Concerto Competition
An annual Concerto Competition is held for members of Youth Philharmonic or MAYSO. The winner will be selected through a live audition in front of a panel of select musicians, staff, and community music educators. Auditions will result in one winner being selected to perform at the spring concert. Students are expected to perform the same selection that they performed on the audition.
Guidelines for Applicants
Application Deadline:
The deadline listed on the application form will be strictly enforced. NO applications will be accepted after the deadline, and any applications that were submitted in time but were incomplete (for example, lacking the piece selected) must be completed by the deadline or they will be removed from consideration.
Application Fee:
There is a $15 application fee for each entry. This must be paid by the application deadline.
Eligibility / Choice of Competition Music:
The competition is open only to members in good standing of the Youth Philharmonic or Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Applications will be accepted for all orchestral instruments including harp, percussion, and piano. Applicants may audition on only one instrument in any given year, and it need not necessarily be the instrument played in the Youth Orchestra.
Small groups (duets, trios, quartets) are welcome to apply. An applicant may not audition in more than one entry per year (for example, one person cannot apply both as a soloist and member of a small group).
Applicants may choose any concerto or other published work for solo (or multiple soloists) with orchestral accompaniment.
The length of the concerto must not exceed 30 minutes, unless pre-approved by the Music Director.
Previous Concerto Competition Winners
Solo winners are not eligible to reapply as solo musicians. The musician may reapply as a member of a small group.
Small group winners are eligible to reapply as solo musicians or as members of another small group, as long as the small group does not consist of more than 50% previous winners.
Preparation and Competition Audition:
Applicants may prepare either the entire concerto or one entire movement, but the judges will determine what portions of your selected piece will be played for the competition audition. The length of the audition will be approximately ten minutes.
Applicants must provide the judges with a clean copy of the music.
Applicants must provide their own accompanist if desired for the audition process
Warm-up rooms will be available on the day of the competition. Harpists, percussionists, and pianists will warm up in the audition space because of audition set- up issues and, for pianists, the use of unfamiliar instruments.
With the exception of the judges, the accompanist, page-turners for the accompanist (if needed), and the individual applicant at his/her scheduled time, no one is allowed in the audition space during the competition.
Competition Results:
Judges will select the winner and runner-up.
MAYSO reserves the right to declare no winner based upon the decision of the judges.
The winner will play the entire concerto or entire movement with the Youth Symphony Orchestra at its concert in March.
The runner-up may be invited to perform a movement (or movements) of his/her piece with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra or the Chamber Strings. This decision will be made by the director(s).
The adjudication forms will be sent to each student after the competition.
Applicants will be notified by email or telephone of the judges’ decision within 48 hours of the competition.
Decisions of the judges are final.