Earlier this year, the Murray State University Department of Music hosted the 2012 Young Artist Concerto Competition. Jin, a student from Louisville, Kentucky, won the piano division by performing Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Themes by Franz Liszt.  Lowry, a student from Antioch, Tennessee, won the instrumental division performing a violin concerto by Wolfgang Korngold.

The annual competition is a collaborative effort between the Paducah Symphony and Murray State University. The final round featured seven talented young musicians (four in the instrumental division and three in the piano division). Each finalist was selected from a pool of preliminary applicants to perform a 15-minute concerto by memory with accompanist in front of three judges and a live audience in the finals.

The winner from each division receives a $1,000 cash prize, an MSU music scholarship, and an invitation to perform with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra during one concert of the 2012–2013 Season this fall. The cash prizes were sponsored by Coca-Cola and Jackson Purchase Energy.

Founded in 1987, the purpose of the Young Artist Concerto Competition is to showcase the best high school musicians from the region and to give them an incentive to hone their special talents as a soloist with a symphony orchestra. This year’s competition saw a record number of applicants from all across the United States.

To purchase tickets for this event, contact the Paducah Symphony Orchestra at 270-444-0065 or online at www.paducahsymphony.org.

The Paducah Symphony Orchestra is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.  The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, provides operating support to the Paducah Symphony Orchestra with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.



Information provided by Amy Sanders with The Paducah Symphony Orchestra.