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TOLEDO, OH – The Toledo Symphony and Toledo Symphony League are pleased to announce winners of the 2023 Toledo Symphony League Young Artist Competition. The Young Artist Competition is a professionally judged contest which offers the opportunity for young musicians to audition for a monetary award provided by the Toledo Symphony League and an opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.
Three winners were selected and will perform with the Toledo Symphony on Saturday January 13, 2024 at Notre Dame Academy.
Joanna Kim is a sophomore at Southview High School and began playing the flute in fifth grade. Her teachers include Bonnie Ward and TSO flutist Amy Heritage. Currently in her third year with the Toledo Symphony Youth Orchestra, Joanna has been principal flute of the TSYO’s Philharmonic Orchestra for the past two years while earning multiple scholarships. She is also a varsity tennis player for her school.
“This event means a lot to me, since it is a major accomplishment throughout my music experience,” says Joanna. “The repertoire I chose for this competition was something that I have been working on for a long time…I felt comfortable and quite excited, aside from the typical nerves!” Joanna will perform Gabriel Fauré’s Fantasie Op. 79.
Samantha Li is a violist in the Sylvania Northview High School Orchestra. After seeing many of her close relatives play string instruments, she was inspired and decided to take up the viola. She is now a part of the Northview High School Chamber Orchestra where she participates in Solo and Ensemble annually and performs solos and ensemble music at seasonal concerts. She also attends the OMEA District and Regional Orchestras and was recently admitted into All-State Orchestra. Samantha will perform the first movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto in C minor.
Karen Jin has played the piano for 11 years under the instruction of Mr. Kevin Reilly. She is a recipient of multiple scholarships, such as from the Monday Musicale Organization, and is active as an accompanist for the Troy School District. In 2022, she performed with the Sylvania Community Orchestra. Apart from piano, Karen is also a devoted violinist, studying with Dr. Vasile Beluska. She has served as the concertmaster for the Toledo Symphony Youth Orchestra, Michigan All-State Orchestra, Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Oakland Youth Orchestras and has placed in various solo competitions.
“As someone who grew up in Toledo, my music education was fostered by TAPA (Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts) and this competition feels like a graduation from it all,” says Karen. “I was always inspired by the many upperclassmen who went through this process -- now that I am an upperclassman myself, I hope I can also inspire younger students.” Karen will perform the first movement of Edward Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16.
The Toledo Symphony League, organized in 1951, supports the Symphony and its musicians and fosters students of orchestral instruments through fundraising by awarding monies, scholarships, and bestowing summer study grants.
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ABOUT THE TOLEDO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Toledo Symphony Orchestra is a community-supported organization of professional musicians and teachers who deliver quality performance and music education for all. Formed in 1943 as The Friends of Music and incorporated in 1951 as the Toledo Orchestra Association, Inc., the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has grown from a core group of twenty-two part-time musicians to a regional orchestra that employs sixty-nine professional musicians who consider the Toledo Symphony their primary employer, as well as numerous extra players annually as repertoire demands.
The Toledo Symphony reaches more than 260,000 individuals annually through performances and education programs. The ProMedica Masterworks series, KeyBank Pops series, Buckeye Broadband and The Blade Chamber series, and The Andersons Family series are the critical underpinning of the orchestra’s artistic mission and regularly draw people from 135 postal zip codes. Education programs, student performances, and community concerts are held in schools, neighborhood churches, performing arts centers, and community facilities throughout the region; many are offered at no charge or provided at a reduced fee to help expand participation.
ABOUT THE TOLEDO ALLIANCE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
On January 1, 2019, the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Ballet officially merged to form the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), a new non-profit organization dedicated to providing exceptional live music and dance performances and education for the region. This partnership promises to create new and invigorating programs, provide cost and revenue synergies in operations, and integrate the arts through shared educational missions.