YOUTH CONCERTO COMPETITION 2024 WINNERS

Congratulations to the talented winners of the North Carolina Symphony’s 2024 Kathleen Price and Joseph M. Bryan Youth Concerto Competition!

YOUNG ARTISTS DIVISION

First Prize: Carter Doolittle (alto saxophone), Ibert: Concertino Da Camera
Second Prize: McCade Lee Walker (piano), Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2

Carter Doolittle is a third-year undergraduate saxophonist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) under the instruction of Dr. Robert Young. Since beginning saxophone studies as a middle-school student in his home state of South Carolina, he has accumulated a awards including top prizes in the 2021-2023 National Music Teacher National Association (MTNA) Solo Competitions, second place in the Cleveland International Music Competition, runner-up in the UNCSA Concerto Competition, first prize in the Euterpe Music Awards, first prize in the 2023 Rosen-Schaffel Competition, and now first prize in the North Carolins Symphony Concerto Competition. He has attended master classes with musicians including Joe Lulloff (MSU), Karen Hill (Converse College), Timothy McAllister (UM), Taimur Sullivan (NU), and Steven Banks (CIM).

Carter’s passion for the performing arts has always extended past his classical saxophone studies—which brought him to audition in 2023 for the world-class competitive drum and bugle corps Carolina Crown, in which he won a position to tour and compete internationally, performing for audiences as large as 15,000 people. He is an advocate for contemporary music and music by composers from underrepresented communities. Throughout his career, he hopes to help further bring classical saxophone into premier concert halls across the world.

McCade Lee Walker is currently pursuing his master’s degree in piano performance at East Carolina University, studying with Kwan Yi. He received his undergraduate degree in piano performance at Sam Houston State University, studying with ILonka Rus. In addition, he has worked with Josu de Solaun. He has performed in master classes with Christopher Guzman, Sylvia Thereza, and Tamás Ungár.

McCade has performed at the A.J. Fletcher Music Center, R. H. Wright Auditorium, and the Gaertner Performing Arts Center. Recently, he has presented a recital program with the complete Préludes by Claude Debussy. An avid chamber musician, he has performed works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Max Bruch, Robert Fuchs, and Francis Poulenc.

JUNIOR DIVISION

First Prize: Seunne Khoo (violin), Coleridge-Taylor: Violin Concerto
Second Prize: Brandon Luo (piano), Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1

Seunne Khoo began learning the violin at age three and currently studies with Dr. Nicholas DiEugenio of UNC-Chapel Hill. In the fall, she will continue her music studies at the Oberlin College and Conservatory, studying with Francesca dePasquale and pursuing dual degrees in violin performance and chemistry.

Seunne has seen success in both solo and chamber music. For the past three years, she has held the position of Concertmaster of the Triangle Youth Philharmonic (TYP); she recently performed with TYP in Meymandi Concert Hall as the winner of Triangle Youth Music’s Concerto Competition. She was also runner-up for both the Chapel Hill Philharmonia Young Artist Concerto Competition and the North Carolina Senior Strings Division for the Music Teacher National Association (MTNA) Competition. With her piano quartet of two years, the Passera Piano Quartet at the MYCO Youth Chamber Orchestra, Seunne and her group have been semifinalists at the Coltman and Fischoff National Chamber Music competitions and won first prize and audience favorite at University of South Carolina Chamber Music Day Competition.

This summer, Seunne will be heading to Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute for the String Quartet Workshop before heading to Oberlin for college.

Brandon Luo, 17, is an eleventh-grader from Apex who began his piano study with Florence Ko at age five. Since then, he has competed in numerous piano competitions and has won awards including first place in North Carolina Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Senior and Junior Piano Competitions, East Carolina University Young Artist Competition, Hayes School of Music Piano Competition, United States International Music Competition, Great Masters International Piano Competition, American Protégé International Music Talent Competition, Charles F.T. Nakarai/Loren Withers Piano Competition, RPTA Scholarship Competition, Raleigh Piano Teachers Association (RPTA) Young Artist Audition, as well as the State Royalty Competitions, Elizabeth Bullard Competition, and, through the NC Federation of Music Clubs (NCMFC) State Scholarship Competition, the Mary Davis Memorial Award, Maxine Taylor Fountain Award, NCFMC Past Presidents Award, and Thursday Morning Music Club of Winston-Salem Award. Brandon, along with his brother Benjamin, placed second nationally in the 2022-2023 MTNA Senior Piano Duet Competition, after winning first place in the state and divisional rounds. Recently, Brandon received first place in the RPTA Young Artist Auditions Concerto Competition and Federation of Music Clubs Competition Estelle Brady Senior Piano Concerto Award.