Winston-Salem Symphony Names 
2013-2014 Peter Perret Youth Talent Search Winners

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (MARCH 10, 2014) – The Winston-Salem Symphony has announced the winners of the 2013-2014 Peter Perret Youth Talent Search competition. The first place winner of the senior division for ages 13 through senior year of high school is Ryan Jung, a pianist from Winston-Salem. Jung is a sophomore in high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), where he studies with Eric Larsen. The second place winner of the senior division is Raymond Hawkins, Jr. who is from Winston-Salem and is a senior at UNCSA where he studies the organ in the studio of Dr. Timothy Olsen.

Jung and Hawkins will perform with the Winston-Salem Symphony at the Concert for Community, which will be held on March 22, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. in Wait Chapel on the Wake Forest University campus. The concert is free and open to the public. Jung will play Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, first movement, and Hawkins will perform the Symphony No. 2 for Organ and Orchestra, by Felix-Alexandre Guilmant.

Other contestants recognized for their outstanding performances were as follows:

Junior Division

Second Place (tie): Caroline Zhu of Cary who studies violin with Mary Page Block
Second Place (tie): Josephine Wen of Cary who studies piano with Dr. Kent Lyman
Third Place: Stephanie Wang of Cary who studies piano with Clara Yang and 
Florence Ko
Honorable Mention: Bo Chi of Chapel Hill who studies violin with Mrs. Dorothy Kitchen

Senior Division

Third Place: Sara Huesman of Winston Salem who studies cello with Brooks Whitehouse

The finals for the 2013-2014 competition were held on Saturday, February 1 in Winston-Salem at Crawford Hall on the Campus of UNCSA . Judges for the Talent Search were Peter Perret, Conductor Emeritus of the Winston-Salem Symphony, Matthew Troy, Associate Conductor of the Winston-Salem Symphony and Dimitri Shteinberg, a member of the UNCSA Piano Faculty.

The annual Youth Talent Search, named in honor of Peter Perret, was developed to identify North Carolina’s most gifted and talented young musicians. Maestro Perret established the competition as a means of helping develop young talent and as a way of recognizing and supporting the teachers and families of musically-gifted children. Participation in the competition also provides students with information and motivation to continue their musical studies. Many have gone on to become professional musicians, including the winner of the very first Peter Perret Youth Talent Search, who is now a member of the New York Philharmonic.

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