2 Manatee teen musicians shine with big band behind them

There is a moment in all lives when opportunity opens a door marked “Outside the comfort zone.”

To surge ahead can mean personal advancement. Some back away slowly. Some back away fast. But some boldly go forward.

On Sunday night in Sarasota, two Manatee County teens took those bold, but scary, steps.

Although they have been called Manatee County’s top senior flute players and have the awards to prove it, Emily Elmore, 17, and Graeme Sugden, 18, had never in their high school careers performed a solo backed by anything more than a piano.

But, on Sunday night, they performed solos backed by the Sarasota Concert Band before a large appreciative crowd at the Sarasota Opera House.

The pair were key parts of Sunday’s second annual Gulf Coast Honor Band Concert, also described as “the annual concert performed by the best middle and high school band students from Manatee, Sarasota, Hardee, DeSoto and Charlotte counties.”

Concert band fans, parents and guests who attended got to hear both the high school and middle school bands comprised of the area’s top young musicians as well as the Sarasota Concert Band, a local semi-professional symphonic band, and the solos by Elmore and Sugden.

Sugden, who attends Braden River High School, performed “Concertino” by French composer Cecile Louis Stephanie Chaminade.

Elmore, a home schooler who attends Manatee High School part-time for her music classes, excitedly described the moment right after she got off stage when she performed “Concerto in C Major” by Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, the great Baroque composer.

“It was a little intimidating at first to see everyone in the audience, but once I started playing, I was in my element and I started feeling more comfortable,” Elmore said. “It was an absolutely amazing experience.”

William “Bill” Barbanera, music director and conductor of the Sarasota Concert Band, said both Elmore and Sugden will be better musicians for having taken on such significant solos.

“They have done all kinds of solo work with a piano, but this is the first time with a large group,” Barbanera said.

Barbanera’s assessment of the pair held very little back: “They are the future of music. They have worked so hard. I have known both of them since middle school. They are two of the hardest working students I have ever known. They both love music. They love the flute and are so easy to work with.

“They both have phenomenal technique,” Barbanera added. “They both have speed on the instrument, gorgeous tone and exceptional musical interpretation.”

Elmore and Sugden got their solo chance when, in March at Pine View School in Sarasota, they won the Young Artists Competition which was open to any senior honor band student. For recording the highest scores during the audition, not only did Elmore and Sugden snag the solos Sunday night with the Sarasota Concert Band, but each received a college scholarship, Barbanera said.

About two hours before the pair went on stage, they talked about each other and their dreams. Both are headed to college to study flute performance with Elmore going to the University of Central Florida and Sugden going to Florida State University.

The two flute players, who have know each other since a band camp when they were 11 or 12, also both share the same professional dream, to be professional flutists.

“I would like to perform full-time professionally under contract with an orchestra,” Elmore said.

“Emily and I share the same dream,” Sugden said.

Mutual admiration society

Point guards and cornerbacks are scrutinized every which way, but Manatee County has two Division 1 flutists in Elmore and Sugden and, probably, few can talk about their skills.

But the young musicians appreciate each other.

“I think what makes Graeme exceptional is his confidence and how he commands the stage whenever he goes on,” Elmore said of Sugden. “Everytime I look at him I’m just, ‘Gosh, I wish I could play with that much pizazz.”

“My favorite part of Emily’s playing is her technical ability,” Sugden said of Elmore. “She is able to look at a page and just whip it out with her fingers right after. It’s going to help her a lot in the future and right now. She is able to master all of these difficult pieces that have all of these crazy runs. Give her many, many notes and she can play all of them perfectly.”

This story was originally published May 7, 2017 at 7:10 PM with the headline "2 Manatee teen musicians shine with big band behind them."