Announcing the Finalists of our 2025 Concerto Movement Competition
The Palo Alto Philharmonic is pleased to announce the Finalists and Honorable Mentions of our 2025 Concerto Movement Competition.
The purpose of the competition is to recognize outstanding talent and provide an invaluable learning experience to music students.
This year, 65 applicants submitted recorded performances of a movement of a concerto or other concert-piece for soloist and orchestra, of approximately 5 to 15 minutes in length, by December 31, 2024. The quality-level of this year’s applicants was again very high.
From these, 21 Finalists have been identified to take part in the Live Audition round, to select the Winners of our 2025 CMC competition. These winners will perform their chosen works with the Palo Alto Philharmonic in a concert on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 3:00 PM in the Cubberley Theatre, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA.
Below please find the list of the 21 CMC 2025 Finalists, listed in alphabetical order.
| Colin Breshears, viola | Martinu: Rhapsody-Concerto, H. 337 (1st mvmt) | |
| Samantha Cheunkarndee, violin | Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 (1st mvmt) | |
| Hiroshi Corro, piano | Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1st mvmt) | |
| Sora Corro, piano | Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 (1st mvmt) | |
| Sara Flexer, cello | Bloch: Schelomo | |
| Jina Han, violin | Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 19 (1st mvmt) | |
| Bridget Hoang, piano | Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F# minor, Op. 1 (1st mvmt) | |
| Jennifer Kang, viola | Bartok: Viola Concerto (1st mvmt) | |
| Casey Kim, cello | Herbert: Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 30 (1st mvmt) | |
| Unyew Kim, violin | Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K. 216 (1st mvmt) | |
| Hannah Lee, violin | Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor, Op 37 (1st mvmt) | |
| Kayla Lee, violin | Korngold: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 (1st mvmt) | |
| Ethan Li, piano | Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 (1st mvmt) | |
| Elijah Reyes, soprano sax | Villa-Lobos: Fantasia for Saxophone in Bb (1st mvmt) | |
| Jacob Rockower, piano | Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto in Bb minor, Op. 23 (1st mvmt) | |
| Calliope Smith, violin | Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen | |
| Daniel Strebulaev, piano | Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 (1st mvmt) | |
| Celicia Thendean, piano | Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 (1st mvmt) | |
| Nathan Zhang, piano | Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb, Op.83 (2nd mvmt) | |
| Madelyn Zhu, violin | Wieniawski: Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 22 (1st mvmt) | |
| Riona Zhu, violin | Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 (3rd mvmt) |
The Live Auditions will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2025 at the Palo Alto Art Center, Newell Road, Palo Alto. Auditions will take place between 9:30 and 4:00 — schedule details will be conveyed to each Finalist by email. Finalists will perform the same piece at the live audition that was submitted with the application. Each finalist must provide an accompanist to play the piano reduction of the orchestra score. Three Xerox copies of the piano score with measures numbered at the beginning of every line are to be supplied to the Judges. Though memorizing is encouraged, sheet music may be used for audition and performance.
Winners will be announced within two weeks of the Live Auditions. The decision of the judges is final, and will be based solely on the quality of the musical performance presented.
The Palo Alto Philharmonic would also like to congratulate the following 5 Honorable Mention applicants on their excellent entries during the recorded submission phase.
| Jessie Shang, violin | |
| Tristen Chen, piano | |
| Anya Finsterle, cello | |
| Nolan Woo, cello | |
| Tiffiny Chan, cello |
We regret that we can only accommodate a limited number of Winners, Alternates, Finalists and Honorable Mention applicants. All of the entries into this year’s competition exhibited fine musicianship and artistry, and show the broad depth of outstanding talent within the Bay Area — including numerous younger musicians who are clearly on track to become Finalists and Winners in our future competitions. We encourage all applicants to continue their musical studies and their artistic growth.
For additional information or questions about the competition or the orchestra, write us at info@paphil.org, call the Palo Alto Philharmonic at (408) 395-2911, or visit our web site at www.paphil.org.
Many thanks to J.W. & H.M. Goodman for underwriting the competition and concert!