Under 23 Concerto Competition
The 2026 Competition Deadline has passed
THE FINALS will be held on :
Sunday February 15th at Three Willows Church ,
577 Willow Rd, Guelph
*The finals are open to the public. Admission is free.
*Applicants must be under the age of 23 on the day of the finals.
* Applicants who reach the finals must arrange for their own piano accompaniment A list of local accompanists will be provided upon request.
The second piano provided will be a digital one.
The Winner will be invited to perform a full concerto, at a concert in the GSO’s next season.
Past Winners
• 2002 Sarah Choi (piano)
• 2003 Judith Manger (cello)
• 2004 Cecilia Kang (clarinet) and Mark Laver (saxophone)
• 2005 Todd Yaniw (piano)
• 2006 Desiree Abbey (cello)
• 2007 joint winners Colin Liu (clarinet) and Winston Hind (tuba)
• 2008 Ben Chapman (piano)
• 2009 Amir Safavi (violin)
• 2010 Afendi Yusuf (Clarinet) and Hugo Lee (oboe)
• 2011 Sarah Whynot (piano)
• 2012 William McLeish (cello)
• 2013 Laura Andrews (flute)
• 2014 William Bellehumeur (piano)
• 2015 Emma Meinrenken (violin)
• 2016 Coral Soloman, piano
Runners-up: Leslie Ashworth (violin), Morgan Melbourne (piano), Felix Hong (piano)
• 2017 Jillian Carney (flute)
• 2018 (tie) Samuel Choi (viola) and Lynn Sue-A-Quan (viola)
Runners-up: Natania Fok (piano) , Livia Coburn (cello)
•2019 : Emily Bosenius (violin)
Runners-up: Veronika Manchur, (violin), James David Conquer (saxophone)
•2020 : Emad Zolfaghari (viola)
Runner-up: Tiffany Yeung (violin)
•2024 : Anthony Vu (piano)
Jennifer Armor (violin)
* 2025: Grace Lau (violin)
Runner-Up: Khloe Wu (piano)
General Information
* The GSO Under Concerto Competition is held annually. The finals are held in mid February with a January application deadline.
* Candidates will be required to submit an application form, with a link to a performance of one movement of a concerto or concerted work, in which they are the featured soloist. An application will be considered incomplete if the application fee has not been paid.
*Applicants may enter the competition with any concerto of their choice, but the winner may be asked to select another work to perform in consideration of the program and cost/availability of orchestral parts.
* Candidates may elect to play a different concerto than in the link provided, if selected for the final round.
*Finalists will be invited to audition live before a jury.