Young Artist Competition

How to Apply

The Application Form: Click here

Application Categories:

Instrumental and voice students throughout the U.S. are encouraged to compete. Please read ALL of the information carefully before applying. Please direct any administrative questions to OSO Executive Director at natalie@reillyartscenter.com and musical questions to the OSO Music Director and Conductor at matt@reillyartscenter.com.

Junior Division (12 to 18 at time of competition, have not completed high school)
Senior Division (18 to 25 at time of competition, have completed high school)

Audition Rules

• Applications and video auditions are due by Monday, October 28, 2024. All auditions must be submitted digitally (YouTube or Vimeo link preferred.)
• Auditions are strictly limited to 10 mins. Accompanist cuts are encouraged to reduce audition time. If your video is longer than 10 mins, the judges will stop the video at the 10 min mark.
• All audition submissions must be a single take and with a live accompanist.
• All repertoire must have readily available orchestral parts and be available for the March 2024 performances with the OSO. If you are not sure orchestra parts are available, please research by asking your teacher, other players, etc. If still not sure, email the OSO’s Music Director and Conductor, Matthew Wardell at matt@reillyartscenter.com
• Finals/Honors Recital performance duration should not exceed 15 minutes, and will be restricted to a single movement in most circumstances. If you are chosen as a division winner, the Music Director may consult with you re: your ability/desire to play more than a single movement if the concert duration allows. In most cases, only a single movement will be performed.
• Applicants are responsible for their own expenses (i.e. travel to the finals recital).
• Applicants must provide an accompanist and at least two copies of the piano score for the judges at the finals recital.
• Previous winners are ineligible for competition, but all other previous competitors (including finalists) are encouraged to audition.
• Finalists are required to perform with their accompanist (you must supply your accompanist) during the Finals/Honors Recital on Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 3 PM at the Reilly Arts Center in Ocala, Florida.
• Winners must be available to perform their concerto live with the Ocala Symphony Orchestra at the subscription concert “Youth, Tricksters, and Metamorphosis” on Saturday, March 8, 2025, 7:30 PM and Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM (And also attend rehearsals on Friday, March 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM and Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 11:00 AM.) Inability to perform at this concert, will cause forfeiture of the winner’s additional cash award.

Awards

• Finalists will perform with their accompanist (you must supply your accompanist) during the Finals/Honors Recital on Sunday January 12, 2025 at 3 PM at the Reilly Arts Center in Ocala, Florida. The Finals will be performed in front of a live audience.
• Finalists from each division will receive a cash award of $200.
• Winners will perform their concerto live with the Ocala Symphony Orchestra at the subscription concert “Youth, Tricksters, and Metamorphosis” on Saturday, March 8, 2025, 7:30 PM and Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM
• And also attend rehearsals on Friday, March 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM and Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 11:00 AM.
• The two winners will each receive an additional cash award of $1,800 during the March concert series.

The 33rd Young Artist Competition Honors Recital

The Honors Recital features the finalists from our Annual Young Artist Competition. These talented young musicians, from our Junior division and Senior division, took the stage to perform their concerto for a live audience on January 14, 2024. The winners of this competition will go on to perform as a soloist at “Bold Brahms” on March 23 and 24, 2024.

Jr. Division Winner
Matthew Phan, piano – Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, III. – Sergei Rachmaninoff

Jr. Division Finalists
Regine Lee, violin – Concerto No. 1 in G minor, I. – Max Bruch
Elyse Schlesinger, horn – Concerto No. 1 in E-flat – Richard Strauss
Quang Vo, piano – Piano Concerto No. 1, III. & IV. – Franz Liszt

Sr. Division Winner
Anne Elise Teeling, soprano – “O luce di quest’anima” – Gaetano Donizet

Sr. Division Finalists
Caroline Dratnal, piano – Piano Concerto in A minor, I. – Edvard Grieg
Elizabeth Milan, violin – Violin Concerto in D Major, I. – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Michael Isaac Ripple, oboe – Oboe Concerto in One Movement – Eugene Goossens

About the Winners

Anne Elise Teeling, soprano – Senior Division Winner

Anne Elise Teeling is a charming, captivating, and creative coloratura soprano based in Tallahassee, Florida. She studies voice under David Okerlund at Florida State University. Frequenting the stage, she has appeared in featured roles with Opera in the Ozarks, the FSU Opera Department, Northwestern Opera Theatre, and Chicago Summer Opera. Most recently, she appeared as Eurydice in Opera in the Ozark’s production of Orphée aux enfers. Previous credits include Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the FSU Opera Department, the title role in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Chicago Summer Opera and Flora in Britten’s Turn of the Screw with Northwestern Opera Theater. Well suited to the concert stage, she recently appeared as the soprano soloist for the Tallahassee Community Chorus’ performances of Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Equally comfortable with chamber work, she has performed in multiple concerts – most notably appearing in performance with FSU’s Collegium Musicum as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Anne Elise is originally from Des Moines, Iowa.

Matthew Phan, piano – Junior Division Winner

Matthew Phan of Jacksonville, Florida, is a senior at Bishop Kenny High School. He currently studies piano with Peggy Edwards, and his former teacher is Mary Lou Krosnick. He is a two-time winner of the American Protégé Piano Competition and performed twice at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2020, he won the Florida MTNA Junior Piano Competition and Junior Chopin Prize. In 2022, he won the FSMTA Senior Concerto Competition, the Florida MTNA Senior Piano Competition and the Senior Chopin Prize, and the Senior Division of the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra’s John Leatherwood Concerto Competition, resulting in two solo performances with them in January 2023. In 2023, Matthew won the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra’s Concerto Competition and as a result, soloed with the Jacksonville Symphony in May 2023. Also in May 2023, he won the FFMC Senior Concerto Competition, which earned him a nomination and reception of the Irene Muir Memorial Award. He also has participated in masterclasses, including one with Meng-Chieh Liu, and he enjoys playing for his school and church.

Both winners performed during “Bold Brahms” in March 2024.

Congratulations to all the 33rd Young Artist Competition finalists!

Pictured left to right:
Regine Lee, Caroline Dratnal, Elizabeth Milan, Elyse Schlesinger, Anne Elise Teeling, Matthew Phan, Quang Vo, and Michael Isaac Ripple