27/03/2024
The Caprio Young Artists Competition announces 2024 winners! Violinist Elizabeth (Poppy) Song, 14, from Haworth, NJ, won the $2000 First Prize which includes a performance with the Riverside Symphonia in its upcoming season. She performed the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. She studies at Juilliard Pre-College with Dr. Masao Kawasaki. Previously, she studied with Dr. I Hao Lee. Poppy was named the 2024 NJ All State HIgh School Orchestra Concertmaster and was Concertmaster of the North Jersey Middle School Orchestra (2023). Elizabeth made her orchestral debut in March 2023 with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, as the winner of the Elizabeth Loker Concerto Competition. She is a the third prize winner of the 2023 Il Piccolo Violino Competition in San Vito Italy; winner of the Juilliard Pre-College String Orchestra Concerto Competition; and a Laureate of Chicago Violin Competition (2022). She attended Morningside Music Bridge, a full-scholarship program at the New England Conservatory in Boston.
The $1000 Second Prize was awarded to cellist Noah Ferris, 17, from Amherst, MA, who studies at Juilliard Pre-College with Astrid Schween. He performed the first movement of the Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor. He is a member of the Juilliard High School Chorus and has served previously as principal cellist of the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony. He has performed with the Holyoke Civic Symphony, won second prize in the UMass Young Artists Awards and was a finalist at the 2023 Zodiac International Competition. He is a founding member of the Aster Trio, which received a silver medal at the 2023 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. He has participated in summer festivals including Meadowmount School of Music, Kinhaven Music School and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute.
The $500 Third Prize was awarded to cellist Kwanyun Loo, 13, from Cherry Hill, NJ, who is an eighth grader at Rosa International Middle School and studies cello with Amy Barston and Clancy Newman. Kwanyun performed selections from Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme. A recent winner of the James Deitz Young Artists’ Competition of the Main Line Symphony, Kwanyun has also won prizes with the Old York Road Symphony Orchestra and the MTNA (Pennsylvania). He has performed in concerts at the Heifetz Summer Institute as well as master classes. He is a member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and Settlement Music School’s Trowbridge Advanced Study Quartet. Since 2021, he is a member of the Philadelphia Music Alliance for Youth Artists’ Initiative.
Sponsors of the 2024 Caprio Competition include: The Arts & Letters Foundation, NY, NY for the First Prize; Barbara and Jay Belding for the Second Prize; ShopRite of Hunterdon County for the Third Prize. Jacobs Music provided the Steinway Boston Piano.
The Caprio Young Artists Competition was established in 1998 to honor the life and legacy of John Michael Caprio, Founding Music Director and Conductor of the Riverside Symphonia. The mission of the competition is to motivate, recognize, promote and support young musicians with an opportunity to perform with a professional orchestra and work with a world class conductor Mariusz Smolij. Preparing for a music competition and performing for a public audience are important steps in music careers. Over $58,000 has been awarded.
