Symphony’s winter concert to feature Young Musicians winners

Young local talent will shine on Saturday, Jan. 31, as the Knox County Symphony presents its Winter Concert, featuring winners of this year’s Young Musicians Competition. The concert will take place in Rosse Hall on the Kenyon College campus Gambier, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Single tickets for the concert cost $10 for adults and $7 for senior citizens. Students with a valid ID may attend free of charge.

“This is our most popular concert every year,” said Rebecca Abbott, who chairs the symphony board. “I think it’s encouraging to the whole community to see young people shine. It gives us all a great evening now and hope for the future, too.”

The annual Young Musicians Competition “speaks to the health of music education in Knox County – not only for the innate talent of the students but also for the excellent training they receive from our music educators,” said Benjamin Locke, a Kenyon College music professor who has conducted the county symphony since 1984.

This year, prize money for the competition winners was provided through a generous donation to the symphony from community members Sara Mankins and Brian Ball, who also sponsored the post-concert reception. The reception will include cookies made by “official baker for the orchestra” Peggy Bakewell.

The six competition winners, four college students and two high school students, are:

— Megan Dellenbaugh, a senior at Kenyon College, who tied for first place in the Collegiate Division of the competition. Dellenbaugh, a soprano, will sing “Trees on the Mountain,” from Susannah, an opera by the American composer Carlisle Floyd (1926-2021).

— Archimedes Meyer, a junior at Mount Vernon High School, who earned second place in the High School Division. Meyer, who plays the viola, will perform the Largo and Allegro from the Concerto for Viola in G Major by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767).

— Jo-Ann Odonkor, a sophomore at St. Francis DeSales High School, who won first place in the High School Division. A pianist, Odonkor will play the Vivace from the Piano Concerto in D Major by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).

— Ethan Manske, a Kenyon College senior, who tied for second place in the Collegiate Division. Manske, a violist, will perform the Romance for Viola and Orchestra, op. 85, by Max Bruch (1838-1920).

— Claire Vallance, a senior at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, who tied for second place in the Collegiate Division. Vallance, who plays the French horn, will perform the Rondofrom the Horn Concerto No 1 in E-flat Major, op. 11, by Richard Strauss (1864-1949).

— Bea Sjostrom, a first-year student at Kenyon College, who tied for first place in the Collegiate Division. Sjostrom, a violinist, will play the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, op. 28, by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921).

Two popular works from the symphonic repertoire will bookend the performances by the soloists. The orchestra will open the evening with Academic Festival Overture, op. 80, by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). The concert’s finale will be Jupiter, from The Planets, op. 32, by Gustav Holst (1874-1934).

Founded in 1965, the Knox County Symphony is celebrating its sixtieth season. The group comprises more than sixty musicians, including many local community members along with students from Kenyon College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, and area high schools.The orchestra has held its Young Musicians Competition since 1978.

The symphony’s final concert of the 2025-26 season will take place on April 26, also in Rosse Hall on the Kenyon campus. The Kenyon Community Choir will join the symphony in performing Brahms’s celebrated Song of Fate, op. 54.

For more information about the symphony, see the group’s website at knoxcountysymphony.org.