The judges of the annual Young Artist Competition selected Rachel Lanning of Willmar and Greta Hulterstrum of Litchfield as the 2021 winners. Both musicians will each receive a scholarship and perform on stage with the orchestra.

The orchestra will open the program with Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio: Overture”. The opera premiered in Vienna on July 16, 1782, when Mozart was 26 years old. He wrote in a letter to his father: “My opera was performed yesterday with great applause for the third time. In this piece, Mozart used instruments unusual for the time, including a piccolo and triangles.

Closing the program, the orchestra will perform Haydn’s Symphony No. 104, also known as the “London Symphony”. final symphony.

In 2020, the Young Artist Concert was canceled due to COVID-19. Safety and social distancing measures will be implemented during the live show on Saturday.

To ensure that musicians are six feet apart, the size of the orchestra will be smaller and the concert will be played for a limited audience with reserved seats.

Tickets are free, but everyone must have a ticket, which is available from Whitney Music, 913 Highway 71 NE, Willmar. Those who want tickets by email should call 320-214-9433.

Rachel Lanning

As a classically trained singer, Rachel Lanning said she was “thrilled” to perform with the Willmar Area Symphonic Orchestra.

High school student Willmar will perform the aria “Son Pietosa, Son Bonina” by Joseph Haydn.

“It’s the icing on the cake to sing with a live orchestra,” said Lanning, who has had a long and successful school career in the arts. She recently starred in the school musical “Anastasia”.

“I love to play,” she said.

Lanning, daughter of David and Margaret Lanning, studied vocal music with Cheryl Schmidt and participated in many artistic endeavors, including theater, choir, violin and vocal lessons, and speaking.

After graduating this spring, Lanning said she planned to attend Concordia College in Moorhead and major in choral music education with a minor in theatrical performance.

His ideal career would be to follow in the footsteps of Neal Haugen, director of the Willmar High School Choir. Her goal is to be a high school or college choir director and get involved in the school’s drama program.

Lanning said that being exposed to influential teachers with a passion for music and drama fueled her desire to provide the same experience to others.

While grateful for the scholarship, Lanning said the highlight of being named the winner of the Young Artist Award was having the opportunity to sing with an orchestra. “I am shocked,” she said.

Greta Hulterstrum

Greta Hulterstrum, a junior at Litchfield High School, has been playing the flute since sixth grade. While she “immediately loved the flute”, it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to most activities that she became passionate about the instrument.

With nothing else to do over the past year, Hulterstrum has spent up to six hours a day playing the flute.

“I am grateful for the pandemic,” she said in a recent interview with the West Central Tribune. Having all this uninterrupted time to devote to music gave him the opportunity to take his skills to the next level.

If the pandemic had not happened, Hulterstrum said, she “wouldn’t be the same player” and wouldn’t be considering a career as a professional musician.

Can she imagine life without a flute? “Not at all. It’s all I do when I get home from school,” she said.

Hulterstrum, daughter of John and Katie Hulterstrum, is currently studying transverse flute with Bethany Gonella, and previously studied with Yvonne Rammel. She was a member of the Minnesota Music Educators Association All-State Symphony Group 2020/2021 and received the Best at Site award for Solo and Ensemble competition in 2019.

Hulterstrum said she was delighted to be selected as one of the winners of the Young Artist Competition this year and that she was “very excited to have the opportunity” to perform with the Willmar Area Symphonic Orchestra.

She will play Chaminade’s Concertino with the orchestra.

Hulterstrum said she hopes to return to performing with the Prairie Winds Concert Band in Willmar and will audition this summer for a position with the Minnesota Youth Symphony or the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony.

She hasn’t decided where she’ll go to college after graduating from high school next year, but said she intends to pursue a career in performing and tutoring.