Jack and Lucille Wonnell Memorial Concerto Competition
On Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 7:00 PM, the Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra featured winners of the 12th annual Jack and Lucille Wonnell Memorial Young Artist Concerto Competition, with Suzanne Bona, heard on WGUC. The concert took place at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 10345 Montgomery Road in Montgomery.
Soloists included Angela Tang, violin, Nicholas Gittens, piano, Grace Kim, flute, and Sonya Moomaw, cello.
Sonya Moomaw
Cello
Sonya Moomaw is a 13-year-old, eighth grader at The School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sonya has won several competitions including the Music Teachers National Association Junior Strings Competition in 2023 and the Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition’s Junior Division in 2022. In January of 2024, she was featured on NPR’s “From the Top” with host Peter Dugan and placed third at the 27th Annual National Sphinx Competition in the Junior Division.
At age eight, Sonya made her orchestral debut with the University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where she performed the first movement of the Haydn C Major Cello Concerto. In March of 2023, she performed the Saint-Säens Cello Concerto No. 1, with the Seven Hills Symphony Orchestra. She is excited to perform concertos with both the New Albany Symphony and the Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra in March of 2024. She is currently a member of the SCPA Chamber Orchestra, the SCPA Jazz Ensemble, the Seven Hills Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra.
In 2023, she was awarded the Norman E. Johns Chair Award from the Multicultural Awareness Council (MAC) of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra.
She has been studying cello with Dr. Sarah Kim for the last ten years.
Nicholas Gittens
Piano
Nicholas Gittens is an accomplished pianist who began taking lessons at age 4. Nicholas has participated annually in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs Junior Music Festival since 2012 wherein he has received superior ratings every year. He volunteers as a pianist in his church’s children’s division, and he has played cello for his school orchestra. Aside from his musical talents, Nicholas is an honor student at Mason High School who enjoys running marathons and playing ultimate frisbee. He is currently studying piano with Dr. Jaesung Kim. He will begin his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati in
August 2024.
Grace Kim
Flute
Grace Kim attends William Mason High School and has been playing the flute for seven years. She has been a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra since the 2019-20 season and is in her school Wind Symphony. She frequently performs at retirement homes and churches with local music groups. Over the summer she was in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra in the Interlochen Arts Camp 2023 season. She was also the principal flutist in the Ohio Music Education Association All-State Orchestra in the 2023 and 2024 season. Grace enjoyed being the flutist in the pit orchestra of the musical premiere of “McBride’s Call” in Miami University in 2021. She won the first places in Laudie Porter Memorial Competition in 2021 (the Seventh and Eighth Grade Division), Jack & Lucille Wonnell Young Artist Concerto Competition in 2020 (13 and under Division), and the Flute Society of Kentucky Junior Soloist Competition in 2019.
She also was one of the finalists of 2022 Overture Awards (Instrumental Music), and she received the second prizes in the National Flute Association Junior Soloist Competition in 2021, the 2021 Louisville Young Artist Concerto Competition, and the Central Ohio Flute Association Junior High School Division Competition in 2019.
Angela Tang
Violin
Angela Tang is a freshman at Mason High School. She has been playing the violin for almost ten years, and is currently a student of Prof. Joel Smirnoff. She enjoys playing new pieces with different styles and composers. Last year, Angela was the concertmaster of Cincinnati Symphony Youth Concert Orchestra (CSYO). This year, she is a member of the CSYO Philharmonic Orchestra, and was one of the finalists in the CSYO Concerto Competition. Additionally, this year, she was one of the winners of the Dayton Youth Talent Search. Angela is currently the Musical Director of Bethany Group, a nonprofit organization, and organizes recitals for senior centers. Outside of music, she is an aspiring astronomer/astrophysicist, and enjoys creative writing, photography, and participating in her school Science Olympiad team.
