Concerto Competitions
Applicant Eligibility
- Instrumentalists or Vocalists
- Must be a Nova Scotia Resident or Recognized Post Secondary Music Program Student
- Open to all ages.
Application Deadline: July 31, 2024
Application Fee: $20.00, non-refundable.
Audition Requirements
- A video recording of yourself performing one complete movement from any concerto.
- Piano accompaniment is encouraged, but not mandatory.
- Videos must be completely unedited AND uninterrupted.
- Applicants may submit more than one concerto; however, it must be contained in the same unedited submission.
- Videos must be uploaded to YouTube for submission.
- Videos must be submitted prior to the application deadline.
Previous Winners
Angel Wen
2023/2024 Winner
Piano – Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.19 in F major, K. 459
Ethan Peng
2022/2023 Winner
Piano – Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.2 in F, Op. 102
Jenny Chen
2021/2022 Winner
Piano – Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.19 in F major, K. 459
More About Angel
- 12-year-old Angel Wen is a Grade 6 student at Sackville Heights Junior High School and has been a piano student of Prof. Lynn Stodola since 2023. Angel is this year’s winner of the Chebucto Orchestra Concerto Competition.
- At the age of 11, Angel participated in the Nova Scotia Kiwanis Music Festival, winning selected Piano classes and was awarded the Halifax Ladies’ Musical Club Award for the most outstanding Junior in the Festival. That same year she won the Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers’ Association (NSRMTA) Scholarship competition in the Senior Division, and went on to successfully complete the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) Level 9 Piano Performance Examination achieving First Class Honours with Distinction. This past December, 2024, Angel was chosen by the Nova Scotia Talent Trust to receive the Peggy Corkum/Musique Royale Legacy Award, granted to the pianist who, amongst all others, shows the greatest artistic potential and excellence.
- In addition to numerous public performances under the auspices of the NSRMTA, Angel was also selected to participate last Spring in a Masterclass with renowned Canadian pianist, Jane Coop, at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (LAMP). She was also a featured performer for the Nova Scotia Talent Trust Awards Ceremony this past December.
- Aside from music, Angel has a wide range of interests which include swimming, skiing, tennis, hiking, cycling, and doing handicrafts.She is a member of the Novice group (AA swimmer) for the SWAT (Sackville Waves Aquatic Team) as well.
- Angel wishes to acknowledge the tremendous support from the music community, including the Halifax Ladies’ Musical Club, the NSRMTA, the Nova Scotia Kiwanis Music Festival and the Nova Scotia Talent Trust. The generosity and support of these organizations continue to inspire Angle to strive to become a professional pianist.
More About Ethan
- Fifteen year old Ethan Peng is a grade 10 student at citadel high school and has been studying piano with Professor Lynn Stodola for the past 5 years. He has won First Prize in the Steinway Youth National Piano Competition in Jiangsu Province, China and has completed RCM Piano and Theory Exams with First Class Honours. He has won awards as runner-up for the Doctor Piano and Yamaha Canada Piano Rose Bowl Competition, scholarships from Nova Scotia Talent Trust and from the Debut Atlantic Award for Musical Excellence competition as the second prize recipient. This year he was a National Finalist in the Canadian Music Competition.
- He loves to hangout with friends to play sports in his free time, mainly soccer, table tennis, basketball, and badminton. He also likes draw at home, and enjoys singing and learning guitar.
More About Jenny
- Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jenny Chen is currently a grade five elementary school student and has been studying piano with Professor Lynn Stodola since 2018. She has been the recipient of many awards including the Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship, the 2021 Halifax Ladies’ Musical Club Award (Kiwanis Festival), the 2021 Alex Cain Memorial Award (Kiwanis Festival) and the Royal Conservatory of Music Gold Medal in Piano Performance. She was a Bronze Medal winner in the 2021 Canadian Music Competition. Most recently, she was chosen to represent Nova Scotia at the Federation of Canadian Music Festival’s National Competition where she was awarded the Third Prize in the Developing Artist Stream.
- Besides music, Jenny enjoys swimming, reading, movies, writing novels and family hiking. She is also an avid and knowledgeable bird watcher!
