Ninth-grader wins competition at UM Veazie violinist to play solo with BSO

ORONO – Veazie musician Meredith Crawford has won the chance to play Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E minor” with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra at the March Youth Concerts.

An audience numbering 90 enjoyed the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 20th Anniversary Maine High School Concerto Competition on Jan. 19 in Minsky Recital Hall at the University of Maine. After an hour of exceptional playing by the six finalists, Crawford won the jurors’ vote for her performance.

Crawford is in the ninth grade at Orono High School and the daughter of Susan Potters and Bruce Crawford. She has studied violin for 91/2 years, and continues private lessons with violinist Arnold Liver. She will receive the Annas-Cupp Award of $500 and will play Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E minor” with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra on March 18.

“It’s very comforting, almost amazing, to know we have that much young talent in the state,” said Bangor Symphony Board President Charles Rauch.

The competition also recognizes second- and third- place winners. Elise Kopesky, a clarinetist from Camden, was awarded the Friends of the Symphony second-place award of $250. She is a junior at Camden Hills Regional High School. Flutist Kieran Hutchinson, a junior from Waterville, and pianist Mesa Schubeck, a sophomore from Blue Hill, each won the third place Friends of the Symphony award of $150.

Honorable mentions were awarded to flutist Meghan McFarland, a senior from Durham, and to pianist Katherine Petitt, a junior from Gorham.

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra invites all competition finalists, instrumentation permitting, to play in the Symphony Orchestra at the March Youth Concerts.

Young musicians from Palmyra to Standish, and Cape Elizabeth to Blue Hill vied for a place among the finalists. The competition’s coveted prize of the chance to play solo with the entire Bangor Symphony orchestra is unique to the Maine High School Concerto Competition.

Crawford will be joining the symphony on March 18 for three Youth Concerts held at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono and directed by a candidate for the position of conductor, Paul Phillips. For more information, visit www.bangorsymphony.com or call (800) 639-3221.