Each year the Boston Symphony Orchestra hosts a Concerto Competition for advanced high school instrumentalists who reside in Massachusetts.

Download the 2011-12 Concerto Competition Application

The Concerto Competition is open to 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade instrumentalists who are at the advanced level in their musical study. The competition, which takes place at Symphony Hall between January and March each year, is administered in two rounds.

The competition began in 1959 when Harry Ellis Dickson founded the Youth Concert series. In 1996 the BSO competition and the Brookline Youth Concerto Competition merged to create a prestigious event. Today's Concerto Competition offers two First Place awards: the Cornelius A. & Muriel P. Wood Award, which includes a cash award and a performance at a Boston Symphony Youth or Family Concert; and the Harry & Marion Dubbs Brookline Youth Concert Award, which includes a cash award and a performance at a Boston Pops concert.

Past participants have gone on to study at such prestigious universities and conservatories as the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston University, Curtis, Juilliard, Peabody Conservatory, and Manhattan School of Music. Competition winners have gone on to careers as soloists, orchestral musicians, and teachers. The BSO first met one of its own members, assistant principal bass Larry Wolfe, when he won the Concerto Competition.

Information and dates can be obtained from the BSO Education and Community Programs department by calling 617-638-9375 or emailing education@bso.org

 

2011 Concerto Competition Results
The Boston Symphony Orchestra Education and Community Programs Office is proud to announce the winners of the 2011 BSO Concerto Competition. The final, live round took place April 6, 2011 on stage at Symphony Hall.

First Place
Gergana Haralampieva, violin, is awarded the Harry & Marion Dubbs Brookline Youth Concerts Award. Miss Haralampieva will receive a cash prize and a performance at the upcoming Boston Pops Family Concert in May 2011. Miss Haralampieva is a junior at Walnut Hill School for the Arts and performed the Dvorák Violin Concert in A minor.

Sasha Scolnik-Brower, cello, is awarded the Cornelius A. & Muriel P. Wood Award. Mr. Scolnik-Brower will receive a cash prize and a performance with the Boston Symphony at the March 2012 Family Concerts. Mr. Scolnik- Brower is a sophomore at Philips Academy and performed the Schumann Cello Concerto.

Second Place
Mackenzie Melemed, piano, is awarded a cash prize. Mr. Melemed is a sophomore at the Bancroft School and performed the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor.

Third Place
Parker Sheil, piano, is awarded a cash prize. Miss Sheil is a junior at Ashland High School and performed the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor.

Honorable Mention:
Alexander Kinmonth, oboe Concord-Carlisle High School
Momo Wong, violin Brookline High School
Daniel Ranti, trumpet Newton North High School
Yi Qun Xu, cello Walnut Hill School

A special thank you to our judges: Cathy French, Suzanne Nelsen, Shiela Kibbe-Hodgkins, Jason Snider and Bruce Creditor.

 

Contact Information
Claire Carr
Manager of Education Programs
Boston Symphony Orchestra
301 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Email:education@bso.org
Telephone: 617-638-9302