The UMass Amherst Symphony Orchestra and director Gonzalo Hidalgo Ardila are proud to announce the winners of this year’s Concerto/Aria Competition.
Graduate student Daniel Ryu, freshman Laura Wang, and graduate student Robert Grahmann were selected to perform with the UMass Symphony Orchestra during their concert on Friday, April 11, 2025, at 7:30 PM in Tillis Hall.
One winner was selected from each of the three categories (Graduate, Undergraduate, Open) following public auditions on February 11th.
“I’m very excited for this concert because it is a huge opportunity for our students,” said Ardila, Director of Orchestral Studies in the UMass Department of Music and Dance. “Every year we have a competition open to all and the best 3 participants win the chance to play with the orchestra. The jury are all faculty members and guest musicians from other institutions, so we keep an incredibly high standard in our selection of the winners.”
Grahmann will perform Richard Rodney Bennett’s Concerto for Marimba and Chamber Orchestra, joining the orchestra on the marimba. Wang, on violin, will feature on Zigeunerweisen Op. 20 by Pablo Sarasate, while Ryu, a cellist, was selected for his performance of Robert Schumann’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 129.
Our winners this time are very strong musicians with amazing skills and sensitivities in making music,” added Ardila. “The audience will have the chance to listen to three people who are young in age, but at the same time incredible professionals. I’m so proud of them and it is an honor to have the chance to conduct them.”
The Symphony Orchestra will also perform Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia Opus 26.
Cellist Daniel Ryu is a second-year Master’s student studying under Edward Arron. Before college, he studied with Amos Yang at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, as well as with Efe Baltacigil and Eric Han of the Seattle Symphony. He made his debut as a soloist with the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra, performing Variations on a Rococo Theme by P. Tchaikovsky. Ryu has participated in masterclasses led by Richard Aaron, Mark Kosower, Antonio Lysy, and Edward Arron, and he won First Prize in the Concerto Artist International Virtuoso Competition. Additionally, he was offered a full membership position with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has been involved in the Boulder Cello Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and most recently, the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Robert Grahmann, a Phoenix, AZ native, is a percussionist and Master's student in performance at UMass Amherst, coming upon completing his undergraduate degree at the Honors College at Arizona State University. A strong enthusiast of contemporary and chamber music, Robert was a performance fellow at the Bang on a Can Music Festival at Mass MoCa in 2024. He also collaborated with other percussionists and musicians last year at the Cortona Sessions for New Music, hosted in The Netherlands. During his studies and early professional career, he has been fortunate to play concerts with his mentors Ayano Kataoka and Mike Compitello, members of the Sandbox Percussion Quartet, Lugano Percussion Ensemble, and Bang on a Can ensemble. Robert is very excited to be sharing Richard Rodney Bennett's Concerto for Marimba and Chamber Orchestra with a new audience. An infrequently performed gem amongst the percussion repertoire, he loves this piece for its sensitivity and beautiful orchestration.
Laura Wang, who hails from Lexington, Massachusetts, has been playing the violin since the age of 7 and has been a member of the Boston Youth Symphony since 2019, performing in many opera and symphonic productions with her peers. An avid lover of chamber music, Laura has taken part in the intensive ChamberMusicLab (CML) at The Rivers School Conservatory, and the Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar within the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School. In addition, Laura has had the privilege to participate in masterclasses with Aaron Rosand, Donald Weilerstein, and Benjamin Zander. In 2023, she won first prize at the American Protege International Competition of Romantic Music, and last year was a recipient of the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award from NPR’s “From the Top.”
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for seniors/youth and students. UMass Amherst students are free with a valid ID.