UNCSA musicians sweep N.C. Symphony Concerto Competition

Music students at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts swept the senior division of the North Carolina Symphony’s Kathleen Price and Joseph M. Bryan Youth Concerto Competition. Harpist Morgan Short won first place and cellist Adithya Muralidharan won second place.

Short is a rising sophomore from Boone’s Mill, Va., who studies with Jacquelyn Bartlett in the UNCSA School of Music. She won $500 and the opportunity to perform as a featured soloist with the North Carolina Symphony. Muralidharan is a 2016 UNCSA high school graduate and a rising junior in the undergraduate program studying with Brooks Whitehouse. He is from Cary.

“This is the state’s premier performance competition for young musicians,” said Brian Cole, Dean of the School of Music. “It offers Morgan a tremendous opportunity to polish her concert performance skills alongside many of the state’s finest musicians in the North Carolina Symphony.

“We’re proud of Morgan and Adithya for representing the School of Music so beautifully in the competition,” he added. “Congratulations to both of them and to their faculty mentors.”

A cornerstone of one of the most extensive education programs of any U.S. orchestra, the competition fosters the most promising musical talents in North Carolina. Winners have gone on to appear with acclaimed music organizations across the country and enter some of the world’s most prestigious music schools.

In late April, competitors auditioned in Raleigh in front of the North Carolina Symphony’s distinguished panel of judges. Finals for the competition were held May 5 on the campus of Meredith College in Raleigh.

by Lauren Whitaker