Hat violinist plays Tchaikovsky piece for the last time in a famed location: Carnegie Hall in New York

If a musician is going to “retire” a certain performance so to speak, there are few better ways to do it than how Ciara Hager did last month.

At New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall, the 2016 Crescent Heights High School grad performed Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in D major, first movement for her last time.

“It was really exciting,” she said of performing at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. The occasion was the American Fine Arts Festival Concerto Competition, where she won first place among college students.

“It was my last time playing the piece so I was having more fun playing it than being nervous about it,” she said. “It was a good time to end the piece and play it just for fun.”

From the Wahl-Harker Theatre to Carnegie Hall, it’s been quite a ride for the violinist.

She performed in CHHS productions such as “Get Smart” and “All Shook Up” in recent years and has also been a regular at the Rotary Music Festival. She was a co-winner of the Rose Bowl in 2016 and placed first at the Alberta Provincial Music Festival in 2017.

She said all of those experiences helped prepare her for her current studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and for her performances now and in the future.

“It was great to compete and go through not just winning competitions but also losing competitions and realizing that’s going to happen to me for the rest of my life,” she said. “I learned that it’s good to always think of it in a positive way.”

The 20-year-old is currently in Ontario rehearsing with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada before going on tour in Germany and Scotland next month.

Following her schooling in Rochester, Hager has her sights on starting a string quartet chamber group to take on tour.