<p>Now that concerto competition week is over in our area, as I refer to it, I was wondering how others areas handle this.</p>
<p>In our large metropolitan area, our local large symphony orchestra holds an annual high school concerto competition. The winner, only one, has the opportunity to perform one movement of a concerto with the symphony. However, as we have just experienced, every year with a string player or a pianist is selected. It is rare that a wind player gets an opportunity to play a concerto with this symphony. In the last 40 years, there may have been two or three.</p>
<p>I was wondering what the experience has been in other regions. Where I grew up, Seattle, the Seattle Symphony had one string player, one pianist, and one woodwind/brass player perform a concerto with them every year.</p>
<p>I have two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How is this handled in your area? One winner/ More than one?</p></li>
<li><p>For those who are/have successful professional musicians, did winning such a concerto competition make a difference in your or your child's career?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There are a couple of local orchestras that hold multi-instrument competitions for high schoolers here, and in most cases, only the top contestant gets to perform (the entire work). Our largely amateur (with the occasional professional ringer) orchestra has the top 2-3 play (one movement apiece). I just looked at the list of winners over the last several years, and although I don’t know every person individually, I would agree that most of the winners were strings/piano. There was one flutist on the list, and there may have been others that I missed.</p>
<p>At D3’s college, there are separate competition categories for performers who will play with the orchestra and the wind ensemble. While there is some crossover, it mostly runs along the expected lines.</p>
<p>We are so fortunate because the youth symphony my S got into (flute openings are rare) have a showcase concert featuring 5-7 musicians. The conductor said she wished more wind would apply. All the other youth symphonies (4) have the competition.</p>
<p>For scholarships and some national symphony applications they have asked if he has performed a solo with a symphony. Otherwise it is just on the list with the flute competitions which may hold more water. Rotary high school competition is one that is across all instruments.</p>
<p>With the orchestras in my area that offer solo opportunities to high school students, it is mostly violin,cello or piano, with a smattering of flute and clarinet. That mirrors the professional world, where wind and other non string/piano solos tend to be relatively rare (and of those, predominantly it is flute and clarinet IME). </p>
<p>The whole subject about competitions and such is sorely debated, about whether they are really important towards future careers and such. From talking to professional musicians and from discussions I have heard all over the place, to me it doesn’t sound like something like a high school competition is going to do much for you in terms of your professional career (again, this is my opinion). Obviously, if someone wants to become a professional soloist, winning a major competition like the queen elizabeth or the like can help, because besides exposure you often get performance opportunities and the like, and in the piano world, it is huge. But for orchestra musicians, I question it, given that orchestral jobs tend to come from auditions, how the person does on them, and winning a high school competition isn’t going to influence that one whit, I would lay serious money on that.</p>
<p>I think competitions have value, as an accomplishment unto themselves, i.e preparing, playing for jury, and then being able to perform is a nice boost to the ego. On the other hand, I wouldn’t put too much stock in not entering or winning competitions either, as an indicator of future success, they are about as good as trying to predict the weather 6 months out:)</p>
<p>Our regional orchestra has a competition every year. There are 4 finalists who play at a separate concert. Two winners are chosen to perform with the orchestra at a youth concert. Finalists are often string players and pianists, but there have been brass, flute and marimba winners as well. The local chamber orchestra has one winner who plays at a summer concert. The largest city in our state has 3 winners that perform with the orchestra at an evening concert. Our local youth orchestra varies in number of winners.</p>
<p>My son won 2 concerto competitions while in high school. The biggest help to him was in having experience in playing in front of a large audience with an orchestra. I don’t think it had much of an affect on his admissions.</p>
<p>My question is geared towards those interested in having at least a semi-full time career in performing solo works. I agree that for orchestral musicians, it doesn’t make much difference. And for a number of professional soloists I can think of, winning early in life was THE major difference.</p>
<p>woodwinds, our local (large city) orchestra holds a high school concerto competition and selects 3 winners, all of whom receive a solo performance with them as well as a monetary award. All instruments are represented in the finals, and winners have often included woodwinds and/or brass. For my S, winning this competition as a junior not only gave him valuable performance experience, but it gave him confidence in his own skills–leading him to enter other competitions and go on to pursuing a music major in college. I think in a way it was kind of a turning point for him. Being a soloist with a professional orchestra is nice to list on the resume as well. He is interested in both a professional solo career as well as an orchestra position. Was it THE major difference? Certainly not the most important competition win in his career, but certainly something that was important to him as he moved ahead in his education.</p>
<p>Now that we have some college acceptances I can say entering competitions made my S’s college auditions better. By entering a competition he found his air can be constrained or his lip can quiver. So he was able to work on that before the auditions.</p>
<p>Just to add one more thing in case anyone is ever on a board that sponsors these kind of competitions… Milwaukee Symphony does a very nice competition. Students audition and can be chosen as honorable mention, finalist, or winner. Winners solo with the symphony, but HM and finalists all get the opportunity to sit in with the symphony and play during the concert that features the soloists. The students spend an entire day with the orchestra rehearsing and then perform that night. It is really a great opportunity for students to find out what playing in a professional orchestra is all about. My son did this twice and enjoyed in immensely. One year, they chose students to sit principal in all sections for the concert. I would like to see more orchestras do things like this. Not only does it help the students learn about careers in the industry, it also rewards students who have worked very hard preparing concertos but were not quite good enough to win the competition.</p>
<p>shennie, I agree that your symphony there is providing a valuable opportunity, allowing concerto finalists to play with symphony members. Our local large symphony does that, but only with its fellowship members. Some of the military bands however have the finalists perform with them as part of the band, whcih is fantastic. </p>
<p>My daughter was upset a few weeks ago when she did not win the overall symphony concerto competition, but played well as a finalist. The symphony holds one concerto competition a year, but ony pick one winner. 90% of the time, the winner is either a pianist or a string player. Of course they played wonderfully. But my daughter wants to try becoming a soloist, and in the course of these competitions I noticed that in our area, it might be harder to actually be the winner, since only one player is selected among strings, pianos, brass woodwinds and percussion. I wonder if our area makes it harder for such a musician to succeed, when one compares the relative opportunities here with opportunities given, for example, in some European countries.</p>
<p>My daughter does have a a wonderful opportunity however, to perform a concerto with a local large university wind ensemble. She had so much fun in rehearsal this week and I suppose she’d like more such opportunities.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m just rambling here, but I am curious as to what others’ experiences are around the US.</p>
<p>I just want to echo shennie’s endorsement of the MSO Young Artists Competition.
I participated as a student (twice within the orchestra and once as a soloist). It is for orchestral instruments only (no voice or piano), and is open to residents of Wisconsin. This means any student from any part of the state can audition. When I did it (A LONG TIME AGO!), the preliminary round was judged by the principal players of each respective section (strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion). The finals were judged by all the principal players. I think it is a great set-up, and I agree with shennie that it provides a good model for other competitions. Here is a blurb:</p>
<p>Young Artist Auditions are open to all Wisconsin high school woodwind, brass, string, and percussion musicians. Finalists and honorable mentions are awarded, and these students will also have the opportunity to perform side-by-side with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the Stars of Tomorrow concert. Scholarships are awarded to the three winners.</p>
<p>Also adding my own to shennie and oldviola’s endorsement for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Young Artist competition–it most certainly is the way it should be done. Bravo, MSO.</p>