Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra & Concerto Competition Winners

The Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of USM School of Music faculty member Robert Lehmann, will feature winners of the 2011-2012 USM School of Music Concerto/Aria Competition on Saturday, April 28, at 2 p.m.

The performance will be in Gorham Middle School, 106 Weeks Road, Gorham. Tickets will be available for $6 general public; $3 students, seniors, USM employees and alumni at the door.

USM School of Music students Aaron Pettengill, Derek Herzer, and Matthew Cloutier were selected through the school’s Concerto Competition to perform solos with the SMSO. Pettengill, of Lewiston and Saco, will perform the violin solo in Ravel’s Tzigane. Herzer will perform the first movement of Brahms’ Piano Concerto. And Cloutier, of South Casco, will perform Grondahl’s Trombone Concerto.

In addition, Cloutier, a music performance major, was selected by the Portland Symphony Orchestra to receive their 2012 Martha Blood Scholarship, and will solo with the PSO at their May 7 youth concert. “I am really excited and humbled to be able to play with some of my teachers and other wonderful musicians in the area,” he says.

The PSO awards an honorarium in partnership with the USM School of Music every other year. Past Martha Blood Scholarship winners include saxophonist Jason Giacomazzo and trumpeter Micah Maurio.