Each spring, Case Western Reserve University undergraduate students compete in recital format for an opportunity to perform as a soloist with Symphony Orchestra or Symphonic Winds the following academic year. Up to 5 winners are selected during this highly anticipated event. The Department of Music is proud to offer this competition each year as an opportunity for our talented musicians to gain performance experience.
The 2019 Concerto Competition was held on Friday, March 22, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. in Harkness Chapel. The judges are Mr. Eric Charnofsky, Mr. David Ellis, Dr. Kathleen Horvath, and Dr. Ryan Scherber. The accompanists are Anne Wilson, piano and Alicja Bansinska, piano (unless noted). Click here for the program.
Thank you to all of our performers:
- Jessica Kwok, violin (Eugenia Poustyreva) with Natsumi Shibagaki, piano
- Morgan Fox, double bass (Kathleen Horvath)
- Isabel McLeod, harp (Jody Guinn)
- Emma Markowitz, soprano Joan Ellison)
- Zoe Perrier, bassoon (Mark DeMio)
- Jon O’Brien, saxophone (Greg Banaszak) | Concertino da camera (Ibert)
- Aditya Mahesh, saxophone (Greg Banaszak)
- Ryan Buechele, trumpet (Loren Toplitz)
- Nicholas Pogharian, trombone (Paul Ferguson) | Harvest (Mackey)
- Joshua Adams, bass trombone (Paul Ferguson)
- Kentaro Umemori, clarinet (Daniel Gilbert)
- Alexander Lenhart, trumpet (Loren Toplitz)
- Sam Chaffee, piano (Sean Schulze)
- Benjamin Cheung, piano (Gerardo Teissonnière)
- Nicholas Chu, piano (Gerardo Teissonnière)
- Hudson Hu, piano (Gerardo Teissonnière)
- Brian Liu, piano (Gerardo Teissonnière) | Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (Mendelssohn)
- Evelyn Bravo, violin (Stephen Sims)
- Benjamin Crosby, cello (Bryan Dumm)
- Muayad Shahin, violin (Stephen Sims)
- Timothy Orlando, violin (Carol Ruzicka) | Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 22 (Wieniawski)
- Diane Jo, violin (Carol Ruzicka)
Past winners include:
- 2018 | Julie Kim (violin), Bianca Pierson (saxophone), and Devin Reddy (horn)
- 2017 | Kieran Aulak (marimba), Tyler McMaken (piano), Jason Linn (trombone), Zoe Ruolin Yang (violin), and Timothy Nicholas (violin)
- 2016 | David Hsiao (violin), Christina Liu (violin), Rebecca Pfieffer (trumpet), Vincenzo Volpe (flute), and Ann Wang (piano)
- 2015 | Ailin Yu (piano), Meigen Yu (piano), and Robin Jo (violin)