2016 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition Winner Announced

Clarinetist Juan Esteban Martinez, a student at the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, was named First Place Award winner of 2016 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition at the 27th Annual Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival (TMF). The Houston-based summer Festival welcomes classical music's rising stars from the world's top-tier music conservatories for a music residency Jun. 7 - July 2.

:Martinez was one of seven TMF Music Fellows to reach Sunday's concerto competition finals for the opportunity to perform solo, backed by the TMF Orchestra, June 24-25, plus a prestigious appearance in Leipzig's famed Gewandhaus with the Leipzig Akademisches Orchester in Germany in Fall 2016.

Martinez will play Francaix's Clarinet Concerto, movements III and IV under the baton of Maestra Mei-Ann Chen Friday, June 24, 8 p.m. (Free) at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, TX and Saturday, June 25, 7:30 p.m. ($25 gen. admission; $15 for students and seniors) at the Moores Opera House at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. Martinez played Jean Francaix's Clarinet Concerto, but performed movements I and IV for the competition's final round.

The June 24-25 program, entitled The Audience's Guide to the Orchestra, will also include:

Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy

Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra - St. John Flynn, narrator (from Houston Public Media)

Stravinsky: Suite from Petrouchka (1947)

Juan Esteban Martinez, born in Colombia and reared in the Dominican Republic, is currently in his second year at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he studies with Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinetist of New York Philharmonic. At the age of 15 he debuted as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic and two years later he was one of the winners of the Caldas' Young Artist Competition in Colombia performing with the Caldas Symphony Orchestra. He was a founder fellow of both the Latin-American Wind Orchestra and the Iberoamerican Orchestra. Juan was also the recipient of the Sidney Jensen Memorial Award for outstanding clarinet performance at Peabody.

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition 2nd and 3rd Place and Audience Favorite Awards:

2nd Place and Audience Favorite Award - Tomasz Kowalczyk, marimba (Sejourne Marimba Concerto) - Shepherd School of Music - Rice University (Poland)

3rd Place (Tie) - Sukyung Ahn, violin (Dvorak Violin Concerto) - Indiana University (S. Korea) and Johann Schuster, double bass (Vanhal Concerto for Double Bass) - Civic Orchestra of Chicago (South Africa)

Also making the Final Round:

Ahra Cho, violin (Saint-Saens Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso) - Manhattan School of Music (S. Korea)

Mary O'Keefe, oboe (Strauss Oboe Concerto) - New England Conservatory

Kathryne Salo, flute (Griffes Poem) - Michigan State University

JUDGES:

Eric Halen (Co-Concertmaster, Houston Symphony)

Brinton Smith (Principal Cello, Houston Symphony)

David Bertman (Associate Director, University of Houston, Moores School of Music)

Tali Morgulis (piano faculty, University of Houston, Moores School of Music)

David Ashley White (faculty, University of Houston, Moores School of Music)

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