STEVENS POINT – The Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra has announced the winners of the annual Betty Frost Jenkins Young Artist Concerto Competition.
This year’s winner, Olivia Yang, an 11th-grader at Stevens Point Area Senior High, performed the first movement of “Cello Concerto in G Minor” by Kabalevsky.
This year’s honorable mention winner, Tatiana Van Tiem, an 11th-grader at St. Francis Solano Homeschool Academy, performed the first movement of the “Violin Concerto in C-Major, op. 48,” by Kabalevsky.
Olivia began her studies in cello at the age of 2 using a Styrofoam box cello with yarn strings. Since then, her credits as a cellist include serving in the Central Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra Program. She also performed in the honors recitals at the 2018 and 2019 American Suzuki Institutes. Since her father is an accomplished pianist and her mother is the principal clarinetist with the CWSO, she regularly performs with her family to provide music at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s “Birds In Art” exhibit in Wausau.
Coming from a musical family, Tatiana began formal studies at age 4. As an orchestral player, Tatiana has held the positions of concertmaster and principal viola in her school orchestras, the Central Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra Program and the Symphony Orchestra at New England Music Camp in Maine. This spring she distinguished herself as an honorable mention at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Stars of Tomorrow Competition.
This year, the competition was held virtually with students from northern and central Wisconsin providing videos of their performance. The competition is in honor of long-time CWSO board member, musician, volunteer and supporter, Betty Frost Jenkins, who established a fund to award a cash prize/scholarship to the winner.
The Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra is choosing to play it safe this fall and has not yet released any season plans for 2020-2021. The CWSO is affiliated with the College of Fine Arts and Communication at UW-Stevens Point, and is supported in part by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. The CWSO office is located inside the Smith Scarabocchio Art Museum at 800 Main Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481.
