09/15/2026
Our scholarship competition for graduating high school seniors is due tonight!!! Submit for a chance to win from $1,000 total in prizes. Here's our outstanding jury!
Prescreening: Douglas Shaw, Jon Kim, Seeun Baek
Live finals: Mary Handley, Joshua Lauretig, Simon Housner
Mary Handley is a board member of Vision Possible Charity Concerts and a premium piano pedagogue in Buffalo, NY with students achieving high marks from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto and performing frequently at Carnegie Hall and in masterclasses and concerts at Kleinhans Music Hall. She is the executive director of BRAVO Chamber Music Workshop and bolsters opportunities for young musicians in Western NY.
Douglas Shaw was the orchestra teacher at Clarence High School for 28 years as a cornerstone in the community. He was a chairman of the Erie County High School Orchestra for many years and is the cellist of the Oakgrove Quartet.
Joshua Lauretig is the second oboist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and previously, Symphony in C. He has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.
Jon Kim is the director of our Long Island branch and a doctoral candidate in cello performance at Stony Brook University. A Buffalo native, he is the cellist of the Rhodora String Quartet and teacher at Concordia Conservatory.
Simon Housner is a cellist in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, previously having played in the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, and Symphony in C. His extensive resume includes founding the Sacred Heart Concert Series at Oberlin, touring the globe with Holland America Line’s Resident Piano Trio, and serving as assistant principal cellist for the NYO All-Stars with Yannick Nezet Seguin and Daniel Harding. He is a guest faculty at SUNY Fredonia this fall.
Seeun Baek is a doctoral candidate in violin performance at Stony Brook University and performed with us in Long Island last spring. She earned top prizes at the New York International
