WARSAW — Emma Scofield, Ben Amstutz and Graydon Brath were the top winners in the fifth annual Young Artist Competition hosted by the Symphony of the Lakes and Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts. The three winners were among eight contestants in the senior division competing for scholarships.

Shown are the scholarship winners in the fifth annual Young Artist Competition. From left are Ben Amstutz, Silver Star winner; Emma Scofield, Gold Star Winner; and Graydon Brath, Bronze Star Winner.

Scofield is a homeschooled junior from Granger. Amstutz is a junior at South Adams High School, Berne; and Brath is a sophomore at Warsaw Community High School.

Junior division winners were Edward Sun, an eighth-grader at Canterbury Middle School; Karissa Brath, a student at Lakeview Middle School, Warsaw; and Elsa Lund, is an eighth-grader at NorthWood Middle School.

The competition was held Saturday, March 16, with the junior division competition at 10 a.m. and the senior division at 1 p.m.

Winners of the senior division received a $500, $250 and $150 Thomas Sterling Scholarships. Winners of the junior division received gold, silver and bronze star certificates.

The senior division heard various musical selections on the trumpet, piano, cello, flue, bass, marimba and viola.

Graydon Brath on the Bass performed Concerto No. 2 in B Minor by Giovanni Bottesini.

Other competitors in the senior division included Ethan Gottschalk, a junior at Warsaw Community High School; Joseph Hynes, a homeschooled senior from South Bend; Hannah Slabach, a junior at Warsaw Community High School; Benjamin Bolduc, a junior at Warsaw Community High School; and Derek George, a senior at Penn High School.

Scofield, who played the cello, performed Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 by Edward Elgar. Homeschooled through Kolbe Academy, she studied cello for 13 years and is a student of Oleksa Mycyk, a graduate student of Hans Jensen. She is in her fourth year as a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and serves as the co-principal cellist of the Philharmonic orchestra. She was also featured as a solo cellist at the 2018 IUSB Chamber Orchestra concert. Besides playing cello, she loves playing piano, reading and writing.

Amstutz, who played the marimba, performed Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra by Ney Rosavro. He is currently taking private lessons from Brandon Ford in Fort Wayne and has been taking lssons from Cassius Goens III at Ball State University and James Murphy at Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. Since 2013 he has received 15 district gold medals and nine state gold medals, three of which received perfect scores through the Indiana State School Music Association Solo and Ensemble Contest.

Brath, who played the bass, performed Concerto No. 2 in B minor by Giovanni Bottesini. He started on the bass when he was 9 years old and his private instructor at that time was Mark Kausch in Minnesota. In fifth grade he began playing in the Greater Twin Cities Youth Orchestra. Since moving to Indiana in the eighth grade, he has been studying with Brad Kuhns of Fort Wayne. He has earned gold at ISSMA solo and ensemble contest in district and state levels every year. He began playing for the Fort Wayne Youth Symphony in the eighth grade and was selected and participated in the 2018 All State Orchestra.

Other participants performed Arutunian Trumpet Concerto by Alexander Arutunian; Polonaise and Badinage by Bach; Concerto No. 1 in A Minor Opus 33 by Camille Saint-Saens; Der Schwahendreher by Paul Hindemith; and C Major Op. 15 by Beethoven.