Conservatory student pianist plays at Carnegie Hall in NYC

 A 13-year-old Wilkes Conservatory pianist played at Carnegie Hall this spring, marking her second consecutive year playing at the prestigous theater.

Sienna Tabron was granted the opportunity to play at the prestigious New York City venue once again after receiving a perfect score and two bonus points for her performance at the Northeastern Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association Honors Recital in January.

Although Tabron was also selected last year, she was surprised to be chosen again.

"I was really excited," she said. "I didn't think I was actually going to make it."

At the audition recital, Tabron, along with 245 other musicians above the age of 7 performed. They were hoping to be one of the 34 chosen to play at Carnegie Hall. The musicians were scored on technique, performance, poise, dynamic contrast, character of the piece and difficulty of the piece. Age was also taken into consideration.

In each category, points were awarded ranging from 1 to 10. Tabron was one of six other 13-year-olds who received a high enough score to play in NYC. The aspiring professional musician first became interested in piano when her sister started taking lessons at their home in Wilkes-Barre. Now Tabron has been playing for almost eight years, four of which she has been taking lessons with Pamela Carroll of the Wilkes University Conservatory.

Carroll quickly noticed Tabron's talent and gave her the guidance she needed to excel.

"I knew that she was very talented but she didn't have direction and that's what I gave her was direction," Carroll said. "She had ambition and she just needed knowledge to fill in the gaps."

After performing at Carnegie Hall last year, Tabron became more motivated to play deeper songs. Recently Tabron began selecting her own music including the piece she played this year at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-Minor."

Carroll explained that Tabron's dedication to the instrument is the source of her success.

"Ninety percent of learning to play an instrument well is practicing and 10 percent is talent I think," Carroll said. "Sienna was always a great practicer and always put a lot of time in on her instrument and that's what made her so good."

Carroll is very pleased with the progress Tabron has made and enjoys working with someone who is so committed.

"She is an extremely talented person and it's a joy to work with someone who is so interested and it's just a joy as a teacher to work with someone like her."

Contact Devoni Novak at:

devoni.novak@wilkes.edu