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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Symphony competition has high standards

Young musicians vie for scholarships, chance to perform with orchestra

By , Columbian staff writer
Published:
4 Photos
Richard Lu, then a 15-year-old sophomore at Skyview High School, plays Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major at last year's Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's Young Artists Competition at Trinity Lutheran Church in Vancouver. He is one of the finalists selected to compete again at this year's competition on Feb.
Richard Lu, then a 15-year-old sophomore at Skyview High School, plays Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major at last year's Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's Young Artists Competition at Trinity Lutheran Church in Vancouver. He is one of the finalists selected to compete again at this year's competition on Feb. 8. Photo Gallery

If You Go

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s 21st annual Young Artists competition

When: 1 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Trinity Lutheran Church, 309 W. 39th St., Vancouver.

What: Nine young musicians will compete for scholarships; two (or perhaps three) first-place winners will be chosen to perform with the VSO in April.

Cost: Free.

More info: www.vancouversymphony.org

Call: 360-735-7278.

Nine of the finest young musicians in the Pacific Northwest will rumble — in the most mellifluous sort of way — as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra hosts its 21st annual Young Artists Competition next weekend.

The Sunday afternoon concert is free and open to the public. All are welcome to witness what’s easily the Vancouver Symphony’s most exciting event of the year, executive director (and principal clarinetist) Igor Shakhman said. No tickets are required, and the audience is always full of family members, teachers and friends — as well as curious classical music lovers — who create a feeling of real electricity, he said.

“It’s like a combination of a reality show and a concert,” Shakhman said. Each of the nine contestants, whose anonymous audition tapes were selected late last year by a group of independent judges, will play a short piece with the symphony. A different group of judges will “discuss and calculate everything” before announcing first-, second- and third-place winners in two categories, piano and strings.

If You Go

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's 21st annual Young Artists competition

&#8226; When: 1 p.m. Sunday.

&#8226; Where: Trinity Lutheran Church, 309 W. 39th St., Vancouver.

&#8226; What: Nine young musicians will compete for scholarships; two (or perhaps three) first-place winners will be chosen to perform with the VSO in April.

&#8226; Cost: Free.

&#8226; More info: <a href="http://www.vancouversymphony.org/">www.vancouversymphony.org</a>

&#8226; Call: 360-735-7278.

There are usually three categories, Shakhman added — the other is brass/woodwind/percussion — but this year, he said, no audition tape in that area stood out.

“It’s incredibly important for us to keep everything at the top artistic level,” he said. “The standards of judging are incredibly high, and unfortunately, nobody in that category qualified.

“But if there is anybody else who is outstanding in either category, strings or piano, I will instruct the judges to offer another first-place spot,” he said.

First-, second- and third-place scholarships of $1,000, $500 and $250 will be offered in those categories, and the first-place winners will go on to rehearse and perform with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and its popular maestro, Salvador Brotons, on April 18 and 19 at Skyview Concert Hall.

“It is exciting for students to work with such a professional orchestra and maestro Brotons,” Shakhman said. “It could be an incredible starting point for a career.”

Three of the finalists are from Clark County: pianist Jeremiah Guo, who attends Camas High School; cellist Richard Lu of Skyview High School; and violinist Yun Teng of Camas High School. Contestants from up to 135 miles away from Vancouver — an area that includes Seattle, Eugene and Yakima — were eligible to apply.

Radio personality Edmund Stone, host of the nationally syndicated show “The Score” on All Classical Radio in Portland, will be the emcee at the Feb. 8 concert.

“He adds a lot,” Shakhman said. “Ever since we added Edmund, the event has just stepped up to another level.”

The competition is sponsored by the Anna C. MacAskill Schwab and Dwight Schwab, Sr. Charitable Foundation.

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