Young Artist Competition
The Lakeland Civic Orchestra Young Artists Competition offers the opportunity for pre-college instrumentalists and signers to compete for the chance to perform as a soloist in the upcoming academic year with the Lakeland Civic Orchestra. There are two categories: junior, age 13 and under, and senior, age 14-18. We welcome auditions from anyone under the age of 18, see below for more information.
To provide a learning environment that fosters musically aesthetic literacy and expressive capability through the cultivation of musical techniques and skills and the exploration of creative traditions and possibilities.
All instrumentalists and voice students with appropriate repertoire are allowed to audition. Auditions are judged in two categories: ages 13 and younger, and ages 14 and older. 2024-2025 winners performed Elgar's Cello Concerto, songs from Grieg's music for "Peer Gynt" and Popper's Hungarian Rhapsody. These pieces will likely not be programmed again in the near future.
Each teacher is allowed to bring a maximum of two (2) students from their studio.
Auditions will take place in person in the Dr. Wayne L. Rodehorst Performing Arts Center on Lakeland's campus on Monday, May 12, 2025, 5-9 p.m. Schedule your audition before Friday, April 11 by completing the Young Artist Competition form here.
- Bring three copies of the score for the piece you will be playing for the judging panel.
- The length of the audition is limited to twelve (12) minutes.
- Begin by stating your name and the title and composer of the piece you are performing.
- You must perform with an accompanist.
- The judging panel will only determine winner(s) and runner(s)-up in each division and will not provide written comments or other feedback.
- The piano for auditions and performance is a Steinway Model B.
Audition on the piece you intend to perform with the orchestra; that is, a concerto or other work for soloist with orchestral accompaniment. You may perform contrasting movements or one whole movement, whichever you feel best displays your abilities, but the entire length of your audition may not exceed 12 minutes, including your spoken introduction. Make cuts as necessary in longer pieces so that your performance as soloist is emphasized—the committee does not need to hear long orchestral sections without the soloist.
Accompanists are required for the audition. You must provide your own accompanist.
Winners will be notified by May 31 of the given year and will be asked to perform with the Lakeland Civic Orchestra in November, March, or April of the following academic year.
Throughout its more than 80-year history, the Lakeland Civic Orchestra and its precursor organizations have sought out and presented performances by rising young artists. After a hiatus, a formal Young Artists Concerto Competition was revived by director Kathryn Harsha in 2000, with auditions judged by a panel consisting of the orchestra directed and judges drawn from Northeast Ohio university music faculty and professional musicians. Recent winners include:
- 2024: Elora Kares (senior division), Grieg, Songs from "Peer Gynt," performance 4/27/2025
- 2024, Elora Kares (senior division), Popper, Hungarian Rhapsody, performance 4/27/2025
- 2024, Nicholas Jacques (junior division), Elgar, Cello Concerto, performance 11/10/2024
- 2023, Aika Birch (senior division), Bruch, Violin Concerto No. 1, performance 4/28/2024
- 2023, Alice Han (junior division), Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto, performance 12/11/2023
- 2022, Daniel Colaner (senior division), Saint-Saens, Piano Concerto No. 2, performance 4/30/2023
- 2022, Saya Uejima (junior division), Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23, performance 11/13/2022
- 2021, Rosabelle Shi (senior division), Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1, performance 3/6/2022
- 2021, Rosabelle Shi (junior division), Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 2, performance 3/6/2022
- 2021, Moshi Tang (senior division), Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, performance 11/7/2021
- 2020, Competition Cancelled
- 2019, Maude Cloutier (senior division), Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto, performance 3/8/2020
- 2019, Julia Schilz (senior division), Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5, performance cancelled
- 2018, Jason Zhang (senior division), Grieg: Piano Concerto, Mvt. 1, performance 4/28/2019
- 2018, Moshi Tang (junior division), Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No. 3, performance 3/10/2019
- 2017, Ania Lewis (senior division), Lalo: Cello Concerto, performance 4/29/2018
- 2017, Laura Schilz (junior division), Saint-Saens: Cello Concerto No. 1 , performance 3/4/2018
- 2016, Peishe Lu (senior division), Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3, performance 4/30/2017
- 2016, Elizabeth Huang (junior division), Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole, performance 3/12/2017
- 2015, Julia Schilz (junior division), Wieniawski: Violin Concerto No. 2, performance 5/1/2016
- 2015, Brandon Wang (senior division), Elgar: Cello Concerto, performance 4/3/2016
- 2014, Maggie Niekamp (senior division), Barber: Violin Concerto, mvt. 1, performance 3/1/2015
- 2014, Christina JiHee Nam (junior division), Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy, performance 3/1/2015
- 2013, Liliana Garlisi (senior division), Grieg: Piano Concerto, Mvt. 3, performance 3/2/2014
- 2013, Ji Hoon Paul Woo (junior division), Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1, Mvt. 1, performance 3/2/2014
- 2012, Tong Li (senior division), Wieniawski: Violin Concerto No. 2, mvt. 1, performance 3/3/2013
- 2012, William Wang (junior division), Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No. 3, Mvt. 1, performance 3/3/2013
Dr. Matthew C. Saunders
(born 1976, Austin, Texas, USA) is a Northeast Ohio composer, conductor, trombonist, husband, and father. All his work is connected to teaching students from kindergarten to college in styles from madrigal to mariachi. He draws inspiration from the vastness of space, the waterways and forests, mountains and prairies of America, the motion of atoms, and the mysteries of existence, but most importantly from collaboration with other musicians and his students. He reads history, science, science fiction, classics, and too much social media. After a hard day's work, he relaxes on the couch with his wonderful wife, who is the love of his life and his teammate in the sport of parenting their children. On sunny days off, he bicycles and hikes, and hopes to bike the full length of the Ohio & Erie Canalway, from Cleveland to Bolivar, a short distance from the first home he remembers. He is lucky to live near Lake Erie, and he often pauses to look out over it for the glimpse of a freighter, or merely to contemplate the motion of the water. Dr. Saunders is a lover of both solitude and camaraderie, Cincinnati-style chili, road trips, movies, and random facts. His favorite dinosaur is the Parasaurolophus, but he thinks the best dinosaur is the Stegosaurus. He keeps a running list of possible band names, and one day hopes to start one, singing clever songs about the world (as well as a few love songs) with plenty of vocal harmony. He gets excited about lots of music that he would never write or perform himself and does what he can to share that with the world, too, because everyone's voice should be heard.
Dr. Saunders is Professor of Music and music and theater department chair at Lakeland Community College, where he also directs the Lakeland Civic Orchestra. Prior to coming to Lakeland, he held the position of Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Oklahoma Panhandle State University from 2007 to 2012. He received degrees in music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Ohio State University. Dr. Saunders studied composition with Donald Harris, Thomas Wells, Jan Radzynski, and Wes Flinn, and trombone with Joseph Duchi and Tony Chipurn.
