In January, Laura Onsgard invited clients over for lunch to her home in Dallas. They decided on Chinese food.

At the end of the meal, Onsgard opened her fortune cookie and read, "You will soon hear applause."

At the time, she had an inkling of what it probably referred to.

"I thought, hmm, I wonder what that means," said Onsgard, 50, with a hint of sarcasm. "So, I called my piano teacher in Colorado, flew up to see her, and spent the weekend playing through things."

Since opening that cookie, Onsgard, who is an accountant, has spent "thousands of hours" perfecting her piano skills, which landed her in the position she had hoped for: a place in the field of 75 at this year's International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, presented by Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas.

It's a competition a few of her friends — with whom she regularly practices — had entered before, and she decided it was time to give it a shot herself.

The Conestoga Valley graduate will perform today in her preliminary round at 1:15 p.m., Central time. If her 12-minute program proves successful, she will join 24 other participants in the semifinal round Friday and Saturday. The final six perform Sunday.

Although Onsgard said she is excited to perform in her first competition, she calls the rest of the field "devastatingly talented."

"I'm a real amateur. I don't have a degree in music like a lot of the people do, but I'm thrilled to be in it," she said. "If I have a great performance, and people like it, that's going to be thrilling to me. And if I'm a semifinalist, I don't know how I'll feel. That would be more than I could even comprehend."

The competition, which requires participants to be at least 35 years of age, is presented by the Van Cliburn Foundation, named after the famed American pianist who achieved global attention at age 23 by winning the first International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, 1958, at the height of the Cold War.

The foundation's sister competition, The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, rivals the Tchaikovsky competition and is considered one of the most prestigious in the world.

Gail Rien, Onsgard's mother, said her daughter inherited her family's musical gene and quickly surpassed her family's skills.

"I've played, and my mother was very good. But Laura is marvelous," said the Lititz resident, who will be at today's performance. "She's very talented."

Onsgard started playing piano at a young age and had her first piano in the home at age 7.

She has since studied under Eunice Maurer, organist for St John's Lutheran Church in Reading, Carl Shroader, organist at Trinity Lutheran in Lancaster City, and Jo Boatright, the Colorado teacher she visited in January.

Shroader, who has since become a minister at a Mount Joy church, said Onsgard was a fantastic student when he taught her during her high school years.

"She has tremendous ability and certainly has what it takes," he said. "I hope she wins everything. I don't see why she can't."

Sevan Melikyan, public relations director at the foundation, said this year's 75 competitors came from an original pool of 121 applicants.

Piano program length increases from 12 minutes in the preliminary round to 30 minutes in the final round. Competitors cannot play the same program twice.

First place is a $2,000 cash award and a pair of custom boots — because it is Texas — second is $1,500, and third is $1,000. There are other awards as well, including an audience award and most creative programming award.

"We want to highlight the fact that competitors are doing it for the love of it, for the experience," said Melikyan, referring to the low monetary value of placing in the top three. "They will have the pleasure of beating other fellows with a similar passion. It's important that they do not use this competition to start a career in music."

This year's competitors range in age from 36 to 77. Onsgard is one of 22 women. One-third of participants were born outside the United States, and 23 U.S. states are represented.

Onsgard will have plenty of people cheering for her today. Her husband, Henry Onsgard, and daughter, Kristen, will attend the competition as well as her sister Debbie of Portland, Ore., and other friends.

"We're all just ready to go there and cheer her on. She's going to do well," her husband said.

"I'm rooting for her to make it to the last round and be the final person."

At presstime, Onsgard said she had a faint case of nervousness. But in the end, all she wants is for people to wish her luck.

"I hope I can just stay calm, focused and make beautiful music. That's the best I can hope for," she said. "Calm, focused, make beautiful music. That's my wish."

Email: ehughes@lnpnews.com