Maine High School Concerto Competition

Update (10/11/2022) – The application is now open for the 2023 Competition.

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Important Dates

  • Application Deadline: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2022
  • Finalist Notification: FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2023
  • Finalists’ Audition Recital: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2023
  • Young People’s Concerts: SUNDAY, MAY 14 & MONDAY, MAY 15, 2023
    • Rehearsal: 6pm on Sunday, May 14th
    • Performances: 10am and 11:45am on Monday, May 15th

Awards

  1. First Place Annas-Cupp Award: $500 & concerto performance with the BSO
  2. Second Place Friends Award:  $250
  3. Third Place Friends Award: $150

Overview

For over 40 years the Bangor Symphony Orchestra has been encouraging and recognizing the outstanding talents of Maine’s high school instrumentalists. We invite you to become a part of this long history by participating in the 41st Annual Maine High School Concerto Competition.

The first-prize winner for the Annas-Cupp Award will be featured in a concerto performance with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your talents and become part of Bangor Symphony Orchestra history! Complete details are in the application.

Eligibility

This competition is open to any string, woodwind, brass, percussion, harp, and piano students in grades 9 through 12, at the time of the application due date. Entrants must not have graduated and must be enrolled in high school or high school program (e.g. home school). Entrants must not have taken the GED. Dual enrollment students are eligible. Entrants must be Maine residents, but may attend high school outside the state of Maine. If questions arise, proof of age, enrollment, and residency may be necessary. Winners of the Annas-Cupp Award in any preceding year are ineligible to compete.

All applicants must submit the following:

1) Participants are required to submit video/audio recording materials. You may upload a video file or provide a YouTube (or other music sharing website) link of the student performing one movement of a concerto in the standard orchestral repertoire. The selected movement can be up to 12 minutes in length, uncut*. All recordings must include the accompaniment. No pre-recorded accompaniments, please. Listen to your recording before you send it in, quality is important. Private teachers should not accompany their own students for the recording submission or live recital.

2) Copy of the music with each measure numbered

3) Completed application form

Note: There is no entrance fee

All applications must be submitted prior to midnight, December 31, 2022.

*Any exceptions to the length rule and approval for any cuts or transcriptions must be requested in writing and approved by the Competition committee prior to video/audio submission. E-mail katie @ bangorsymphony.org.

Competition Procedures

Recordings will be evaluated by a committee including Bangor Symphony Orchestra members and leading musicians in Maine. By January 13, 2023, finalists will be chosen to participate in a public audition recital at Minsky Hall on the University of Maine, Orono campus.

Contestants must provide their own accompanist. On the day of the finals, students and their accompanists may rehearse in the performing hall during the morning. The final audition, in the form of a public recital, will take place that afternoon. If needed, we can help facilitate the search for an accompanist.