Sienna Zwizinski – Mustangs Ahead

(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) – LRHS junior Cory Coyner received second place last weekend for the 11th grade prize at the Suncoast Music Scholarship.

Coyner was accompanied by Hoang Pham, a past winner of the same competition.

The Suncoast Music Scholarships is an annual music competition for sophomores through seniors who go to schools in the Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Student Accompanist Hoang Pham said, “He won second prize for the 11 grade category, which is quite impressive considered how many talented musicians were there.

“He took up the challenge and learned and performed Der Erlkonig by Franz Peter Schubert for the competition to which he got my greatest respect,” he continued.

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The piece that Coyner performed is based off of a story.

The tale recounts a dramatic story of a father and his son riding through the dark forest on horseback.

Unbeknown to the father, the child hears the voice of Erlkonig–the Erlking, a mythical sinister elf that stalks children in the woods—luring him to come with him.

LRHS choir and keyboard teacher Rebecca Lester said, “As for Schubert’s adaptation, the solo singer took up the role of singing all four different characters of the story, the narrator, the father, the child, and the Erlking, by himself.”

Lester Continued, “The pianist had to play rapid triplet chords, which represents the intense gallops, continuously for the duration of 4 minutes straight. Overall, it is an extremely technically demanding and thrilling masterpiece.”