The Florence Frager Young Artist Competition, which started in the mid-1970s and was named after a member’s mother in 1993, has allowed the Civic to support young talent in the community and showcase them with a full symphonic orchestra for over 40 years. The audition date for the 2023-2024 season is Sunday evening, November 19, 2023, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Evangelical Church at 9801 Olive Blvd. Audition times will be decided closer to the date.
Information for Applicants
Qualifications – An applicant shall:
- Be a senior high school student in grades 9-12.
- Be an orchestral instrumentalist (except piano)
- Complete the below-linked application:
- Reside within a 150-mile radius of St. Louis
Auditions – An applicant shall:
- Perform from memory a movement from a work in the advanced concert repertoire that is scored for orchestral accompaniment.
- Audition for ten minutes maximum
- Supply an accompanist.
- Bring two copies of the music for the judges without any names on the copies.
Award
The judges shall choose no more than three winners. The winner(s) shall receive an honorarium and perform as a soloist(s) with the St. Louis Civic Orchestra at its scholarship concert at the First Presbyterian Church, at 100 E Adams Avenue, Kirkwood, MO 63122. The date is Saturday, April 27, 2024, at 7:00 pm.
Application Procedure
For information, email or call Daniel Shavers at dshavers@ucityschools.org (314) 679-0291.
Click Here for the 23-24 Florence Frager Young Artist Competition Application.
Applicants should submit the application either:
- Send to:
St. Louis Civic Orchestra
P.O. Box 410053
St. Louis, MO 63141 - Email to dshavers@ucityschools.org
Meet the 2023 First Place winners, Micaela Chyu and Aiden Moon
Micaela Chyu, a junior at Ladue High School, has been studying violin for ten years. Co-concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, she is also a member of the Rader Quartet, sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis through Webster Community Music School’s Preparatory Program.
As Marie Stillwell Guild Award winner at twelve, Micaela debuted with the Alton Symphony Orchestra and later soloed with the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to being a national finalist in the 2021 MTNA Senior Strings Competition, she won the inaugural Preparatory Program Scholarship Competition and was a winner in the Young Artist Competition at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Micaela studies with Angie Smart of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Kurt Sassmannshaus of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
She loves singing and running. After graduation, Micaela hopes to continue her musical studies at a conservatory.
Aiden Moon, a freshman at Parkway Central High School (PCHS), started playing the piano when he was five. Three years later, he began the violin and now studies with Joo Kim of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He is in the PCHS Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Preparatory Program at the Community Music School of Webster University.
Aiden has received accolades in several piano competitions, including the MTNA Junior Piano Competition, the MMTA State Piano Competition, and the Great Composers Competition.
He has also gotten violin awards, such as an honorable mention at the MTNA Junior String Competition. In 2022, he won the Stars of Tomorrow Competition (Belleville Philharmonic) and the Rising Talents Young Artists Concerto Competition (Town and Country Symphony Orchestra), appearing as a soloist with both groups.
Aside from music, he loves to read mysteries, watch movies, join friends for bubble tea, and do Taekwondo.
