The Annual Cornell Concerto Competition looked a little bit different this year; the contest was broadened to include opportunities for multiple winners to perform not only with the Cornell Symphony Orchestra, but also with the Chamber Orchestra and the Barbara and Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony.
Competition organizer and Director of Orchestras Gabriela Gómez Estévez said the new format was “driven by our desire to increase accessibility and provide more opportunities for our gifted players to perform, and it allows us to explore the wealth of repertoire for solo instruments with chamber orchestra and wind band accompaniment, in addition to symphony orchestra.”
Students entered the first round of the competition by providing a video recording of their performance. Those entries were narrowed down to eight finalists who performed live in Barnes Hall Dec. 5 before a panel of three judges from Ithaca College: Ho-Yin Kwok (Director of Orchestras and assistant professor of music performance), Diego Vasquez (assistant professor of music performance, clarinet), and Dmitri Novgorodsky (associate professor of music performance, piano).
The three winners are:
Flutist Abigail Black ’26 will perform the first movement of Lowell Liebermann's Piccolo Concerto with the Cornell Wind Symphony conducted by James Spinazzola on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Black is majoring in hotel administration and minoring in music and history, holding leadership roles in Hotelie clubs and serving on the Dean's Student Advisory Board. She is principal flute in the Cornell Symphony Orchestra and was co-tour manager for their recent Boston Tour.
Violinist Dean Zhang ’25 will perform Max Bruch's “Scottish Fantasy” with the Cornell Symphony Orchestra March 2 at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall. In the College of Arts and Sciences, Dean has three majors in biological sciences, computer science and music. He serves as the concertmaster of the Cornell Symphony Orchestra and has won the Ellen Gussman Adelson Prize for excellence in musical performance. Along with music, Zhang also conducts computational genomics research, volunteers in the local community, and aspires to bridge his passions for music and medicine to positively impact others.
Trombonist Ethan Wolff ’25 will perform Lars-Erik Larsson's Concertino for Trombone with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra March 9 at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Wolff has been playing trombone for 12 years and is pursuing a dual major in applied economics and management & environment and sustainability. He was principal trombonist of the Cornell Symphony Orchestra for three years and this year has shifted his focus to chamber music, co-founding the Cornell Brass Quintet and Trombone Ensemble. Outside of music, Ethan serves as the founder and President of the Energy Transition Club at Cornell and enjoys competitive Olympic-style weightlifting.
All three concerts are free and open to the public, with no tickets required.
