Natasha Talukdar  has dreamed about performing at Carnegie Hall since she was a little girl.  On Mar. 9, all the hours of practicing and previous accomplishments will finally pay off when her dream comes true.

The journey to Carnegie Hall was certainly a long one, beginning on Jan. 26 in New Jersey.  Talukdar competed against 400 other pianists, including her brother, freshman Prithviraj (Raj) Talukdar, for the American Asian Fine Arts Association.  Out of these 400 contestants, ages 5-19, 80 were chosen to play at Carnegie Hall.  A number of the contestants who fell short of Carnegie Hall were selected to play at an honors concert.

Natasha heard back on Jan. 28, and was thrilled to find out that all her hard work had paid off.  In less than two months, she would play at  Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Playing strictly classical music, Talukdar was the chosen finalist at the New York International Competition and in December, she was also a chosen winner at the World Journal Competition.

Talukdar has studied piano since she was five years old.  As a senior, Talukdar is looking ahead to college, where she hopes to minor in piano performance.

“I don’t want music to leave me. It has always been a part of my life and it is pretty much my sport. Just like people have their varsity sports, piano is my number one priority,” said Talukdar.

In addition to practicing the first movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” Sonata in C minor for her upcoming performance, Talukdar will have to arrange tickets for her family, friends, and teachers.  As a teenaged girl, her biggest concern is finding the perfect gown that is appropriate for the occasion.

Talukdar plays the piano for the mixed and concert choir and has been music teacher Mr. John Spiezio III’s accompanist for the past three years.  Her brother is set to take over that role next year.

Talukdar will be performing at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, where she will play one movement from a sonata, which is about six minutes long, for about 270 people.   Now, Talukdar has to practice by herself.

“I remember in health class we were doing this thing where you had to write what you wanted to accomplish by you were 25 and I put performing in Carnegie Hall. The hours of practicing and finger pains never seemed worth it. Being older now and having more experience performing has helped me love classical music more now than I ever have when I was five,” said Talukdar.

Talukdar’s childhood goals will come true on Mar. 9 and she also hopes to continue her practices by minoring in music performance next year.