Each February the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra sponsors the Young Artists Competition for music students who live or study in Georgia or one of it’s five adjoining states. This prestigious competition attracts top candidates, and the first place winner is invited to solo with the LSO the following season. Additionally, in recent years the three top winners have returned for a recital. This year’s performance on the afternoon of March 16 was an exhilarating musical experience for an appreciative audience.

Matthew Allen from Tallahassee, the first place Dorothy Allen Turner Award winner, began cello at age 4. Now at 16 he studies with Greg Sauer at Florida State University with Hans Jorgen Jensen at Meadowmount School of Music. He performed in master classes with several of the top cellists, and he won other grand prizes plus a semifinalist position in the Stulberg International Competition.

Elizabeth MacCorquodale, the Max Kaplan Award winner for second place, started violin at 8. Within four years her extraordinary talent took her to provincial and national competitions in her native Canada. At age 15, already with associate degrees in both violin and piano from Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, Elizabeth went to Shanghai Conservatory to complete a Performance Diploma at 17. On return to Calgary to complete high school, she participated in national festivals, and won scholarships to the Cleveland Institute of Music and to San Francisco University. However, she chose instead to pursue advanced violin study with Sergiu Schwartz at Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music, where she won the highly competitive Concerto Competition for 2008.

The NOTE Award winner for third place in the LSO Young Artists Competition is Yaniv Gutman. He took up the violin in Israel at age 5, soloed with the Petach-Tikva Conservatory Symphony Orchestra at 9, won scholarships and prizes from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation each year since 1999, and competed successfully in Israel, the Czech Republic, and California. In 2006 he joined others exceptional young violinists to study with renowned violin professor Sergiu Schwartz at Columbus State University, and there he won the Concerto Competition for 2007.

Gutman began Sunday’s recital with a commanding performance of the first movement of Tchaikivsky’s Violin Concerto in D. He played confidently and with technical brilliance, handling admirably the demanding passages of this well known work. Minor slips in intonation hardly detracted from his exciting interpretation. In Dance of the Goblins by Antonio Bazzini, he gave an amazing feat of virtuosity, played this most challenging piece with deceptive ease, and earned his curtain call and bravos.

The first movement of Julius Conus’ gorgeous but little known Violin Concerto in E Minor was performed to perfection by Elizabeth MacCorquodale. Her sound was clear and lovely, her bow remarkably expressive, and her interpretation exquisite. While every note was carefully prepared, she played with ease and spontaneity. She finished her portion of the recital with an elegant performance of Polonaise brillante in D by Wieniawski.

To close the program, Matthew Allen took the stage with his remarkable co-performer, pianist Yu Chien Chen. They began with Beethoven’s Twelve Variations on a Theme by Handel, passing from the primary theme, which the superb young cellist played sonorously, to the first variation exquisitely articulated by Ms. Chen. From there they moved effortlessly through the remaining ten variations, building to an exciting 6/8 final section and leaving no doubt that Matthew’s playing is amazingly mature. Then came Sergei Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante in E minor. It involves soaring melodies, interesting harmonies, and extraordinary technical competence. The artist carried it off with breath taking ability and stunning beauty. LaGrange is in for a real treat when Allen returns to play with the LSO in April 2009.

By: George Henry


Dr. George Henry, a local psychiatrist who is also a violinist with the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra and the Macon Symphony Orchestra.LaGrange Symphony Orchestra

LaGrange Symphony Orchestra

Recital To Feature Winners of Young Artists Competition

The winners of the 12th annual Young Artists Competition, sponsored by the LaGrange Symphony, will perform in recital at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at Callaway Auditorium on the LaGrange College campus.

This event will feature individual performances by the three winners of the 2008 competition for string instruments held February 9 in Callaway Auditorium. This competition was open to musicians younger than 22 from throughout the Southeast.

The Grand Prize winner and recipient of the Dorothy Allen Turner Award is 16-year-old cellist Matthew Allen from Tallahassee, Florida. Allen is a member of the Tallahassee Symphony and winner of the Grand Prize in the 2007 Cobb Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. A tenth grade student at Florida State High School, he studies with Gregory Sauer, Associate Professor of Music at Florida State University.

The Max Kaplan Award for second place went to violinist Elizabeth MacCorquodale, a 20-year-old sophomore majoring in violin performance at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University. MacCorquodale, from British Columbia, studies with Sergiu Schwartz, the William B. and Sue Marie Turner distinguished faculty chair in music at Columbus State University. She is the recent winner of the 2008 Schwob School of Music Concerto Competition.

Winner of the NOTE Award for third place is 19-year-old violinist Yaniv Gutman. A native of Isreael, Gutman is also a sophomore at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, where he majors in violin performance and also studies with Profeessor Schwartz. He is the winner of both the 2007 Schwob School of Music Concerto Competition and the 2007 GMTA Competition.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students sixth grade and older. Children fifth grade and younger are free with an adult.

Following the performance, there will be a free reception for all in the lobby of Callaway Auditorium.

This recital is sponsored  by a generous donation from Vernon Woods Retirement Community of LaGrange.

For tickets or more information, call the LSO office at (706) 882.0662 or e-mail symphony@mindspring.com. Information is also available at www.lagrangesymphony.org.

The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1989, provides enrichment for the community through music. The LSO is committed to fostering knowledge and appreciation of symphonic, pops and chamber music through educational outreach while also providing attractive performance opportunities to promote musical and artistic talent.

The LaGrange Symphony’s concert season extends from October through April and features a variety of classical and near-classical selections.

LaGrange Symphony Orchestra

2008 SCALA Competition Winners

Student Competition Awards in the LaGrange Area

The Ashley Hawkins Award for Keyboard/Percussion Performance Christine Yin	The Emily Wentworth Landa Award for Vocal Performance Brian Anderson	The Emily Katherine Smith Award for String Performance Leah Farrar