Society of American Musicians

04/20/2022

Violin results have been posted on our website! Thank you to all the participants of this years competition. So many amazing performers this year, especially for our young violinists!

The Society of American Musicians hosts an annual competition each spring for cello, flute, guitar, piano, viola, and violin students age 19 and younger.

04/16/2022

The results are in! Check out our homepage for the complete list of our Sam 2022 Winners! Congrats to all the students who worked hard preparing their pieces this year. You all did great and we look forward to see you all in person next year!

The Society of American Musicians hosts an annual competition each spring for cello, flute, guitar, piano, viola, and violin students age 19 and younger.

04/06/2022

Hope everybody has been enjoying Spring so far! While we’ve been out taking advantage of the warm weather, our judges have been keeping busy listening to everybody’s performances. We will be announcing the winners April 15th so stay tuned!

03/08/2022

The March 15th submission deadline is quickly approaching. Have you submitted your performance yet? Check our website to review the submission guidelines. We look forward to hearing everybody's performance.

https://www.samusicians.com/divisions-and-repertoire

01/29/2022

It's almost February, and that means applications for the 2022 SAM Competition are almost due! Applications are due on February 1st, but we're extending the deadline for late applications until February 15th. To those who yet to fill to apply, hurry up! After February 1st, all late applications will require a $20 late fee!

05/16/2021

Winner's concert going live in 4 minutes!

05/16/2021

The program for todays performance. So much exciting music. See you there at 3PM CST!

05/16/2021

Guess what.... the Winners Concert is TODAY at 3PM featuring ALL of our first place winners on Cello, Flute, Guitar, Piano, Viola, and Violin INCLUDING the talented Claire Wang, 1st Place Winner of the Piano Junior Division!

Claire Wang is in 6th grade. She has been playing piano for about 7 years. She has made several accomplishments including placing second in the primary division in the NSMTA competition, placing third in the elementary division in the NWSMTA competition, and passing Level 12 in AIM. Besides playing piano, Claire has been playing the violin for about 3 years. She also likes to swim, read, and do crafts

05/16/2021

Up next it's another talented performer you'll hear tomorrow..... Cordelia Momo Fredrickson! 1st Place winner of the Violin Junior Division!

Cordelia Momo Fredrickson, 12, loves music and is a passionate violinist. Momo studies violin with world-renowned violinist and DePaul University professor Janet Sung. Momo is a Merit Scholarship Fellow at Midwest Young Artists, Chicago IL and has been concert mistress for several years in MYA’s Concert Orchestra and for last two seasons has also played in its elite Symphony Orchestra, where she was accepted as an exceptional case despite her young age. In 2017 while Momo spent a year in Japan with her parents, she studied violin with Yoko Kato and was exclusively invited to perform at the master class with Kyoko Takezawa. After returning to US, Momo joined the Heifetz International Music Institute of the program for the Exceptionally Gifted (PEG), Staunton VA. While at Heifetz, she studied violin with Caeli Smith and Elizabeth Faidley, and was featured as a solo performer in the Heifetz Lab series and HeifetzPEG showcase concerts.
Momo made her solo orchestral debut at Pick-Staiger Hall last year as the MYAC Junior division overall winner from the Walgreens National Concerto Competition. Momo is also the MYAC Junior String Category Winner from the Walgreens National Concerto Competition (2019), 2nd prize from the Philadelphia International Music Festival Concerto Competition (2020). Outside of playing violin, Momo enjoys reading books, composing, and playing with her little sister.

05/15/2021

We're so excited for the winner's concert at 3PM tomorrow... Are you?

Come see performers like Jayden Kim, 1st Place Winner for the Piano Intermediate Division.

Jayden Kim is 13 years old and an eighth grader at Lane Tech High School’s Academic Center. He started the piano at age four and studies with his mother Dr. Yumy Lee Kim. Jayden was a winner of the DePaul Concerto Festival 2020 and performed as soloist with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago. He also placed and won prizes in numerous competitions: Society of American Musicians, ISMTA, Steinway Junior, Sejong, Roberta Savler, International American Protégé and the Chicago National Duo Competition. He was selected to participate in masterclasses with Alan Chow, Peter Mack, Winston Choi, Dennis Alexander, Sylvia Wang and was also a merit scholarship recipient of the Music Institute of Chicago. He was soloist at the 2015 & 2016 DePaul Division Concerto Festival and won gold medals at NSMTA’s and CAMTA’s Sonata-Sonatina Festival in 2012 and 2016-2021.

Jayden plays also the cello, is passionate about playing piano trio (coached by Anthea Kreston) and loves to create his own piano pop and Christian song covers on youtube.

05/15/2021

Another performer appears! 1st Place winner of the Cello Senior division: Stefan V. Westerberg

Come watch all our performers tomorrow at 3PM on Youtube Premiere (Links our event)

Stefan began cello studies at the Music Institute at the age of five (2009), studying under the Suzuki method with Abbey Hansen at the Music Institute of Chicago. Stefan began studying with Tanya Carey in September of 2016, after Abbey moved to teach at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Stefan has played in the elementary school orchestra of Jane Stenson School in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade orchestras of Old Orchard Junior High, and, currently in the Symphony Orchestra at Niles North High School, where he is currently a junior. He participated in orchestral programs at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan in the summers of 2015 and 2017.
In February of 2018, he was invited to participate in a Master Class with John Sharp, principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony.
Stefan participated in the Chamber Music program of the Music Institute from 2013 – 2017. Stefan participated in the Summer Chamber Music Festival at Illinois Wesleyan in 2019. Stefan participated in the Summer Chicago Chamber Music Festival at Northeastern University (Chicago) in 2019. Stefan has played in the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Music programs from September, 2018 until the present. Stefan was awarded second place in the intermediate division of the 2020 Sams competition. Stefan was awarded a merit scholarship for 2020 by the Music Institute of Chicago and was then awarded a scholarship to the MIC Academy. He has participated in the activities Academy throughout the 20 – 21 academic year, which included a (zoom) master class with cellist Nicholas Canellakis from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center that was hosted by the Harris Theater of Chicago
Stefan was awarded first place in the senior division of the 2021 Sams competition.

05/15/2021

And yet another of our super talented young musicians who won their competition division this year:
Joanna Choe, 1st Place winner of the Flute Intermediate Division!

Joanna Choe is a 16-year old flutist who has been playing flute for 7 years. She has been the two-time principal flutist of the ILMEA District 7 Senior Honor Band in 2018 and 2019; furthermore, she sat 2nd chair at the 2020 ILMEA All State Honor Band. Additionally, she received Honorable Mentions at the Senior Division of the National Walgreens Concerto Competition, first prize in the 2018 Chicago Flute Club Competition, is a member of Tri-M, and is a 2nd prize winner of the American Protege International Woodwinds and Brass Competition. She has been selected to perform at Carnegie Hall in December 2021. In addition to music, some of her academic achievements include winning 2nd prize twice at the AATSP Fernando Mendoza Contest (2018 and 2019) as well as becoming a semifinalist in the 2021 USA Biolympiad.