ROCKPORT — On Thursday, May 25, Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School presented its annual Young Stars of Maine Prizewinners Concert for 2023 at Union Hall.

“An enthusiastic audience filled the hall to see eleven talented young students from Maine perform classical works,” said Bay Chamber, in a news release.

Prizes of $1000 each were awarded to seven soloists and four members of a string quartet.

This year's winners include:

Mia Love, soprano (PORTLAND)
Rosemary Crimp, soprano (KENNEBUNK)
Benjamin Rosenthal, violin (DAMARISCOTTA)
Sara Levenson, flute (CAPE ELIZABETH)
Linnea Turesson, violin (ROCKPORT)
Michael Bostock, piano (FALMOUTH)
Sophie Scheck, viola (WATERVILLE)
George Taylor, violin (WATERVILLE)
Amelie Hahn, violin (FAIRFIELD)
Eben Buck, viola (AUGUSTA)
 
For over 60 years, Bay Chamber has awarded prizes to recognize, encourage, and reward young Maine music students who are serious in their study and performance of music. Prizes are awarded in up to nine categories, for individuals and ensembles ages 12-25. For more information about Bay Chamber Music School programs please visit baychamber.org or call 207-236-2823.
 
WINNER'S BIOS:

BENJAMIN ROSENTHAL is a sophomore in high school and has been playing violin for eleven years, currently studying under the instruction of Lynn Chang in Boston, MA with whom he has been for just under two years. In addition to being this year's Glenn Jenks prize winner, Benjamin has been named a finalist in Category B at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School's Concerto Competition, a joint winner of the National Young Composers Challenge, the First Place Anna’s-Cup winner at the Bangor Symphony Orchestras’s High School Concerto Competition, and will be representing Maine this summer at NYO2, an organization funded by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. Additionally, Benjamin was selected as part of the DaPonte String Quartet's Honors Quartet program this past September and, along with Aidan Montmeny, Sophia Scheck, and William Xu, has had the honor of working with members of the quartet in weekly coachings and rehearsals. Aside from music, Benjamin considers himself an avid baker, tennis player, and collector of vintage shoes. After graduation, Benjamin plans on pursuing a dual degree program in college, furthering his studies in music as well as in the environmental and biological sciences.
 
MICHAEL BOSTOCK is a junior at Waynflete School in Portland, Maine. He currently studies classical piano under Naydene Bowder at the Portland Conservatory of Music and has been playing piano since 2012. Michael is the full-time pianist for Raymond Village Community Church in Raymond, Maine. He was the pianist for Waynflete School’s productions of the musicals SpongeBob and The Addams Family and has played piano in musicals for local theaters, such as the Lyric Theater’s production of Scrooge. Michael was the pianist for the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra (PYSO) in their 2022-23 season.  He has played in the Portland Conservatory of Music’s Noonday Concert Series and performs at the Marston-Kotzschmar and Rossini Music Clubs. Michael recently won the 2023 Pine Tree Music Competition - Senior Piano Division, the 2023 Hanna Powell Piano Competition - High School Honor Prize, and is a prior recipient of the Kotzschmar Memorial Trust Scholarship. In addition to playing piano, Michael also enjoys cycling and rowing.
 
SARA LEVENSON, 17, is from Cape Elizabeth and is an 11th grader at Waynflete School in Portland.  She is a flute student of Laura del Sol Jimenez.  Sara is finishing her third year as a member of the Portland Conservatory of Music’s Certificate Program, with focus on Classical Performance, Theory, and Composition.  She enjoys playing in the Waynflete Chamber Ensemble, Waynflete Band, and pit orchestra for school musicals.  Sara has participated in summer flute intensives at Oberlin College and Interlochen Arts Academy, and will be attending her second year at the Maine All-State Band Festival.  Sara tries to balance her flute practice with playing on the Waynflete Varsity Field Hockey, Basketball and Tennis teams.
 
RONAN SANDS is a homeschooled 8th grader who has been studying cello since age 7. Studying under Noreen Silver, he devotes himself to the cello and hopes to be a professional cellist as an adult. Ronan also studies composition with Lucas Richman and piano with Ginger Hwalek. This year, Ronan was the principal cellist in the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra Philharmonic and a cellist in the Kennebec Valley Youth Symphony. He has also played in a variety of chamber groups at the Kneisel Hall’s Program for Maine Students and the Ellsworth Community Music Institute’s Arthur Russell Week. He participated in the International COVID Cello Project in 2020. In addition to classical, Ronan enjoys exploring many genres of music including folk, rock, and video game soundtracks.
 
