February 2025 Concert Will Feature Two Winners as Soloists

The LAS “Expressions of Youth” concert on February 15, 2025, will feature the two winners of the 52nd annual Competition for Young Musicians.

Olivia Luan will perform as soloist for the 1st movement of Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16, by Grieg, and Ariel Pawlik-Zwiebel will be soloist in the 1st movement of the Violin Concerto by Sibelius.

General Information
Annual Competition for Young Musicians

Every fall, the Livermore-Amador Symphony Association conducts its Competition for Young Musicians. This year marked the 52nd annual competition, which was held on October 13, 2024, in the Mertes Center for the Arts at Las Positas College. The winners will perform as soloists with the Symphony at the Bankhead Theater on February 15, 2025, and will be awarded $500.00. The competition was open to instrumentalists and vocalists who reside in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, the City of Tracy, or the community of Mountain House, California. The maximum age at the time of the February 15, 2025, concert is 19.

Applications for the 2024 competition were accepted starting on September 22, 2024. The deadline was September 29, 2024. Music was to be chosen from the standard repertoire for orchestra. The selection, one movement of a concerto or a comparable work, was to be between 5 and 15 minutes in length.

Those accepted to compete performed in person on Sunday afternoon, October 13, 2024, before a panel of judges, including the Music Director. Contestants provided their own accompanists. Each student who participated has received a written evaluation. Intonation, tone quality, technique, style/interpretation, and memorization were taken into consideration.

Winners, as soloists, perform the same music with which they competed. Previous winners of this competition may reapply after an intervening year. However, anyone who has performed two times as a soloist with the Symphony cannot be considered as a contestant.

Application

Applicants submitted a non-refundable fee of $25.00, a completed application form, and, for preliminary screening, a recording of themselves playing the solo to be performed at their audition.

Application Form:
The application form is filled out and submitted by mail or email.

Video: Applicants post a recording video to YouTube and email a link to competition@livermoreamadorsymphony.org. For piano recordings, accompaniment is not essential. All applicants are notified of the outcome of the preliminary screening.

 
If you have any questions, you may contact Competition Committee Chair Anne Badders (competition@livermoreamadorsymphony.org).

Past Winners

See a list of past winners and the pieces they played, from the 1973–74 through 2023–24 seasons.

See photos of winners from the 2011–12 through 2023–24 seasons.

 

© Livermore-Amador Symphony Association