The SSO has long partnered with the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association and the Regina Symphony Orchestra on a provincial competition that see young artists strive to win a chance to perform with the province’s two orchestras.
Jerry Hu, who joins the SSO for Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto, was the 2021 winner of the Shurniak Concerto Competition – and his performance with his hometown orchestra marks his orchestral debut!
The competition has been supported by William (Bill) Shurniak since 2013 – and while Jerry is the most recent winner, previous winners have included artists such as the SSO’s very own Oxana Ossiptshouk, pianists Thomas Yu, Yuli Chen, Samuel Deason, and Godwin Friesen, violinists William Boan, Raymond Ko, and Samuel Milner, and saxophonist Gerard Weber.
In February 2022 the SSO is excited to be joined by the 2019 Shurniak Concerto Competition winner Jonathan Craig Penner – Penner was originally to make his SSO debut in spring of 2021…but we’re thrilled to have him joining us to perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme.
The Saskatchewan Music Festival Association is one of the oldest organizations of its kind in Canada. It’s festivals, sprinkled across the province, have provided stepping stone performance opportunities and scholarships to countless young musicians in Saskatchewan. Some of those musicians have gone on to be internationally acclaimed concert artists and all the others have gone on to be remarkable members of their communities.