PORT ANGELES — Chopin nocturnes, sonatas from Beethoven and Mozart, music by Bach, Taktakishvili and Vivaldi: All will come alive, with youthful drive, as an annual tradition unfolds this Saturday.
The Port Angeles Symphony’s 28th annual Young Artist Competition and the eighth annual Junior Young Artist Competition give music lovers a chance to hear the Peninsula’s outstanding young players, noted contest chairwoman Bonnie Christianson. These students range in age from 8 to 19, from third grade to college, and will come from Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Sequim to perform for the judges’ panel. The place for Saturday’s contests is Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 E. Lopez Ave.; doors will open at 9:30 a.m., and admission is free to the public.
Listeners are invited to stay as long as they like, Christianson said, and they may leave and come back any time as the competitions continue till 3 p.m. They’re asked not to leave, though, in the middle of a student’s performance.
A $500 cash prize will go to the winner of the Young Artist Competition, which is open to musicians younger than 22; second prize is $250 thanks to a donation from an anonymous supporter. The Junior Young Artist Competition, open to students in ninth grade or younger, will award $250 to the top competitor and $125, again a donation, for second place.
At the competition, four adjudicators will offer the students feedback after their performances; this year’s judges are Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra harpist and theater director John Manno, Port Angeles Symphony music director Adam Stern, Port Angeles High School band director Doug Gailey and Phil Morgan-Ellis, director of the Sequim Community Orchestra.
The Junior Young Artists Competition will start the day, running from 9:30 a.m. till 12:20 p.m. Contestants will include pianists Elizabeth Watkins, Bronwyn Davis, Tristan Davis, Keon Deng, Lum Fu and Tyler Messinger of Port Angeles and Keith Wilwert of Sequim; violinists Camille Ortloff of Port Angeles and Marley Erickson of Port Townsend; cellist Adlai Erickson of Port Townsend, and violists Leah Haworth, Calista Mordacai-Smith and Lauren Waldron of Port Angeles.
After a 25-minute break, the Young Artist Competition is scheduled to start at 12:45 p.m., with performers to include flutists Natalie Tagg and Joshua Gershon of Port Angeles; clarinetist Jeffrey Mordecai-Smith of Port Angeles; pianists Cole Urnes, Wei-Yan Fu and Katie Rivers of Port Angeles and Shannon Gordon of Sequim; violinists Selbey Jelle and Leah Marsh of Port Angeles and Kate Powers of Sequim, and double bassist Michael Helwick of Port Angeles.
For more about the competitions and other Port Angeles Symphony activities, phone the Symphony office at 360-457-5579 and visit www.PortAngelesSymphony.org.