Concerto Competition
For 68 years, YPSCA has held a Young People's Concerto Competition for advanced student musicians in grades 7-12. The winner of the top prize is invited to perform with the Minnesota Orchestra in a set of Young People’s Concerts. Cash prizes, donated by individuals and music-related businesses, are awarded to all Finalists.
Each contestant prepares a portion of a major work, such as a concerto movement, to perform from memory. Performances are judged by professional musicians specializing in strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion and piano. For the Finals, held on the Orchestra Hall stage, YPSCA welcomes members of the public to attend and to witness the riveting performances of these extraordinary young musicians.
2026 Concerto Competition
YPSCA’s 69th Annual Concerto Competition dates and details will be announced in late Spring 2025.
Contact YPSCA with any questions or concerns.
Harold Fang takes top honors at YPSCA’s 68th Annual Concerto Competition.
Forty-two students competed in the virtual Preliminary Round of YPSCA’s Concerto Competition by submitting performance videos which were adjudicated remotely by a panel of five judges. Twelve of those students advanced to the Final Round on Sunday, February 2, 2025, at Orchestra Hall.
Pianist Harold Fang, age 14, won the Competition with a beautiful performance of the 1st movement of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor. His top prize award includes a performance with the Minnesota Orchestra at a future Young People’s Concert, a cash prize of $2,000 from the Edwin and Edith Norberg Trust, and a $1,000 Paul Winberg Award for Top Piano Performance. Harold, who is from Plymouth, Minnesota, studies with Denis Evstuhin and is a 9th grader at Wayzata High School.
In addition to the top honor won by Harold Fang, each Finalist received at least one award:
- André Peck, 15, piano, won the Edwin Norberg Award
- Sophia Alexander, 17, cello, won the Edith Norberg Award and the Claire Givens Violins Award for top string performance
- Cecilia O'Malley, 16, violin, won the Schmitt Music Award
- Tingyun Wang, 15, piano, won the Bonnie and Donn McLellan Award
- Alex Rodriguez, 16, piano, won the Karen Lundmark Holmes Award
- Danica Scofield, 15, piano, won the Dr. Kathleen Simo Award
- Christian Garner, 16, trumpet, won the Margaret Ankeny Memorial Award
- Lorelei Schoenhard, 16, violin, won the David Colwell Memorial Award
- Noah Greenstein-Sheppard, 17, piano, won the Patricia Krueger Memorial Award
- Vladimir Tsiper, 18, violin, won the Sally Lehmann Memorial Award
- Anahit Bashir, cello, 14, won the Judith and David Ranheim Award
Please join us in congratulating all of the Finalists, and in thanking the generous donors of this year’s awards, which collectively totaled over $11,000. We also thank our judges for the Final Round: Dr. Ivan Konev, piano faculty at the UW-River Falls; Rui Du, violinist and Assistant Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra; and Andrew Chappell, bass trombonist with the Minnesota Orchestra. And for the Preliminary Round: Jim Bartsch, a Twin Cities musician and retired music educator; Bjorn Ranheim, cellist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Brian Jensen, 2nd horn with the Minnesota Orchestra; Timothy Lovelace, pianist, conductor, and Head of the Collaborative Piano program at the University of Minnesota; and Dr. Paul Shaw, Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Minnesota School of Music.
