

With exuberance and joy, the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra shares our belief that live music brings all people together.
THE 2023 WELLESLEY SYMPHONY MICHAEL H WELLES YOUNG SOLOIST COMPETITION
In November each year, the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra conducts its Young Soloist Competition.
The competition is generously hosted by the Dana Hall School of Music, located at 103 Grove Street in
Wellesley. The audition room has two pianos.
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There is no application fee. Each participant selects a concerto movement suitable to be performed
with the WSO at our annual Family Concert on March 24, 2024 at MassBay Community College in
Wellesley, Massachusetts. Auditions should be about 10 minutes long, and each participant is
responsible for making arrangements with their own accompanist. In addition to performing with the
orchestra, the winner receives a $500 award.
The application form, and more details, can be found here.
Auditions will be held on Sunday, November 12, 2023, between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm at
The Dana Hall School of Music, 103 Grove Street, Wellesley Center.
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PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE A LOCAL COMPETITION. The applicant should be a Massachusetts resident or
studying with a teacher or attending school or taking part in a music program in the Boston area.
If you have any questions about the competition at any time, please contact Carol Davidson
at carol.davidson@comcast.net. We have a wonderful group of participants each year, ranging in age
from 7 to 18. We welcome all orchestral instrumentalists and pianists to our
competition.
Application Deadline is noon on Saturday, October 28, 2023.
APPLY EARLY! This Competition is usually filled before the application deadline. If your application is not acknowledged by email within a week, please contact Carol Davidson. Directions to Dana Hall School from 95/128: Grove Street is a left turn off Rt 16W (Washington St) just before the Wellesley Center shopping area. The Dana School of Music building is a residential-appearing building with a front porch on the right-hand side of Grove Street. There is a small parking lot to the left of the building.
Complete this application and submit as instructed. If you have questions, please contact Carol
Davidson at carol.davidson@comcast.net.
Competition rules:
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Contestants must be 18 or under and still in high school or younger in March, 2024.
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All orchestral instruments including piano are eligible.
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The audition piece must be one movement of a standard concerto or single-movement work, with orchestral accompaniment; about 10 minutes maximum.
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Playing from memory is encouraged but not required.
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The Applicant’s music teacher must support this audition.
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Applicants are required to provide an accompanist. If not known at this time, please enter ‘TBD’ for accompanist name. It is best to find an accompanist early on and submit your time constraints with your accompanist in mind—do so as early as possible. Finding an accompanist at the last minute can result in schedule issues that cannot be addressed then.
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Plan to arrive early enough to warm up. You will be given a practice room for this purpose.
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If you are unavoidably late on the day of the audition, call (THAT DAY ONLY) 508-631-0548 - Carol Davidson's cell phone). DO NOT call the Dana School of Music.
ANNOUNCING THE 2022 MICHAEL H. WELLES YOUNG SOLOIST COMPETITION WINNER

Brian Lee, from Belmont, MA, began learning the cello at the age of 7 with teacher Eugene Kim. He is now 17 years old and attends the Belmont Hill School. He currently serves as the Associate Principal Cellist of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and toured Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Corfu, Dodoni, and Delphi, performing with prominent soloists Zlatomir Fung and Soprano Sofia Fomina. He has participated in various chamber groups at the New England Conservatory and the Rivers School Conservatory.
Brian was the winner of the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association Bay State String Contests as well as the 5th Roman Totenberg Young Strings Competition. Recently, he won first place in the American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music, and the Grand Prize of the Vision Competition.
Outside of cello, Brian is both the captain of his school’s Varsity Nordic Ski team and a Varsity coxswain, and loves coding, photography, and studying Latin/Greek.