Caleb Shi, Yoo Jin Kang win NJSO Youth Orchestras’ Henry Lewis Concerto Competition
NJSO Academy Orchestra (AO) violinists Caleb Shi and Yoo Jin Kang have been named co-winners of the 2019 NJSO Youth Orchestras’ Henry Lewis Concerto Competition. Both winners will perform as featured soloists with AO at the NJSO Youth Orchestras spring concert on May 5 at Science Park High School in Newark.
Caleb performed the first movement of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K.219, and Yoo Jin performed Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, Op. 21. Caleb, 17, is a senior at Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and Yoo Jin, 13, is an eighth grader at Robert R. Lazar Middle School in Montville.
The judging panel also awarded honorable mention to violinist Grace Leo of Jersey City for a beautiful performance of Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Minor, Op. 37.
In the 2015–16 season, the NJSO named the concerto competition for former NJSO Music Director Henry Lewis in honor of Lewis’ posthumous induction into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. This naming also helped the NJSO mark the 25th-anniversary season of the NJSO Youth Orchestras. Held annually, the concerto competition celebrates discipline, dedication and accomplishment by providing members of the NJSO Academy Orchestra with the opportunity to perform as soloists with the ensemble.
The 2019 judging panel included NJSO musicians Ming Yang, Andrew Adelson and Susan Standley, who commended all 13 participants for their musicality, preparation and poise.
Hear Caleb and Yoo Jin solo at the NJSO Youth Orchestras’ spring concert on May 5 at 4 pm at Science Park High School in Newark. All tickets are $5 and are available for purchase by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476). The concert is presented by M&T Bank.