ages 14 to 28, according to Carleton’s website.
The 22-year-old Barry called the competition “a very stressful experience” performing in front of a panel of international judges, but said he was nonetheless “very pleased” to win at the national level. Barry noted the challenge of separating the competition stress from his musical performance.
“It takes a lot of focus but you can’t let the fact that it’s a competition bother you,” he said. “Ideally the fact that you’re being judged shouldn’t change your performance at all.”
Barry’s musical talent was recognized at a young age when the Ottawa Citizen first praised his performance at the 2001 Kiwanis Music Festival. Barry, then only 11 years old, was already being called a musical prodigy for the maturity of his performance, a compliment he respectfully disagrees with.
“It’s all very flattering but I’m certainly no prodigy,” he said. “I work very hard and got to where I am now because of that hard work.”
Barry studies classical piano with Carleton associate performance faculty member Nicole Presentey.
James Wright, associate professor of music and supervisor of performance studies at Carleton, said he was “extremely delighted and proud” to have Barry take top honours in such a prestigious competition.
“Suren’s performance in the competition was very difficult and he played it with virtuosic skill,” Wright said. “His playing was as always highly expressive and insightful.”
Wright said award-winning students like Barry are great promoters for Carleton’s music program and help give the school more world-wide recognition.
“Without any doubt outstanding students like Suren help spread Carleton’s message,” he said. “Over the years we’ve had many students come to Carleton after being impressed by the performances of our graduates.”
Barry, who graduated from Carleton this year and is now a nationally-recognized musician, said he is taking a year off from school to plan for a master’s degree in Europe. Barry says he would love the opportunity to study in a part of the world that is “steeped in the history of classical music.”
