HHSO 2022 YOUTH CONCERTO COMPETITION ANNOUNCES WINNERS
Ewan Manalo, a sixteen-year-old cellist from Ooltewah, Tennessee, won the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra’s 2022 Youth Concerto Competition. An eleventh-grade student who studies privately with Felix Wang of the Blair Academy of Music at Vanderbilt University (Wang is also a co-director of the HHSO’s annual Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute), Manalo captured the top prize performing the final movement of Edward Elgar’s Concerto in E minor, Op. 85. The top prize includes a cash award plus the opportunity to perform with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra during the 2022-2023 season.
Second prize was awarded to violinist Leila Warren, age twelve from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Third prize went to seventeen-year-old violinist Jeremiah Jun-seo Jung from Suwanee, Georgia. Violinist Seunne Khoo from Cary, North Carolina won the Special Achievement Award. A total of ten finalists were chosen from 32 total applicants from Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. They performed in a final competition on Saturday, January 29, 2022. SoundWaves at Coligny live-streamed the performance. The other finalists, all violinists, were Ellie Dixon (Charlotte, NC), Roy Lee (Suwannee, GA), Joy Ni (Fort Mill, SC), Isabella Nguyen (Ashland City, TN), Sarah C. Park (Jacksonville, FL), and Abby Reed (Murphreesboro, TN).
Finals judges for the 2022 competition were:
- HHSO Concertmaster Micah Gangwer,
- HHSO Principal Violist Lizhou Liu, and
- Charleston Symphony Orchestra Violinist Nna Sanderg
Pianist Chee-Hang See accompanied all ten competitors during the finals.
Produced annually since 2008 by the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, the Youth Concerto Competition is one of the largest and most prestigious competitions in the Southeastern United States. The competition is restricted to young artists living in nine states:
- Alabama,
- Florida,
- Georgia,
- Kentucky,
- Mississippi,
- North Carolina,
- South Carolina,
- Tennessee,
- and Virginia
Past YCC winners and finalists have gone on to earn degrees at the nation’s top music schools, including Juilliard, Curtis, Peabody, New England Conservatory, Yale, and Vanderbilt, as well as the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.
“Over the years, we have provided solo opportunities for more than 100 young musicians, stated HHSO President and CEO Alan Jordan.
“Preparing for a competition offers students the opportunity to study a composition more deeply and perform it under pressure. We hope our audience watched the future stars of classical music on January 29th.”
A link to the 2022 Youth Concerto Competition playlist follows: Youth Concerto Competition playlist.