Alex Yang
2019/2020 Winner
Piano – Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15
Dorian Leigh Baker
2018/2019 Winner
Clarinet – Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622
Mimisu Lee
2017/2018 Winner
Horn – Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495
More About Alex
- Ten-year-old Alex Yang is a grade five student at Halifax Grammar School, and has been a student of ProfessorLynn Stodola since 2015. In the 2019 Halifax Kiwanis Music Festival, Alex won First Place in each of his six senior level piano classes, and was invited to perform at the Festival’s Gala, where he received the Gordon Murray Rising Star Award for the second consecutive year. As a result of his outstanding performance in the Festival, he will receive the Halifax Ladies’ Music Club Junior Award at their annual post-festival recital this June.
- He was a Bronze Prize winner in the 2017 Canadian Music Competition (CMC) National Final, and a Silver Prize winner in the 2018 CMC with an exceptional mark of 95%. This June, 2019, he will be competing again as a CMC National Finalist in both Piano and Violin, to be held in Calgary, Alberta.
- Alex has been an RCM Gold Medalist (Atlantic Region) in both Piano and Violin, and winner of numerous Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers Association (NSRMTA) trophies and Scholarship Competitions in piano and violin. As one of the youngest Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship recipients in 2017 and 2018, he was invited to perform in recital at Government House on their Music on Tuesday Series. As a composition student of Dr. Lorna Wanzel, Alex recently won First Prize in the 2019 NSRMTA Composition Competition.
- Alex enjoys musicals, such as “West Side Story” and “The Lion King”, etc. In addition to music, He likes playing tennis and computer coding.
More About Dorian
- Born in Halifax Nova Scotia, Dorian Leigh Baker completed his Undergraduate Degree in Music from Mount Allison University, while simultaneously studying Clarinet Performance at The Boston Conservatory. While at the Boston Conservatory in 2012, Dorian focused on chamber and orchestral performance, where he held principal positions with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble. In Boston, Dorian also formed a clarinet trio and quintet, which allowed him to delve into the classical chamber music repertory. Through his chamber music ensembles, Dorian performed all of Mozart’s masterworks for the clarinet including the Clarinet Concerto K.622, Trio K. 498 and Quintet K. 581. In addition to his intensive musical training at the Boston Conservatory, his time in Boston also took him to center stage at some of New England’s best performance venues, including Jordan Hall at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- During his undergraduate studies at Mount Allison University, Dorian held principal positions in the Mount Allison University Chamber Orchestra, and the Mount Allison University Wind Ensemble. Having studied all of Mozart’s masterworks during his time in Boston, Dorian spent his time at Mount Allison University to focus on music of the Romantic era – where he became infatuated with the work of Brahms, performing all of his masterworks for clarinet, including both Sonatas Op. 120, the Trio Op. 114, and the autumnal Quintet Op. 115. In addition to his studious endeavors at Mount Allison, Dorian spent his summers in Orford, Quebec, and in Europe where he participated in the Wind Octet program at the Orford Arts Centre, and studied in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen with some of the world’s most sought after clarinetists, including Lee Morgan and Martin Spangenberg.
- Upon completion of his undergraduate studies in 2014, Dorian moved to Toronto where he earned a Masters Degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Toronto. While at UofT, Dorian maintained a position as principal clarinet with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble. He was also an active chamber musician, performing in various ensembles including a Clarinet Trio and Quintet, and a Wind Quintet and Octet. While at the University of Toronto, Dorian participated in masterclasses with world-renowned artists such as Anthony McGill of the New York Philharmonic, and Walter Seyfarth of the Berlin Philharmonic. Dorian has also worked as a recording artist and has recorded for Eighth Note Publications, and for the Screen Composers Guild of Canada at CBC studios in Toronto. While in Toronto, Dorian spent his summers in Northern Ontario teaching music at the National Music Camp of Canada, where he honed his skills as a music educator – skills that have transferred well into his current position teaching with Long&McQuade.
