Elia Koch recently performed his senior piano recital at First Lutheran Church in Marshall.
His repertoire included solo selections by composers Lemont, Mozart, Chopin, Pieczonka, MacDowell, Kabalevsky and Rachmaninoff.
A piano trio was presented with Koch being joined by his grandmother, Diane Wright of Marshall, and his good friend, Thomas Felton of Dawson.
Koch played duets by Mozart and the husband-and-wife team of Walter and Carol Noona with Anna Jeanne Flesner, his piano instructor, of Tracy.
A reception followed the recital in the fellowship hall for Koch, as a graduating senior from the Koch Family Bilingual Classical Home School and the Good Teacher Great Books Classical Home School Co-op. He has also just completed a college Associate’s Degree of Liberal Arts from Holy Apostles College. Being a beekeeper with his brother, Noah, and working in the family business, Rolling Hills Pizza, keeps Koch busy when not studying or practicing music.
Koch was a Minnesota Music Teachers Association State Piano Contest Winner and passed the MMTA Theory Examinations Levels III and IV with High Distinction. He earned two trophies from the Piano Festival adjudications in the minimum time of six years, receiving all Superior ratings. Koch has sung in two church choirs, a barbershop chorus, performed two characters in the Dawson community musical “Newsies” and was Prince Escalus in “Romeo and Juliet.”
Providing performances as background music for his church youth banquet fundraiser and a piano solo in Tracy’s “Celebration in Song” found the area introduced to more of Koch’s musical skills.
In addition to singing and playing piano, Koch played mallets in the Marshall BEATS program and double bass in the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra.
Koch’s parents are Nikas and Erin Koch of Lynd.
