New Jersey Youth Symphony Presents 2021 Concerto Competition Winners Recital, Friday, March 26, at 7:00 p.m. FREE
The New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) announced today that it will present a virtual recital featuring
2021 Concerto Competition Winners
The concert will feature this year’s first place winner, violinist Samantha
Liu; second place winner, clarinetist Alex Cha; and third place winners
violinist James Song and pianist Sarah Ouyang; as well as the 2020 Concerto
Competition Winner, French hornist Thomas McGrath. New Jersey’s largest youth
orchestra program holds the annual competition for current members of the NJYS
Youth Symphony with the top winner earning the opportunity to perform with the
ensemble at a prestigious concert hall. This year, the competition was held
virtually with 19 entrants performing for two guest adjudicators, Ilmar
Gavilan, violinist of Harlem Quartet and Dr. Mark Laycock, professor of
orchestral studies at Wichita State University.
Said Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Helen H. Cha-Pyo, “It is truly
inspiring to watch these talented and dedicated young musicians completely
immerse themselves in the music and perform their hearts out. I always knew
that music and youth are a dynamic combination, but it seems more powerful
during the pandemic.”
First place winner Samantha Liu of Basking Ridge, a junior at Ridge High
School, will perform the first movement from Barber’s Concerto for Violin and
Orchestra, Op. 14. She has studied violin for nine years with Yousun Kim and
has been a member of the New Jersey Youth Symphony for six years. She wants to
thank her violin teacher, her NJYS friends, and Artist Director and Principal
Conductor Helen H. Cha-Pyo, all of whom inspire her to be a better musician.
She looks forward to making live music together in the spring.
Second place winner Alex Cha of Westfield, a senior at Westfield High School,
will perform the first movement from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, K.
622. A proud member of the New Jersey Youth Symphony’s Clarinet Quartet and
Youth Symphony, he has been playing the clarinet for over nine years and
currently studies with Jo-Ann Sternberg at the Manhattan School of Music
Pre-College Division. Accolades in his musical career include placing first in
the National Artists Competition and second place in the International Grande
Music Competition as well as performing with the New Jersey Regional and
All-State Bands.
Third place winner James Song of New Providence, a senior at the Union County
Magnet High School, will perform the Finale from Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1
in G minor, Op. 26. He studies with Oleg Pavlov and joined the New Jersey Youth
Symphony in his freshman year of high school as a member of the NJYS Youth
Symphony. He has placed in several competitions, most notably First Place in
the American Protege International Concerto Competition (2020), Grand Prix
Winner in the Concert Festival International Competition (2020), and Second
Place in the American Protege International Piano & Strings Competition
(2017).
Third place winner Sarah Ouyang of Basking Ridge, a junior at Ridge High
School, will perform the first movement from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in
A major, K. 488. A young musician who loves both the piano and the cello, she
studies piano with Gloria Chu and cello with Gerall Hieser. She has performed
as a piano soloist with Sinfonica del Festival di Chioggia under the baton of
Maestro Pietro Perini at the International Festival Musica in Laguna in
Chioggia, Italy, as well as performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C
Major, Op. 15 with the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra under the direction of
Maestro Charles Prince. As a cellist, she joined the New Jersey Youth Symphony
in 2015 and has been a proud member of the NJYS Youth Symphony since 2018.
The 2020 New Jersey Youth Symphony Concerto Competition Winner Thomas McGrath
of Princeton, a senior at Princeton High School, will perform Mozart’s Horn
Concerto No. 1 in D major, K. 412. He studies with Kathryn Mehrtens at The
College of New Jersey and has performed with the New Jersey All-State Wind
Ensemble and All-State Orchestra (Principal horn, 2020), Central Jersey
Regional Orchestra, and Philadelphia Sinfonia.