Fifth grader to perform with Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra

DeKALB – The Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 Arthur D. Montzka Young Artists Concerto Competition winner Dylan Zhang, 11, will perform at its annual Arthur D. Montzka Memorial Concert.

Zhang studies violin and performs in his school orchestra. He currently is a fifth grader at Roosevelt Middle School in River Forest.

The concert will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 22 in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall at the Northern Illinois University Music Building, 550 Lucinda Ave.

Conducted by music director Linc Smelser, performances will feature Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Easter Festival Overture;” “Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92″ by Ludwig van Beethoven; “A Hymn For Everyone” arranged by Jessie Montgomery; and Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15, mvt. 1: Allegro con brio.”

A pre-concert talk will be led by Smelser and Zhang at 6 p.m.

Zhang won the competition performing “Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15, mvt. 1: Allegro con brio” by Beethoven on the piano. He studies the piano under Sueanne Metz.

Tickets are available before the concert or online at kishorchestra.org. Students will be admitted for free.

The orchestra’s annual concerto competition featured 22 instrumentalists who are Illinois residents ages 11 to 17. The competition’s runner-up is 16-year-old violinist Elle Cho of Park Ridge. An honorable mention also was awarded to 17-year-old violinist Aleksandra Radovic of St. Charles.

For information, visit kishorchestra.org.