SFCM’s annual Concerto Competition never fails to bring exceptional talent forward to showcase some of the amazing artists coming through the institution. After weeks of performances in front of juries and audiences, the winners of this year’s Competition in the categories of voice, guitar, low strings, violin, and piano have been announced. (Some instruments are represented biennially, switching off every other year.)

Each winner will have the opportunity to perform a solo with the SFCM Orchestra during the 2019–20 academic year. The winners (and selected alternates) and the pieces they will perform are:

Voice

Winner: Bryana Marrero ’19 (Student of Jane Randolph) - Sieben frühe Lieder by Alban Berg
Judges: Erie Mills, John Churchwell, Jose Luis Moskovich

Guitar

Winner: Alec Holcomb ’19 (Student of Judicaël Perroy) - Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo
Alternate: Oskar Magnusson ’19 (Student of Judicaël Perroy) - Guitar Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 99 by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Judges: George Sakellariou, Michael Goldberg, Richard Patterson

Low Strings

Winner: Chuxuejie Zhang ’19 - Viola Concerto, Sz. 120 by Béla Bartók
Judges: Paul Yarbrough, Ken Miller, Christopher Costanza

Violin

Winner: Samuel Weiser ’19 (Student of Ian Swensen) - Partita for Violin and Orchestra by Witold Lutosławski
Alternate: Maria van der Sloot ’19 (Student of Ian Swensen and Cordula Merks) - Poème by Ernest Chausson
Judges: Jeremy Constant, Wyatt Underhill, Paul Phillips

Piano

Winner: Jung-eun Kim ’20 (Student of Yoshikazu Nagai) - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Alternate: Jason Kim ’20 (Student of Yoshikazu Nagai) - Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S.125 by Franz Liszt
Judges: Inna Faliks, Robin Sutherland, Frank Levy