Four concerto competition winners will perform original and renditions of compositions today, showing off their winning material and talents.

The NIU Philharmonic will perform its first concert of the spring semester 7 p.m. today in the Music Building’s Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. The show features musical pieces ranging from the theme from Tchaikovsky’s“Swan Lake” to an excerpt from a Bellini opera.

“This concert is meant to feature the concerto competition,” said freshman biology major Elle Baker. “It’s really nice that we get to perform with them.”

The four concerto competition winners vary in instruments from piano to voice. For the competition, students from the School of Music must prepare a piece to be performed with a full orchestra.

“The process for the competition is actually really long,” said Abby Mungai, sophomore music education major. “The auditions are in the fall and the judges go through steps and narrow all of the auditions down to only four winners.”

Mungai said pianist Kyle Krause’s original composition stands out from the other pieces.

“One of the winners is a pianist,” Mungai said. “He [Krause] actually composed his own concerto piece that he will play at the concert.”

Gordon Kirchner, junior computer science major, said the most thrilling part of being a member is being able to work with director Lucia Matos.

“[Matos is] amazing,” Kirchner said. “She can actually get you to feel the music and really understand what we’re playing.”