More About Mimisu
- Mimisu is a very talented young musician: the winner of the 2017/18 Chebucto Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Federation of Nova Scotia Music Festivals in 2016 and 2017 and a member of Team Nova Scotia for the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals where she won 3rd place in 2017. She is also the winner of the 2016 and 2017 Kim and Heather Conrad Brass Rose Bowl Competition and Atlantic Federation of Musicians’ Brass Award, a two-time winner of “Most Outstanding Brass Performance Award” at the Kiwanis Music Festival in 2012 and 2013, a Fountain Scholar, and a Fountain School of Performing Arts Scholarship recipient.Mimisu has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia (NSYO joint concerts), Symphony Nova Scotia Library Players, Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute at Whistler Orchestra, Scotia Festival Orchestra, Dalhousie University Chamber Orchestra, Dalhousie University Symphony, Dalhousie University Wind Ensemble, the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble, and the San Diego International Youth Orchestra.Mimisu played in her first public performance at age ten with her sister Lala Lee at the Kiwanis 2007 Gala concert. After the concert, the Lieutenant Governor, The Honorable Mayann E. Francis, invited Mimisu and her sister Lala to perform at Her Honour’s concert in the province house on August 1st 2007. They were also invited back to perform at the Order of Nova Scotia Ceremony in October 2007.Mimisu has won many awards including 3rd place at the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals, two time winner of the Federation of Music Festivals Nova Scotia Brass Category, Kim and Heather Conrad Brass Rose Bowl Competition, and “Most Outstanding Brass Player Award”. She has also won many first place awards at the Kiwanis Music Festival: first place for Brass Concerto – Mozart Concerto No.3 (2016) and Franz Strauss Concerto Op.8 (2017), Brass Concert Group, and Brass Solo in 2016 and 2017. She has also won first place for Richard Strauss Horn Concerto No.1 in 2012, Mozart Horn Concerto No.1 in 2011, Piano Duet with her sister Lala in 2007, 2008 and 2011, Brass solo in 2010, Piano Sonatina in 2007 and many other prizes at the Kiwanis Music Festival since 2007.Mimisu has been invited to perform at the IWK Telethon, the IWK foundation, the Big Dig, the Kiwanis 2007 (piano duet with sister Lala Lee), 2016 and 2017 (French horn) Gala concerts, Halifax Ladies Music Club and other events.Mimisu is very proud of fundraising and volunteering for the IWK Foundation, the IWK Health Centre (haematology/oncology department), the Children’s Wish Foundation, Symphony Nova Scotia, Scotia Festival of Music, Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, Healing and Cancer, CIBC Run For The Cure, CIBC Walk For AIDS, Blue Nose Marathon and Regional Science Fair Nova Scotia Sector.Mimisu has appeared on the Symphony Nova Scotia Endowment Fund campaign. She was chosen to participate in Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute at Whistler in 2016 and 2017, the Orford Academy Orchestra in the summer of 2016, and a young artist for Scotia Festival for the summer of 2015 and 2016.
Previous Winners
Angel Wen
2023/2024 Winner
Piano – Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.19 in F major, K. 459
More About Angel
- 12-year-old Angel Wen is a Grade 6 student at Sackville Heights Junior High School and has been a piano student of Prof. Lynn Stodola since 2023. Angel is this year’s winner of the Chebucto Orchestra Concerto Competition.
- At the age of 11, Angel participated in the Nova Scotia Kiwanis Music Festival, winning selected Piano classes and was awarded the Halifax Ladies’ Musical Club Award for the most outstanding Junior in the Festival. That same year she won the Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers’ Association (NSRMTA) Scholarship competition in the Senior Division, and went on to successfully complete the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) Level 9 Piano Performance Examination achieving First Class Honours with Distinction. This past December, 2024, Angel was chosen by the Nova Scotia Talent Trust to receive the Peggy Corkum/Musique Royale Legacy Award, granted to the pianist who, amongst all others, shows the greatest artistic potential and excellence.
- In addition to numerous public performances under the auspices of the NSRMTA, Angel was also selected to participate last Spring in a Masterclass with renowned Canadian pianist, Jane Coop, at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (LAMP). She was also a featured performer for the Nova Scotia Talent Trust Awards Ceremony this past December.
- Aside from music, Angel has a wide range of interests which include swimming, skiing, tennis, hiking, cycling, and doing handicrafts.She is a member of the Novice group (AA swimmer) for the SWAT (Sackville Waves Aquatic Team) as well.
- Angel wishes to acknowledge the tremendous support from the music community, including the Halifax Ladies’ Musical Club, the NSRMTA, the Nova Scotia Kiwanis Music Festival and the Nova Scotia Talent Trust. The generosity and support of these organizations continue to inspire Angle to strive to become a professional pianist.
