Young Artist Competition

2010-2011 Young Artist Competition

 

A YOUNG ARTIST CONCERTO COMPETITION

Sponsored by

THE NOVA VISTA SYMPHONY

Open to Strings, Winds, Brass, and Piano
to be held
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Appreciation Hall at Foothill College
12345 El Monte Avenue, Los Altos Hills
Application deadline is November 1

First Prize $300
and an opportunity to perform with the Nova Vista Symphony

Second Prize $200

Third Prize $100

  • At least one movement of a concerto or a comparable work for solo with orchestra should be prepared for performance before a panel of judges. Their decision is final.
  • The competition winner will perform the composition played in the competition.
  • One copy of the composition must be provided for the judges.
  • Contestants must supply their own accompanists. Use of an accompanist is strongly recommended.
  • Auditions will be approximately 10 to 15 minutes long, and schedule times will be assigned after November 1.
  • Competitors must be under 22 on the date of the competition.
  • Winners will be notified by email within one week of the competition.

Enter the competition!

For more information e-mail competition@novavista.org. There is a $2/car parking fee at Foothill College.

 

Past Competitions

2009-2010 Competition

Our 2009-2010 competition was held on October 10, 2009. The winner, Will Chow, will perform with Nova Vista Symphony at a concert during the 2010-2011 season.

Sixteen year old Will Chow is a scholarship student in the Preparatory Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studies the cello with Sieun Lin. Will won his first competition, the Chinese Music Teacher Association of Northern California Competition, in 2004 when he was ten years old. This inspired him to pursue music more passionately, leading him to participate and win in many competitions. Among them are the Stewart Brady Competition, Peninsula Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, Junior Bach Festival, Menuhin-Dowling Young Musician Competition, the California ASTA state solo competition, and recently the Nova Vista Young Artist Competition. In additional to his solo pursuits, Will also enjoys playing chamber music as a member of the Soleil trio. The piano trio has performed in numerous recitals all over the Bay Area and on the radio show From the Top. This past winter, Will went to New York as a participant of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, playing under the distinguished conductor and violinist Jamie Laredo in Carnegie Hall. Last summer, he attended the Aspen Music Festival and School. In the past, Will has also received scholarships to attend the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute. Outside of his demanding cello life, Will is a big fan of the sport badminton and has a fiery passion for Boba (also known as tapioca drinks).

 

 

Past Competition Winners

2008: Olena Komirenko, violin. Olena, a native of the Ukraine, studies with Jenny Rudin in the Bay Area while she pursues undergraduate degree in Anthropology at UC Berkeley.

2007: Yale Blomberg, violin. Yale attends the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate Division. She has performed as a chamber musician in programs including the San Francisco Conservatory and the ECYS Chamber Music Program.

2006: David Southorn, violin. David received a bachelor's degree in May 2007 from the San Francisco Conservatory. He is a member of the Symphony Silicon Valley,and has also played with the Marin, Santa Cruz, and Monterey symphonies.

2005: Julie Chen, violin. A graduate of Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, she plans to attend Oberlin College and Conservatory, pursuing a double major in violin and psychology. She has participated in a number of volunteer community projects and won awards in public speaking.

2004: Alex Shiozaki, violin. He is a sophomore at Harvard, concentrating in German and music.

2003: Gugene Kang, cello. Gugene is a junior at Palo Alto High School. He toured Europe as a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in 2004 and with the El Camino Youth Symphony in 2003.

2002: Jennifer Wey, violin. A junior at Saratoga High School, where she was concertmaster of the school orchestra for the past year, she hopes for a career as a concert violinist.

2001: Albert Hwang, cello. He is a junior at UCLA this year and plans to study medicine.

2000: No competition was held due to the Nova Vista's search for a new conductor.

1999: Gigi Chow, cello. She studied with Bonnie Hampton and Jean-Michel Fonteneau at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and went on to study music and psychology at Yale.

1998: Mark Oshida, violin. A 2003 graduate of the Brigham Young School of Music in Provo Utah, he played principal second violin with the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra, and has also performed as soloist with the Catholic University Orchestra of Parana, Brazil.

1997: Iris Otani, violin. A pianist as well, she studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and played with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

1996: Rieko Kawabata, violin. A native of Tokyo, she graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and joined the Ensemble du Monde in New York City, a small chamber group founded in 2000.

1995: Hegun Song, violin. She attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, graduated from the Juilliard School in May 2003, and went on to pursue a graduate program at Yale University.

1994: Anita Stoneham, violin. A 1996 graduate of Princeton, where she majored in political science with a minor in music, she works in the advertising department of Viacom in New York City.

1993: Maria Shim, violin. She graduated from Harvard with a degree in finance.

1992: Eugene Chung, violin. Unknown.

1991: Kajim Lin, violin. She attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, graduated from the Juilliard School in 1995, and returned to Korea to pursue her career.

1990: Julian Hersh, cello. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he has toured the U.S., Europe and the Far East as a soloist and with chamber music groups and has appeared on television with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

1989: William Lai, violin. He earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvanie where he was also principal violist in the university's orchestra. He is now a medical device company executive and plays with the Philadelphia Doctors' Chamber Orchestra.

1988: Daniel Ching, violin. He graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and now lives in Pasadena, CA, where he teaches, conducts, and plays in a string quartet.

1987: Christopher Whiting, violin. He moved to Zurich, Switzerland, and went on to play in the Tonhalle Orchester, teach at the Hochschule Musik und Theater, conduct the Orchesterverein in Wiedikon and play in a string quartet.

1979 - 1986 No competitions were held.

1978: Sally Gibbons, flute. She studied at UCLA and Harvard, received a Ph.D. in philosophy at Oxford, and became an academic administrator at UCLA.

1977: Wendy Sharp, violin. She went on to teach violin and chamber music at Yale.

1976: Joshua Koestenbaum, cello. He graduated from Stanford, earned a master's degree in music at Yale, and moved to Minneapolis to become associate principal cello with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

1975: Carolyn Mortarotti, cello. Daughter of former conductor John Mortarotti, she moved to Los Angeles and became principal cellist of the Rio Hondo Symphony in Orange County.

1974: Steven Olsen, cello. He took a job in Sacramento with the State of California.

1973: Gregory Colburn, cello. He became an oncologist at O'Connor Hospital in San Jose and joined the Bohemian Club orchestra in San Francisco.

1972: Donald Benham, trombone. He played in the Oakland Symphony before its demise and went on to perform and freelance with several East Bay orchestras.

1971: Kathy Edwards, French horn. Unknown.

1970: Timothy Bach, cello. A pianist as well, he graduated from Stanford, earned a doctorate in music at USC, and went on to head the accompanying department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

1969: Jonathon Mack, horn. He switched to vocal music and joined the faculty of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to teach singing.

1968: Kelleen West, cello. She was reported to be teaching cello in the East Bay.

1967: Camille Churchfield, flute. Named principal flutist of the Vancouver, B.C., Symphony, in 1975, she has performed concertos frequently with her own and other Canadian orchestras, played in several chamber ensembles, and toured with the Toronto Symphony.