NC Georgia News

To most listeners, the genres of heavy metal and classical music couldn’t be further apart. The former is chaotic and disordered; the latter, elegant and balanced. University of West Georgia alumnus Manuel Vizurraga ’12 sees a connection. Maybe that’s where his passion for classical music originated.

“I was really into rock and metal in high school, and I joined a band my friends created,” he recalled. “It’s funny to think that gave me the passion to pursue a performing career in classical music. While they are both very different, there are some similarities. Like classical music, some metal songs are longer in length, and they contain a wider variety of musical ideas that break away from the standard verse-chorus-verse structure you would find.”

The crossover proved fruitful for Vizurraga, who recently bested 14,000 other musicians in the International Association of Professional Music Teachers’ (IAPMT) Concours International de Musique Online. He won first place in the master’s division, receiving a cash prize, a gold medal, and an invitation to perform at the winners’ recital in August.

“It took a while to believe I received my first international competition title,” Vizurraga confessed. “As a part of the Hispanic/Latino community, I was glad to achieve this victory and honored to represent the community.”

Vizurraga began training when he was 16 years old. He didn’t have a lot of experience when he enrolled at UWG and began to participate in extracurricular activities and organizations – like Concert Choir, Opera Workshop, Jazz Ensemble and Phi Delta Musicus, a music service fraternity. These experiences, he proclaimed, helped shape his musical voice and career.

“All the interactions I had with friends, brothers, faculty and community helped inspire me to express music in a way that gave me a personal identity,” Vizurraga shared. “There were high and low points for me, and also a period when I questioned my musical ability, but the constant support I received helped motivate me to continue. These opportunities also helped accentuate my college experience by forming wonderful bonds and the sharing of musical ideas.”

Original source can be found here.