Ethan Peng
2022/2023 Winner
Piano – Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.2 in F, Op. 102
More About Ethan
- Fifteen year old Ethan Peng is a grade 10 student at citadel high school and has been studying piano with Professor Lynn Stodola for the past 5 years. He has won First Prize in the Steinway Youth National Piano Competition in Jiangsu Province, China and has completed RCM Piano and Theory Exams with First Class Honours. He has won awards as runner-up for the Doctor Piano and Yamaha Canada Piano Rose Bowl Competition, scholarships from Nova Scotia Talent Trust and from the Debut Atlantic Award for Musical Excellence competition as the second prize recipient. This year he was a National Finalist in the Canadian Music Competition.
- He loves to hangout with friends to play sports in his free time, mainly soccer, table tennis, basketball, and badminton. He also likes draw at home, and enjoys singing and learning guitar.
Jenny Chen
2021/2022 Winner
Piano – Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.19 in F major, K. 459
More About Jenny
- Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jenny Chen is currently a grade five elementary school student and has been studying piano with Professor Lynn Stodola since 2018. She has been the recipient of many awards including the Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship, the 2021 Halifax Ladies’ Musical Club Award (Kiwanis Festival), the 2021 Alex Cain Memorial Award (Kiwanis Festival) and the Royal Conservatory of Music Gold Medal in Piano Performance. She was a Bronze Medal winner in the 2021 Canadian Music Competition. Most recently, she was chosen to represent Nova Scotia at the Federation of Canadian Music Festival’s National Competition where she was awarded the Third Prize in the Developing Artist Stream.
- Besides music, Jenny enjoys swimming, reading, movies, writing novels and family hiking. She is also an avid and knowledgeable bird watcher!
Alex Yang
2019/2020 Winner
Piano – Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15
More About Alex
- Ten-year-old Alex Yang is a grade five student at Halifax Grammar School, and has been a student of ProfessorLynn Stodola since 2015. In the 2019 Halifax Kiwanis Music Festival, Alex won First Place in each of his six senior level piano classes, and was invited to perform at the Festival’s Gala, where he received the Gordon Murray Rising Star Award for the second consecutive year. As a result of his outstanding performance in the Festival, he will receive the Halifax Ladies’ Music Club Junior Award at their annual post-festival recital this June.
- He was a Bronze Prize winner in the 2017 Canadian Music Competition (CMC) National Final, and a Silver Prize winner in the 2018 CMC with an exceptional mark of 95%. This June, 2019, he will be competing again as a CMC National Finalist in both Piano and Violin, to be held in Calgary, Alberta.
- Alex has been an RCM Gold Medalist (Atlantic Region) in both Piano and Violin, and winner of numerous Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers Association (NSRMTA) trophies and Scholarship Competitions in piano and violin. As one of the youngest Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship recipients in 2017 and 2018, he was invited to perform in recital at Government House on their Music on Tuesday Series. As a composition student of Dr. Lorna Wanzel, Alex recently won First Prize in the 2019 NSRMTA Composition Competition.
- Alex enjoys musicals, such as “West Side Story” and “The Lion King”, etc. In addition to music, He likes playing tennis and computer coding.
Dorian Leigh Baker
2018/2019 Winner
Clarinet – Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622
More About Dorian
- Born in Halifax Nova Scotia, Dorian Leigh Baker completed his Undergraduate Degree in Music from Mount Allison University, while simultaneously studying Clarinet Performance at The Boston Conservatory. While at the Boston Conservatory in 2012, Dorian focused on chamber and orchestral performance, where he held principal positions with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble. In Boston, Dorian also formed a clarinet trio and quintet, which allowed him to delve into the classical chamber music repertory. Through his chamber music ensembles, Dorian performed all of Mozart’s masterworks for the clarinet including the Clarinet Concerto K.622, Trio K. 498 and Quintet K. 581. In addition to his intensive musical training at the Boston Conservatory, his time in Boston also took him to center stage at some of New England’s best performance venues, including Jordan Hall at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- During his undergraduate studies at Mount Allison University, Dorian held principal positions in the Mount Allison University Chamber Orchestra, and the Mount Allison University Wind Ensemble. Having studied all of Mozart’s masterworks during his time in Boston, Dorian spent his time at Mount Allison University to focus on music of the Romantic era – where he became infatuated with the work of Brahms, performing all of his masterworks for clarinet, including both Sonatas Op. 120, the Trio Op. 114, and the autumnal Quintet Op. 115. In addition to his studious endeavors at Mount Allison, Dorian spent his summers in Orford, Quebec, and in Europe where he participated in the Wind Octet program at the Orford Arts Centre, and studied in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen with some of the world’s most sought after clarinetists, including Lee Morgan and Martin Spangenberg.
