UGASO Annual Concerto Competition Concert

The winners of the Annual Concerto Competition will perform alongside the UGA Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday, March 22nd at 7:30 in Hodgson Hall as part of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music Thursday Scholarship Series.

Jesse Hu opens the concert with Beethoven. Originally from Taiwan, he is now pursuing his DMA at UGA. In 2019, he was invited to perform in the National Concert Hall in Taiwan as a winner of the Peabody Rising Star Competition and is a top prizewinner of the Lamont Concerto Competition and the Taipei Student Piano Competition.

Soprano Sara Lynn Storm will perform a piece from Bellini’s “La Sonnambula.” She has been singing since she was 8 and recently made her UGA debut in the Opera Studio’s production of A Visit to the Country by Richard Wargo. In February, Storm performed the role of Fiordiligi in UGA Opera’s production of Cosi fan tutte.

Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto will be performed by 2nd-time Concerto Competition winner Rachel McClellan, a third-year undergraduate at the Hugh. She has been studying the piano and violin since she was very young and has performed as a GMEA All-State violinist for five years, and participated twice in the International Winter Festival at Vale Veneto, Brazil, where she served as associate concertmaster. 

A versatile saxophonist passionate about the intersection of contemporary music and social justice Grace Gelpi will play both the soprano and alto sax on Connesson’s A Kind of Trane Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra. Grace is the graduate teaching assistant for the saxophone studio under the mentorship of Connie Frigo and serves on the North American Saxophone Alliance’s Committee on the Status of Women and HHSOM’s Actionable Anti-Racism and Inclusion committee.

Ravel’s Concerto for Left Hand ends the program being performed by Jieun Lee, who is sought after as a soloist, collaborator, advocate for contemporary music, teacher, and a trained organist. She gave her Carnegie Hall debut in 2017 as a top prizewinner in the American Protégé International Piano Competition and recently received Honorable Mention as a finalist in the prestigious 2021 Wideman International Competition.



Tickets for the event are $20 for adults and $3 for students, and can be found online or by calling 706-542-4400. All proceeds directly benefit student scholarships. For more information, please visit music.uga.edu. Those unable to make it to the concert can watch the live stream at music.uga.edu/live-streaming.