Thursday evening, the final round of Symphony Orchestra’s 2017 Concerto Competition was held at the Fine Arts Building. From 22 first round competitors, six finalists competed in the finals, including Rachel Hsu (violin), Cristina Cuibancan (violin), Rabia Brooke (violin), Jack Boettcher (cello), Duncan Steele (viola), and Jennifer Wang (flute).
The competition this year was fierce, with each of the six students performing impressively. Music Director Allen Tinkham commented just before the winner was announced that “in the 16 years I’ve observed the Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, this was the highest level of performance I’ve seen yet.”
The competition was judged by Kathryn Flum, Coordinator of Woodwinds at DePaul University and MingHuan Xu, Artist-Faculty member at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts and CYSO chamber music coach. After deliberation, Jack Boettcher was announced as this year’s Concerto Competition winner. Jack will perform Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat Major with Symphony Orchestra at next season’s Orchestra Hall concert. Honorable mentions went to Rabia Brooke and Duncan Steele.
Congratulations to Jack and all the musicians who competed!
