Houston, Texas – February 1, 2024—Symphony North of Houston announced the 2024 Young Artist Competition Winners.
Symphony North of Houston is pleased to introduce the 2024 Young Artist Winners. For the past 26 years among community orchestras, Symphony North has been the foremost innovator and thought leader in providing an avenue for young artist to display their amazing talents by performing a classical concerto movement with an orchestra. This year Symphony North elevated the concept of its Young Artist Competition by awarding first place category awards. The categories include Violin, Cello, Piano, and Wind. The Finalist Audition for each category was held on January 27, 2024, where each finalist competed for first place in their respective category.
From the Finalist Audition, there were four 1st place winners in the Violin, Cello, Piano, and Wind categories. The 1st place recipients will perform their concerto movement with Symphony North at its Early Spring Concert on April 21, 2024, at 4:00 PM at Salem Lutheran Church in Tomball, Texas. At the Early Spring Concert, an overall winner will be selected from among the best performing category winners. A $500 scholarship and trophy will be awarded to each category winner, and the one whose performance was selected as the overall winner will receive an additional $500 scholarship and trophy.
Winners
- 1st Place Cello, Chanmin “Joel” Park, with Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor Op,104
- 1st Place Wind, Patrick Umanzor, with François Borne’s Fantaisie Brillante sur Carmen
- 1st Place Piano, Chris Hao, with Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
- 1st Place Violin, Corinne McLeod, with Samuel Barber’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14
Chanmin “Joel” Park
Chanmin “Joel” Park is a sophomore at Kinder HSPVA. He was recently named the 2024 National Young Arts Winner and Houston Youth Symphony’s Concerto Competition winner. Chanmin originally was born in South Korea but from an early age moved around the world, settling in places such as Thailand, India, and the UK. From growing up in diverse places throughout his life and during his residency in multiple countries, he grew a passion for music. He currently resides in Houston, Texas, and studies Cello under Charles Seo from the Houston Symphony.
Chanmin’s musical awards include being selected as a winner of the 2021 Houston International Music Competition: Junior Division, chosen as a first-place winner of the 2022 Junior Division & 2023 Senior Division of the Houston Civic Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition, selected as a winner of the ECHO’s Young Artist Concerto Competition, finalist of the 2022 Houston Young Artists’ Concert.
Aside from competitions, Chanmin has been selected as TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) All-State Symphony Orchestra since his freshman year. He is also a member of the Houston Youth Symphony’s Symphony Orchestra. Chanmin has attended and performed in many summer festivals including the 2021 Encore Chamber Music Summer Academy, 2022 Vivace International Music Festival, 2023 Meadowmount School of Music. Through these programs, he has had opportunities to perform in lessons/masterclasses with Clive Greensmith, Hannah Roberts, Steven Doane, Colin Carr, Natasha Brofsky, Hans Jensen, Thomas Landschoot, and Wei Yu.
Besides music, Chanmin is an avid reader and holds an interest in East Asian Studies and current events. In the future, he would like to double major in music and history, become a soloist or orchestral musician, tour around the world with a world-class symphony, and provide inspiration for music for many students and peers alike.
Patrick Umanzor
Patrick Umanzor, 16, was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 2007. At the age of one he moved to San Mateo, California where he would live until the age of ten when he began playing the flute through his school’s music program. In 2018 he moved to Spring, Texas and joined the Krimmel Intermediate band, and his passion for music has been growing since. Patrick has earned several recognitions such as 1st place winner of the 2021 Houston Flute Club Young Artist competition, 2nd place winner of the 2022 Claire Johnson Flute soloist competition, 1st place winner of the 2023 Klein Oak band concerto competition and Outstanding performer at the UIL State Solo and Ensemble Contest.
Additionally, Patrick has participated in many organizations/camps such as the Houston Youth Symphony, Floot fire and Interlochen. He is also a 3-time TMEA All Stater participating in the 2022 All State Symphonic band, 2023 All State Symphony Orchestra and 2024 All State Symphonic band. Patrick is currently a Junior at Klein Oak High School and plans to pursue music performance in the future.
Chris Hao
Chris Hao is an 8th grader at Doerre Intermediate School, and he currently resides in Spring, Texas. He has studied piano for 7 years, and currently studies piano under John Weems. His musical awards include being selected as the 1st place winner of the 2023 Baylor/Waco Piano Division III Competition, the winner of the 2023 Oberlin Piano Festival Competition, and the winner of the 2023 Blinn College Young Pianist Competition (the 7-8 grade group winner, Runner-up Overall).
Aside from piano, Chris plays violin in his school orchestra. He plays chess and loves reading about world history. He likes to travel around the national parks, especially stargazing and trying local food. His future plan is to become a professional pianist.
Corinne McLeod
Corinne McLeod began her study of music at age 5, currently studying violin performance and music theory under Dr. Matt Lammers in the Micheal P. Hammond Preparatory Program at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Corinne was awarded the annual 2023-2024 Season Concertmaster chair of Virtuosi of Houston under Maestros Franz Krager and Andzrej Grabiec. She placed first in the 2024 Virtuosi Helen B. Olshan Concerto Competition, after also placing in previous years. Corinne has played in the Houston Youth Symphony since 2019, leading as Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin. She currently plays in Symphony as a first violinist. Corinne leads a quartet of the Opus 1
Chamber Music School, where she frequently volunteers and performs in masterclasses.
In 2023 Corinne attended the Meadowmount School of Music, where she studied under Janet Sung and Ivan Zenaty. Her quartet earned a slot in the chamber music playoffs, winning a performance in the final concert. Corinne attended Interlochen Arts Camp in 2022, where she was accepted to the World Youth Symphony Orchestra (WYSO) for both sessions. She had opportunity to work with incredible conductors including Cristian Macelaru, Tito Muñoz, Roderick Cox, and Tristan Rais-Sherman. As part of WYSO, she accompanied violin soloist Randall Goosby and shared the stage with members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She was selected to perform in IAC’s final solo string recital. In 2021 Corinne participated in the Sewanee Summer Music Festival with Dr Lin He, leading as assistant principal violin in the Cumberland Symphony Orchestra. Corinne has passed the first round of auditions at many colleges, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Cleveland Institute of Music, Vanderbilt Blair School of Music, IU Jacobs School of Music, and DePaul Conservatory. She is looking forward to a career in orchestral and violin performance.
For More Information:
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| Mail: | 21175 State Highway 249 No. 222 Houston, TX 77070-1655 |
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| Concert Venue: | Salem Lutheran Church 22601 Lutheran Church Rd Tomball, TX 77377 |
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