« My supreme dream had come true »
« I don’t really believe this yet, » says Ásta Dóra Finnsdóttir, who received a response from one of the world’s most prestigious music schools, the Curtis Institute of Music in the US city of Philadelphia a week ago.
She is the first Icelandic pianist to enter the school, but he takes in very few students each year and only three students are included by the 64 piano students who have been audited at the school. Only 160 students study at Curtis University of Music a year and three employees are per four students, which is among the best in the world.
Ásta Dora applied for five music universities, including on m. Peabody in Baltimore and Juilliard in New York. She took her father, Finni Þorgeirsson, on two trips in February and now in March both to Canada and the United States. In the second trip that was now earlier this month, she underwent Juilliard’s auditions and ended up testing at Curtis.
The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia was founded in 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok and is one of the world’s most respected music schools.
Photo/Finnur Þorgeirsson
Two rounds
« I was not hopeful of getting in and thought to me that I would just do my best and if it didn’t happen, there would be no judgment on me, but on this day someone else in the group would be a little better than me, » says Ásta Dóra, adding that it is necessary to have a certain serenity in these circumstances.
The first round took place on March 8 and 9 and played Asta the second day. Then in the evening the results were presented and Ásta Dóra was one of the six who got to participate in the second audition, which was half the previous one. « I thought I had lost my life’s biggest opportunity, because I didn’t think I could play as I can do best, » says Ásta Dóra.
Students were then announced that an email would come in April 1, at the same time as results were to be received from Juilliard and Peabody. However, it did not happen because the fathers had hardly come home when a letter came to Asta Dóra and she had entered. « When I opened the letter and saw it, I screamed with joy. My supreme dream had come true. »
For fun, it is worth noting that a teacher in the jury who brought them the news about the entrance is the son of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and is named Ignat Solzhenitsyn.
Further discussion can be found in Morgunblaðið yesterday, Saturday.
