Auburn Symphony's Annual Family Concert &Young Artists Competition

How do young musicians in the region get started on professional careers in music? One important way is through Auburn Symphony's annual Young Artists Competition and Recital. Since 2002, the symphony has sponsored the competition to promote and encourage serious young musicians interested in studying and performing classical music. The competition can be a springboard for a young person to choose a lifelong commitment to the arts. The 2020 Young Artists Competition will be held Feb. 9. A panel of Auburn Symphony judges, led by Maestro Peter Jaffe, will evaluate applicants ages 8 to 18 as they compete in age divisions. Monetary awards will be presented to place winners as well as the grand prize winner, who may be invited to perform at the Auburn Symphony's 2021 Family Concert. All place winners will perform in a recital April 19 at the Auburn State Theatre. "You will be transfixed by these talented students," Jaffe said. "Please join us at the State Theatre for this exciting program." Also on Feb. 8, last year's Young Artists Competition winner, violinist Sophie Zhang, will be featured in the symphony's Annual Family Concert, this year called Construction Zone: Musicians at Work. "Sophie will dazzle in this heartwarming concert, designed for families as an introduction to the symphonic experience," Jaffe said. "In it, we zero in on how little building blocks in each composition make music and how the whole piece takes on a wonderful architecture. The concert caps off the symphony's yearly Educational Outreach programs and also features our Youth Conductor Paolo Reyes." Recent Young Artists Competition winners — where are they now? Sophie Zhang, 16, violin: 2019 "I was very happy and a bit surprised to win the competition last year," Sophie said, "and it meant a lot to me that the judges and Mr. Jaffe gave me the wonderful opportunity to play with the Auburn Symphony." Since then, Sophie has performed with various chamber groups, and, though not yet sure what path she will take in college, will "continue to study hard in school and play music and see where it takes me in the future." For the Family Concert, Sophie will play the finale of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. "It was my idea to play it, even though it's very challenging, because there are so many great and beautiful moments in the piece in addition to all the virtuosic material. I do feel nervous before performances, but I'm comfortable enough with the piece to give a good performance." Parker Van Ostrand, 16, piano: 2018 After winning the Young Artists Competition, Parker was invited to perform with the Auburn Symphony at last year's Family Concert, playing the third movement of the Chopin Concerto No. 1. "It was an amazing experience to perform with this orchestra and to work with conductor Jaffe during the rehearsals," Parker said. "For young artists, there are very few opportunities to perform with orchestras. I was very grateful and honored for the opportunity. Not only did I gain more experience, but I was also motivated to continue to participate in more competitions and music festivals." Since the competition, Parker has performed with the Central Valley Youth Symphony and has toured with the California Youth Symphony, which performed in Latvia, Estonia and Finland. At the Frost Chopin Academy in Miami, Parker took master classes with Chopin repertoire experts. After winning first place in the Philadelphia International Piano Competition, he was invited to perform live on the Philadelphia radio station and was awarded a full scholarship to this summer's Philadelphia Young Pianists' Academy festival. "In the near future, I'm looking forward to participating in the National Chopin Competition in Miami at the end of February. I also hope to continue performing in concerts throughout high school to share my music with others and to pursue a musical education in college." Amaryn Olmeda, 11, violin: 2017 "Winning the Young Artists Competition in 2017 was such a wonderful experience for me," said Amaryn. "After performing with the symphony and working with Mr. Jaffe, I decided that I want to be a professional violin soloist! I didn't really care about the money part (but that was nice). What really mattered to me was having the chance to play with a real orchestra. That was so much fun and so motivating. I work really hard so I can have other opportunities to play with orchestras. It is the best experience in the whole world." Since the competition, Amaryn has performed with the Auburn Symphony at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, with orchestras in Merced, Solano, Music in the Mountains, and most recently the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. This year, she will perform with the Classical Tahoe and Stockton symphonies. "I'm really excited about those performances. I am spending most of my time learning new repertoire and refining my playing. There are so many details that go into playing the violin, and I want the music I play for other people to be really polished and beautiful. I am working very hard to get everything – bowing, phrasing, intonation – just right. Playing the violin is my way of talking to people. I hope they hear how much music means to me and how much I would like for them to be happy with their experience." Amaryn plans to keep working hard and learning new repertoire. She will compete in major competitions in the future, she said, "but really my focus is on making beautiful music every day that I practice." Janos Csontos, saxophone: 2016 Conductor Peter Jaffe has described Csontos as "a musician of the highest order." Having pursued his musical career since winning the Young Artists Competition, Csontos is now a member of Nois (pronounced noise), a Chicago-based saxophone quartet, "working at the boundary of contemporary classical and experimental improvisation," the Noise website notes. Nois has been awarded prizes at several chamber music competitions, including second-prize at the Open Division of the 2018 M-PRIZE international Chamber Arts Competition and Silver Medal at the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.one of the premier Deeply interested in performing contemporary repertoire, the website stated, "Janos aims to promote music written by living composers through premieres of works for both solo and chamber repertoire." Meagan Rao, soprano: 2015 Rao went on from her Young Artists Competition win to study at the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has performed in many operas and is now a member of Wolf Trap Opera Company, a residency program of aspiring opera professionals. Rao was a finalist in the 2019 American Vocal Arts International Collegiate Championship.