NORWALK SYMPHONY Young Artist Festival Level I & II and 12th Annual Young Artist Concerto Competition – Saturday, January 27, 2024

The Norwalk Symphony held its Young Artists Festival Level I & II and 12^th Annual Young Artists Concerto Competition on Saturday, January 27, 2024.   This is the first time since 2018 that the Festival I & II Level adjudication opportunity for string and wind students was held.  Entrance criteria stated that students should have studied 2+ years and are the ages of five to fourteen. Designed to be an encouraging opportunity for young musicians to test themselves in a manner that is traditionally available to music students studying everywhere, twelve individuals took the opportunity to receive adjudicated constructive feedback from the panel of judges.  

The 12th Annual Concerto Competition offers a more rigorous opportunity for young musicians under 18 years of age to test their musicianship with peers from the Fairfield County region of Southwestern Connecticut.  Ten participants included violin, cello and piano students who were pre-selected by video audition prior to this final round.  Congratulations to Gia Lin, violinist, as the Young Artists Concerto Competition winner for 2024! She performed the Concerto in D major, op. 35, 1st movement by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. She will perform with the full orchestra on our March 17, 2024 'Music for All Ages' concert. Honorable Mention was awarded to Andrew Maskoff, Piano, for his performance of the Concerto in A minor, op. 16, 1^st movement by E. Grieg.

For general information on this event please visit our website at Young Artists Concerto Competition — Norwalk Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets for all concerts are available on the Symphony website, www.norwalksymphony.org or by calling 203.956.6771.  $50.00, $37.50 or $25.00 for adults and $10.00 for students.

Gia Lin Bio:

Gia Lin is currently a senior at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, CT.  She studies violin with Ms. Patinka Kopec at the Precollege Division of Manhattan School of Music, and is coached in chamber music by Ms. Asya Meshberg.   

Gia has previously performed as a soloist in the following concerts:  Mozart’s Violin Concerto in A Major, K.219 with Maestro Barry Hoffman and the Symphony of Westchester in February 2023; Beethoven Romance No. 2 in F major, Op. 50 with Maestro Felipe Tristan and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Repertory Orchestra in December 2021; Haydn's Violin Concerto in C Major with Maestro Barry Hoffman and the Symphony of Westchester in February 2019; Mozart's Concerto in G Major No. 3 with Maestro Paul Lindsay and the Tidewater Intergenerational Orchestra in June 2017; and “Spring Concerto" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Maestro Russell Ger and the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra in January 2017.

Gia was the first-place winner of the 2019 Repertory Strings Concerto Competition sponsored by Manhattan School of Music, the second place winner of the 2022 Marianne Liberatore Instrumental Competition sponsored by Music For Youth, and the second place winner of the 2022 Young Artists Competition sponsored by the Symphony of Westchester.

She has had master classes with Lucie Robert, John Gilbert and Christine Lim.

From 2013-2018, Gia was a member of the Norwalk Youth Symphony in Norwalk, CT.  She served as Concertmaster of the Prelude and Philharmonia String Orchestras and Principal Second Violin of the Concert Orchestra. 

Gia really enjoys mentoring younger students in their development as musicians and has been volunteering in a program called Musical Mondays run by a nonprofit organization in Connecticut called Music for Youth.

An avid chamber musician, Gia was a member of the Con Fuoco String Quartet at Chamber Music Institute for Young Musicians and has performed over 25 string quartets as first violin. Gia has also attended a number of summer music programs, including the Heifetz International Music Institute in 2018, 2019 and 2023 and the Castleman Quartet Program in 2022.  In addition to violin, Gia loves cooking/baking, opera and traveling to new places.

Gia plays on an 1844 Nicolas Vuillaume, which has been generously loaned to her by the Chi Mei Foundation in Taiwan.

Andrew Maskoff Bio:

Andrew Maskoff started playing piano at the age of five under the tutelage teacher and pianist Tatiana Pikayzen with whom he continues to study. He is a winner of many piano competitions, locally and nationally (CSMTA, Schubert Club Awards, Deborah Kahan, Rondo Vanguard, Deborah Kahan, Concert Festival competitions). His other musical passions include composing - primarily for choir and chamber orchestra - and conducting.  Andrew is a junior at Staples High School, in Westport, CT. In addition to his endeavors in classical music, he plays piano in the Staples jazz ensemble and has assistant music directed for school musical theater productions as well as played in the pit orchestra. Every summer he attends French Woods Performing Arts Festival where he continues to engage in classical music and musical theater. Andrew is an active member of the Temple Shalom Jewish congregation in Norwalk, CT where he often plays for services and performs at special events. He loves sharing music with the community and performing.