The preliminary round was held in the Browne-McPherson Music Building at Peace College in Raleigh on Sunday, May 8. A group of six finalists performed for North Carolina Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and Director of Education Suzanne Rousso at St. Mary’s School on Saturday, May 14.
The competition, open to instrumentalists between the ages of 10 and 21 years of age as of May 8, is an opportunity for local young artists to gain recognition and perhaps perform as soloists with the North Carolina Symphony. Applicants aged 16-21 competed in the senior division and those aged 10-15 in the junior division. All applicants are required to be North Carolina residents or be students enrolled full-time in a North Carolina school.
There was a tie for first place in the senior division: two violinists, 16-year-old Stefani Collins from Summerfield and 19-year-old Amy Fetherolf from Winston-Salem. Both winners will play as a soloist with the North Carolina Symphony in the 2005-06 season, in addition to a cash prize. Collins is a high school student at the North Carolina School of the Arts and studies with Sarah Johnson. Fetherolf is a student of Linda Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
The first place junior division winner is cellist Alan Toda-Ambaras from Chapel Hill, who is 14 years old. He is a student of North Carolina Symphony cellist Leonid Zilper. The second place junior division winner is 15-year-old Gene Goldstein-Plesser from Durham, a piano student of Gregory McCallum.
