The first-place winner in the Young Artist Competition was Graydon Brath, of Warsaw, who played Bottesini’s “Elegy in C” on the double bass. Photo provided.

WARSAW – Graydon Brath, 16, of Warsaw, was the top winner in the Young Artist Competition sponsored by the Symphony of the Lakes on Saturday, Feb. 15 in the Performing Arts Center of Warsaw Community High School.

Brath, who plays the double bass, won first place, which included a $500 Thomas N. Stirling Memorial Scholarship and the opportunity to play his piece, “Elegy in C by Bottesini,” with the Symphony of the Lakes at their spring concert on Saturday, April 18 at the Winona Heritage Room.

In all, eight young musicians competed in the senior division and five competed in the junior division.

Second-place winner in the senior division was Chloe Morton, a flautist who is a senior at Homestead High School. Her second-place finish included a $250 Thomas N. Stirling Memorial Scholarship. Third place went to Karissa Brath, a violinist from Warsaw, who received a $150 Thomas N. Stirling Memorial Scholarship.

The competition, which is held each February under the sponsorship of the orchestra and its parent organization, the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, is in its sixth year. The scholarships are named in honor of the symphony’s late music director, Thomas N. Stirling, who died suddenly in December of 2018.

Other contestants in the senior division included Benjamin Bolduc (cello), Mason Brindle (clarinet), Ellen Brockmole (cello), Ethan Gottschalk (trumpet) and Hannah Slabach (flute).

In the junior division, first place went to pianist Felix Zhang of Granger. Placing second was Ben Morton, pianist from Fort Wayne, and third was Jonah Zimmerman, a sixth-grade violinist from Eisenhower Elementary School in Warsaw. Other contestants included Melanie Hertzler (piano) and Brady Warstler (piano.)

Judges for the competition included Dr. Jason Thompson of Fort Wayne, who is associate professor of music at Indiana Wesleyan University and who frequently conducts the Symphony of the Lakes; Dr. Joshua Ganger, a performer and trumpet teacher on the faculties of Indiana Wesleyan University and Manchester University; and Dr. Pamela Haynes, who directs the piano studies at Manchester University in North Manchester.