Violinist Isabella Brown, winner of the 2020 Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition (Photo: Todd Rosenberg Photography)
On Saturday, March 7, four young artists competed at Symphony Center for a dream opportunity: to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The 2020 Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition highlighted string instruments (the competition rotates instrumentation every three years, featuring strings, woodwinds/brass/percussion, and piano). The finalists performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, under the direction of Michael Christie.
Violinist Isabella Brown won the competition after her performance of the first movement from Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. She will perform with the CSO during the 2020-21 season. Brown studies violin with Almita Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy.
The first alternate winner was violinist Esme Arias-Kim who performed the first movement from Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47. Arias-Kim also studies violin at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy with Almita Vamos. Finalists also included cellist Mia Wimbiscus and double bassist Nicholas Boettcher.
All finalists have performed on Introductions, WFMT’s Saturday morning showcase of the finest pre-college musicians in the Chicago area. As the competition winner, Isabella Brown will return to perform on a live edition of the program at a later date.
The Crain-Maling Foundation is the title sponsor of the CSO Young Artists Competition. The competition is hosted annually by the League of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and the Negaunee Music Institute.
