Student Concerto Competition Winners Announced

The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce the winners of the 37th Annual Richard R. Deas Student Concerto Competition.  The winner of the UNCW Division is Kyle Miller (piano), the winner of the High School Division is Clara Hare-Grogg (violin), and the Junior Division winner is Caitlin Newton Patterson (violin).  The upper division winners will be featured soloists in the Masterworks Series concert A Change is Gonna Come on Saturday, February 8th at 8:00 p.m.  The Junior Division winner will be a soloist with the Youth Orchestra at the Free Family Concert on Sunday, April 27th at 4:00 p.m.  Both concerts will be held in Kenan Auditorium on the UNCW campus.

Kyle Miller is a senior at UNCW and a North Carolina Teaching Fellow.  He is pursuing a B.A. in General Music, and a B.A. in Secondary Math Education.  Kyle was a guest performer in the UNCW Piano Ensemble in 2011, and participated in master classes with Reid Alexander and Paolo Gualdi.

Clara Hare-Grogg began the Suzuki method of violin at age six with Lorraine Westermark, and currently studies with Beverly Andrews. Clara is a junior at Ashley High School, where she is president of the National Honor Society and vice-president of the Tri-M Music Honor Society. She plays French horn in the Bands of Ashley High School, and has participated numerous times in North Carolina honor bands at the county, district, and state level.

Caitlin Newton Patterson is a sixth grade student at St. Mary Catholic School in Wilmington. She began violin five years ago with Ms. Lorraine Westermark at Suzuki Talent Education of Wilmington. She has played with the Wilmington Symphony Junior Strings ensemble since January 2013.

Dr. Richard R. Deas, for whom the student concerto competition was named and in whose memory it continues, helped create the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra in 1971. As the then-Chair of the UNCW Department of Music he assisted in developing the competition in 1976 as a way to give talented young musicians an opportunity to perform with a symphony orchestra.

For more information, contact Nicole Thompson, Marketing & Development Assistant at marketing@wilmingtonsymphony. org