A Gala Concert spotlighting ten outstanding winners of the 18th annual Young Artists Debut! Competition conducted by Niel Deponte.

Niel DePonte, artistic director and conductor of the Young Artists Debut! The Van Buren Concerto Competition announced the 2012 winners of the annual competition on January 8th.  The 10 soloists, selected from an initial pool of 51 entrants, were then selected from 28 semi-finalists at auditions held at Lewis & Clark College’s Evans Auditorium.  Winners will perform with DePonte, and an orchestra drawn from the ranks of the Oregon Symphony and Oregon Ballet Theatre orchestras, on Tuesday, April 10th, at 7:30pm at the Newmark Theatre.

Each young artist will perform at least one movement of a major concerto written for their instrument at the gala concert and will attend coaching sessions with DePonte.  There they will discuss not only the interpretation of their concertos, but also how to solo with an orchestra, ways to approach repertoire, and what it takes to be a professional musician.

After this year's competition, Niel DePonte, who is also music director and conductor for Oregon Ballet Theatre, and who has been nominated for a Grammy Award as a concerto soloist himself, said, "This is an exciting class of young artists and, on average, one of the youngest we've ever had.  I look forward to working with them for the next few months and having them make appearances in schools and other venues along the way.  They are terrific role models for other children, showing what hard work and determination can achieve."

The concert is sponsored by The Arnold Marks Family Charitable Trust, The Portland Center for the Performing Arts, and is produced by MetroArts Inc, DePonte's nonprofit arts-education organization.

For more information, please visit Metro Arts, Inc.

Student/Senior tickets: $13.00 - $24.00