The goals of the Oakville Symphony’s Youth Program are:
- To support the development of young musicians
- To find and develop new players for the orchestra
- To encourage cultural diversity in the youth of the community
The YOUNG ARTISTS for the 2023-2024 season
- Richard Cao
- Ewen Hutton
- Calvin Lee
- Else Sather
- Avery Tran
- Lyndsay Tran
DE CLARA YOUNG ARTIST AWARD
The purpose of the DE CLARA YOUNG ARTIST AWARD is to stimulate the interest of young string players by creating opportunities for them to develop their skills by playing with the orchestra. In turn, their participation helps the orchestra to achieve its objective of continuous improvement of the symphonic sound. The award was re-named the De Clara Young Artist Award to acknowledge former Music Director Roberto De Clara’s dedication to encouraging young musicians during his 24-year leadership of the Oakville Symphony.
Each student receives a bursary of $1,500 (see sponsorship page).
Musicians may play with the Oakville Symphony with a Young Artist Award for a maximum of 2 seasons.
THE KENNETH HOLLIER AWARD
Named in honour of the orchestra’s founding musical director, the Kenneth Hollier Award was introduced in the year 2000 to recognize promising young artists. It is available to string players and non-string players in alternate years, and comes with a bursary of $500.
Congratulations to the 2023-2024 winner: Hannah Wang, flute.
2024-25 Applicants
Applications for the 2024-25 season are open for strings players only. Non-string players may apply next year for the 2025-26 season.
THE DEVELOPING ARTIST AWARDS
The Developing Artist Awards were introduced to recognize the talents of other competitors for the Kenneth Hollier Award. They are given at the discretion of the judges.