Jonah Payne, a junior percussion performance major, plays the steel pan inside of the Westbrook Music Building on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Lincoln, Nebraska, USA - Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra is proud to announce the selection of percussionist Jonah Payne as the LSO Young Artist Competition Winner for the 2019–20 season.
Payne, a junior percussion performance major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, studies percussion with Dr. Dave Hall and steelpan with Louis Raymond-Kolker. Payne will perform Liam Teague’s The Visit for tenor steelpan, arranged for orchestra by Jamie Wind Whitmarsh, with Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
“The judges were very impressed with the overall level of playing at this year’s competition. All of the students displayed great skill, and Jonah Payne in particular blew us away with his technique, musicianship, and mastery of the instrument,” says Edward Polochick, Music Director of Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra. “We look forward to featuring Jonah on our holiday concerts.”
As winner of the LSO Young Artist Competition, Payne receives the title of LSO Young Artist Winner for the 2019–20 season; publicity exposure; a private rehearsal and coaching from LSO Guest Conductor Lucas Waldin; solo performances at LSO’s concerts on December 8, 2019; and a cash prize.
“I’m very excited to be working with Jonah Payne,” Waldin adds. “His audition demonstrated high technical proficiency coupled with a clear and confident musicality. His instrument, the steelpan, may be a new experience for many in the audience and orchestra, but I have no doubt it will be a memorable performance of a very colorful concerto.”
Fourteen elementary, middle, high school, and college music students participated in LSO’s Young Artist Competition this year, which is funded in part by the J. Edmund & Thelma D. Miller Fund at the Lincoln Community Foundation. The competition requires that applicants be 20 years old or younger and perform a movement of a concerto on their instrument in a formal audition. Past Young Artist Competition winners include Derek Hwang, cellist from Sioux City, IA; Isabella Amador, violinist from Omaha; Lukas McIlhaney, flutist from Wahoo; Nicholas May, saxophonist from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln; and William White, trombonist from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
....Founded in 1927, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra has a mission to present inspiring experiences that welcome all members of our community to discover and cultivate a profound, personal connection with live orchestral music. For more information about Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, call 402.476.2211 or visit www.lincolnsymphony.com.
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