Dramatic Soprano ROSEMARY CRIMP recently graduated with her Master’s in Vocal Performance from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Praised for her sparkling high notes, warm middle range, and work ethic, Rosemary has sung with UMass Opera and Opera Maine. Competing in the 2022 Laffont Competition in conjunction with the Metropolitan Opera House, Rosemary was the only Soprano and woman to receive any recognition in the Connecticut District and was selected as an Encouragement Award Winner as a result. She was thrilled to be cast as the on-screen Opera Singer in an as-yet-untitled Sony Studios feature Film. She was chosen to make her role debut as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with UMass Opera in 2022 under the baton of Maestro Morihiko Nakahara. She made her professional debut in Opera Maine’s Le Nozze di Figaro in 2018 under the baton of Maestro Stephen Lord. She has sung with Opera Maine in their productions of Carmen, La Traviata, Die Zauberflöte, and Der Fliegende Holländer under the batons of Maestros Steven Lord, Roberto Kalb, and Israel Gursky. Having worked within a variety of genres (opera, art song, chamber music, liturgical works, and musical theater), Rosemary is versatile and capable. She is adept at managing various languages and styles (Russian, Latin, Italian, French, German, and English), and thrives in a challenge.
 
LINNEA TURESSON was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 2009 and is presently a student of Sophie Davis at Bay Chamber Music School. Linnea has played violin for a little over 3.5 years and has had tremendous fun growing as a musician during this time. She enjoys participating in various music events in Maine and beyond, and says her favorite week of the year is the Envision Chamber Music Workshop. In 2022 she began participating in international competitions and was awarded second place in the North International and Charleston International Music Competitions and first prize at the Canadian International Music Competition in 2023. Linnea has been selected for masterclasses with Midori, Sibbe Bernhardsson, Melissa Reardon and Carla Maria Rodrigues. Linnea’s other interests include alpine ski racing, tennis, attending concerts and eating blue cheese.
 
GEORGE TAYLOR is a sophomore at Waterville senior high school. He has played violin for 12 years and is currently taking lessons from Betsy Kobayashi. He formerly studied with Lori Sheck. George is a member of the Kennebec Valley Youth Symphony and the group “Capital Strings” and plays cello in his school orchestra.
 
AMELIE HAHN is 16 years old and has been playing violin for twelve years and the clarinet for 7. She currently studies with Lori Sheck at the Pineland Suzuki School for violin and David Hoagland at Simple Gifts Studio for clarinet. Her other accomplishments have been being a captain for the Lawrence High marching band, Jazz band, Kennebec Valley Youth Symphony orchestra, and Bay Chamber Envision Workshop, and the Daponte String Quartet – High School Quartet Workshop. She likes to listen to Classical music and heavy metal and likes to play music from the Romantic Era. Amelie also likes to draw, pigeons especially. She attends the Ecology Learning Center in Unity and also really likes pigeons.
 
DIANA ESTES is sixteen and a high school Junior. Homeschooled her whole life, she delights in music with her parents and six musical siblings. She is in her fifth year of playing the cello, studying under Raffael Scheck and Hyun-Ji Kwon of Colby College. She plays in Kennebec Valley Youth Symphony and sits as principal cellist in the Mid Maine Youth Orchestra for her third sequential year. In addition, she was accepted into Maine BOC All State Festival as principal cellist. She loves to play in chamber groups, especially quartets, and is honored to be the recipient of this year’s Anna Bereziuk and Lindley Wood Prize for Ensemble Endeavors with her friends. Outside of music, she is a devoted book reader, athlete, and especially soccer player but even then she can’t help but sing on the field. She plans to major in pre-medical and cello performance in college, and afterwards, as a chiropractor, also continue a smaller music career.
 
MIA LOVE is a graduate from the University of Southern Maine Osher School of Music where she studied Music Education. She is currently preparing for her Master’s Degree in Performance and Literature at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign where she will be a graduate assistant of the Lyric Theater this coming fall. Mia’s love for music began during school-age choral classes, ultimately setting her on the path of teaching vocal music herself. Given the opportunity at USM, Mia was able to explore solo singing in Mozart’s C Minor Mass and was chosen as a winner of both the 2020 and 2021 Osher School of Music Honors Recitals. In April of 2021, she performed in her first fully staged opera as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. In the summer of 2021, Mia was an ensemble member in Opera Maine’s performance of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. She joined them again in 2022 as an ensemble member for their production of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Höllander. In selected scenes with USM, Mia has performed as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Adele in Die Fledermaus. She was a recipient of the Kotzschmar Memorial Trust Scholarship by the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ in 2021 and 2023.
 
EBEN BUCK is a 16-year-old junior in high school from Augusta. He has been playing viola for 6 years and violin for 13 years under the guidance of Betsy Kobayashi of Pineland Suzuki School. Eben plays violin with Kennebec Valley Youth Symphony, is a member of his high school’s advanced singing group - Cony Madrigals, and has auditioned and been accepted into Maine BOC All-State Music Festival for the second year in a row. Outside of music, Eben is a member of his high school’s Varsity Cross-Country Team, Varsity Indoor and Outdoor Track Teams, as well as a scoring member of the Math Team. As for future plans, Eben plans to study engineering but will likely be part of an orchestra in college.