- Upon completion of his undergraduate studies in 2014, Dorian moved to Toronto where he earned a Masters Degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Toronto. While at UofT, Dorian maintained a position as principal clarinet with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble. He was also an active chamber musician, performing in various ensembles including a Clarinet Trio and Quintet, and a Wind Quintet and Octet. While at the University of Toronto, Dorian participated in masterclasses with world-renowned artists such as Anthony McGill of the New York Philharmonic, and Walter Seyfarth of the Berlin Philharmonic. Dorian has also worked as a recording artist and has recorded for Eighth Note Publications, and for the Screen Composers Guild of Canada at CBC studios in Toronto. While in Toronto, Dorian spent his summers in Northern Ontario teaching music at the National Music Camp of Canada, where he honed his skills as a music educator – skills that have transferred well into his current position teaching with Long&McQuade.
Mimisu Lee
2017/2018 Winner
Horn – Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495
More About Mimisu
- Mimisu is a very talented young musician: the winner of the 2017/18 Chebucto Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Federation of Nova Scotia Music Festivals in 2016 and 2017 and a member of Team Nova Scotia for the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals where she won 3rd place in 2017. She is also the winner of the 2016 and 2017 Kim and Heather Conrad Brass Rose Bowl Competition and Atlantic Federation of Musicians’ Brass Award, a two-time winner of “Most Outstanding Brass Performance Award” at the Kiwanis Music Festival in 2012 and 2013, a Fountain Scholar, and a Fountain School of Performing Arts Scholarship recipient.Mimisu has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia (NSYO joint concerts), Symphony Nova Scotia Library Players, Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute at Whistler Orchestra, Scotia Festival Orchestra, Dalhousie University Chamber Orchestra, Dalhousie University Symphony, Dalhousie University Wind Ensemble, the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble, and the San Diego International Youth Orchestra.Mimisu played in her first public performance at age ten with her sister Lala Lee at the Kiwanis 2007 Gala concert. After the concert, the Lieutenant Governor, The Honorable Mayann E. Francis, invited Mimisu and her sister Lala to perform at Her Honour’s concert in the province house on August 1st 2007. They were also invited back to perform at the Order of Nova Scotia Ceremony in October 2007.Mimisu has won many awards including 3rd place at the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals, two time winner of the Federation of Music Festivals Nova Scotia Brass Category, Kim and Heather Conrad Brass Rose Bowl Competition, and “Most Outstanding Brass Player Award”. She has also won many first place awards at the Kiwanis Music Festival: first place for Brass Concerto – Mozart Concerto No.3 (2016) and Franz Strauss Concerto Op.8 (2017), Brass Concert Group, and Brass Solo in 2016 and 2017. She has also won first place for Richard Strauss Horn Concerto No.1 in 2012, Mozart Horn Concerto No.1 in 2011, Piano Duet with her sister Lala in 2007, 2008 and 2011, Brass solo in 2010, Piano Sonatina in 2007 and many other prizes at the Kiwanis Music Festival since 2007.Mimisu has been invited to perform at the IWK Telethon, the IWK foundation, the Big Dig, the Kiwanis 2007 (piano duet with sister Lala Lee), 2016 and 2017 (French horn) Gala concerts, Halifax Ladies Music Club and other events.Mimisu is very proud of fundraising and volunteering for the IWK Foundation, the IWK Health Centre (haematology/oncology department), the Children’s Wish Foundation, Symphony Nova Scotia, Scotia Festival of Music, Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, Healing and Cancer, CIBC Run For The Cure, CIBC Walk For AIDS, Blue Nose Marathon and Regional Science Fair Nova Scotia Sector.Mimisu has appeared on the Symphony Nova Scotia Endowment Fund campaign. She was chosen to participate in Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute at Whistler in 2016 and 2017, the Orford Academy Orchestra in the summer of 2016, and a young artist for Scotia Festival for the summer of 2015 and 2016.
