ORONO – An audience of 90 friends, family and members of the public enjoyed the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 20th anniversary Maine High School Concerto Competition on Jan. 19 in the Minsky Recital Hall at the University of Maine.

After an hour of exceptional playing by the six finalists, Meredith Crawford, a violinist from Veazie, won the jurors’ vote for her performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E minor.”

Crawford a ninth-grader at Orono High School, is the daughter of Susan Potters and Bruce Crawford. She has studied violin for more than nine years and continues private lessons with violinist Arnold Liver.

Crawford will receive the Annas-Cupp Award of $500 and will play Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E minor” at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra youth concerts March 18.

After the competition, audience member Julia Kellogg exclaimed, “What an agonizing choice,” undoubtedly echoing the thoughts of the jurors as they made their difficult decision.

Win Pusey, a reviewer for The Ellsworth American, said “the caliber of participants has never been higher.”

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra Maine High School Concerto 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 pianist Katherine Petitt, a junior from Gorham. The Bangor Symphony Orchestra invites all competition finalists to play in the symphony orchestra at the March Youth Concerts, instrumentation permitting.

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

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s Maine High School Concerto Competition exemplifies the symphony’s service to a large region of the state.

Young musicians from Palmyra to Standish and from 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 join the symphony o March 18 for three youth concerts held at the Maine Center for the Arts to be directed by conductor candidate Paul Phillips. For more information, visit www.bangorsymphony.com or call (800) 639-3221.