Three of the best young classical musicians in the world will be performing as finalists in the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra’s Elizabeth Loker International Concerto Competition on Sunday, March 24, at 3 PM at the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College. They emerged in two rounds of judging of 155 musicians ages 12 to 25 from Maryland, Delaware and 22 states, as well as China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Israel and Canada.

Sophia Geng, Rebekah Hou and Alejandro Gomez Pareja will be performing in competition, backed by the entire Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the youngest conductor to ever win a Grammy-award for Best Orchestral performance, Michael Repper.  Most other major competitions worldwide are performed only with piano accompaniment.  This unique opportunity to perform with a leading professional symphony orchestra has attracted record entries worldwide, competing for major cash prizes and global honors.

Sophia Geng is a junior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. She started studying violin at age 5, and also studies at the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School.  She is in the piano trio program in the Chamber Intensive Performance Seminar and plays in the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra as a first violinist.  Earlier, she was a scholarship holder at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy for Young Artists, and made her European Orchestral debut with the London City Philharmonic after winning the London International Concerto Competition.  She will perform Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 35.

Alejandro Gomez Pareja of Madrid, Spain began playing cello at the tender age of four.  He has performed as a soloist with the National Youth Symphony of Catalonia, Andres Segovia Chamber Orchestra and Dreamers Orchestra.  In 2022, he performed with Orquesta Sinfonia de Barcelona, National de Catalunya and Orchestra de Caen.  An undergraduate student at Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid, he is a second-place winner of the Pablo Casals International Chamber Competition. He will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1

Rebekah Hou is currently pursuing a master’s degree in harp performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), Rebekah was a prizewinner at the 2013 CIM Concerto Competition and received the Anne Adams Award from the American Harp Society’s National Foundation Competition in 2022.  She has appeared as principal harpist with the Akron Symphony, Firelands Symphony and Mansfield Symphony, and received fellowships from Round Top Orchestral Institute, Chautauqua Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States. She will perform Albert Ginastera’s Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, Opus 25.

WHEN and WHERE…

Date: March 24

Time: 3 PM

Venue: Todd Performing Arts Center, Chesapeake College, 1000 College Cir, Wye Mills, MD 21679

TICKETS

Individual tickets for this concert are $50 per person at each venue and are available at midatlanticsymphony.org.  The site also has information on group purchases and free tickets for students 18 years and under. Music students from more than 60 secondary schools in 13 Maryland and Delaware counties are being offered complimentary tickets to the Competition through their music teachers.

PODCASTS

Previews for each program in the season and for special MSO events are available on the MSO Web site at midatlanticsymphony.org/podcast. Podcasts are posted on the site 7 to 10 days before a concert or event.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about the 2023-2024 season, or to order tickets, please visit www.midatlanticsymphony.org. Tickets may be ordered by telephone at 888-846-8600.

ABOUT THE MID-ATLANTIC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is the only professional symphony orchestra serving southern Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore with a full season of programs. The MSO is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council; the Talbot County Arts Council; the Worcester County Arts Council; the Sussex County, DE Council; and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc.

A complete schedule of the 2023-2024 season’s Masterworks and Ensembles programs, venues, times, and other information is available at www.midatlanticsymphony.org.