<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Friday, March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Symphony opens Young Artists contest

Vancouver Symphony's 23rd annual Young Artists contest now open for entries.

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: August 20, 2016, 6:05am

If you’re a young music student with big talent and even bigger dreams of glory, consider giving it your all in the upcoming Vancouver Symphony Orchestra “Young Artists” competition.

This is the 23rd year that our local symphony orchestra, which considers nurturing young talent essential to its mission, has hosted a competition aiming to discover and celebrate stellar young, classical musicians who live in this region. The competition is open to those who are actively studying with a private teacher; 18 or younger as of Jan. 1; and living within a 135-mile radius of Vancouver, a range that includes Seattle, Yakima and Eugene, Ore.

There are three instrumental categories for the competition: piano, strings and brass/woodwinds/percussion.

Contestants must prepare by memory one movement of a standard concerto for their instrument that’s no longer than 15 minutes.

To enter the competition, you must first get approval for the concerto you’ve chosen. Don’t phone the VSO office; you must email orchestramgr@vancouversymphony.org to get your selection approved. No unapproved entries will be accepted. Orchestra manager Igor Shakhman always advises contestants to do this sooner rather than later, to have plenty of time to perfect a performance and make a professional-level recording.

That recording must be received at the VSO office by the deadline, 4 p.m. on Dec. 2. There’s a $50 entry fee, and a system for labeling the CD so the panel of professional musician-judges who receive it can listen blindly, without knowing anything about the player.

Three finalists in each category will be chosen and invited to compete on Jan. 8 in front of a live audience at Trinity Lutheran Church in Vancouver. At stake is scholarship money of $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place.

Finally, the first-place winner in each category will perform their winning selections with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and its music director, Maestro Salvador Brotons, during two concerts on April 22 and 23. Winners also may be invited to play during the orchestra’s Chamber Music series.

“Every season, I am amazed at the talent, passion and skill these young musicians bring to the orchestra,” Brotons said.

“Our Young Artists competition is a great way for young musicians to showcase their incredible talents,” Shakhman said. “The audiences for both out winter competition and the April concerts are enthusiastic and keep growing every year.”

Loading...
Tags