Each year, York’s finest musicians practice for months at a time, perfecting their concerti in hopes of winning the esteemed concerto competition. Judged by a panel of well-known critiques, the competitors enter the audition room, perform, and then leave, hoping that their hard work payed off.

Upon winning, successful competitors are given the chance to perform at one of York’s orchestra concerts, accompanied by the orchestra itself. Although winners are asked to perform with the York Symphony Orchestra, musicians are generally accompanied by a pianist during their audition.

Junior Ellie Chiu, one of this year’s winners, is incredibly excited to perform. Competing on the Mendelssohn Violin concerto in E minor, Movement I, Op. 64, Ellie explains how winning the competition has always been a dream of hers.

“I wanted to try out because it’s always been a dream for me to perform in front of an orchestra, and since I’m not planning on going into music in college, I thought that this might be the last chance I get to do something like this,” said Chiu. “I wanted to see if I had a chance to win cause then I’d have my dream come true!” 

In order to achieve these dreams, however, much hard work must be put in. Senior Michael Griffin, a winning trombonist who will perform Gordon Jacob’s Concerto for Trombone, Movement I, is a prime example in the preparation process.

“I tried out because I thought it’d be fun–and it was–but it was a lot of work,” said Griffin. “I began preparing my concerto about 4 months ago, but I’ve been playing trombone for about 8 years, so I suppose it’s all been building up.”

Other winners include Daphne David, clarinet, and Andrew French, piano. The two honorable mentions this year were Erik Martenson, tenor voice, and Natasha Yarlagadda, saxophone.

The winners look forward to their performances throughout the year and cannot wait to share their music with the rest of the world.