Nutley cellist wins NJSO Youth Orchestras’ concerto competition

Cellist Noel Cho has won the 2016–17 NJSO Youth Orchestras’ Henry Lewis Concerto Competition. She will perform Édouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D Minor with the Academy Orchestra as the featured soloist in the NJSO Youth Orchestras’ spring concert on Sunday, May 7. Noel, 14, is a freshman at Nutley High School and studies privately with Miho Weber.

The competition adjudicators also awarded Honorable Mention to flutist Jojo Zhang, 16, of Bridgewater and violinist Ryan Li, 14, of Edison. Jojo performed Jacob Gade and Toke Lund Christiansen’s Tango Fantasia; Ryan performed Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A Minor.

Held annually, the Henry Lewis Concerto Competition celebrates discipline, dedication and accomplishment by providing members of the NJSO Academy Orchestra—the NJSO Youth Orchestras’ top ensemble—with the opportunity to perform as soloists with the orchestra.

In the 2015–16 season, the NJSO Youth Orchestras renamed the competition to honor former NJSO Music Director Henry Lewis, who was posthumously inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2015. This naming also helped the NJSO mark the 25th-anniversary season of the NJSO Youth Orchestras.

This season’s judging panel included NJSO oboist Andrew Adelson, violist Brett Deubner and hornist Susan Standley, who commended all 18 competition participants for their high level of accomplishment.

» Learn more about the NJSO Youth Orchestras