by Josephine Sollitto / The Jambar
Youngstown State University will provide music students the opportunity to compete and perform a concerto alongside the YSU Wind Ensemble and win a $200 prize in the Dana Young Artist Competition.
Joseph Carucci, director of the Dana School of Music and University Theatre, said judging for this year’s competition takes place at 10 a.m. Nov. 7 in Bliss Recital Hall.
“Students will start performing for the adjudicators around 10 a.m., and they’ll each get a chance to perform their piece. Then the adjudicators will get together after the competition, and they’ll decide on first, second [and] third prizes,” Carucci said.
Carucci said the adjudicators are chosen by the director of bands, Michael Butler. To keep the competition impartial, Butler chooses judges outside of university staff, ranging from a variety of musicians.
“The judges Dr. Butler hires [are] from the outside, so they’re all professionals in the community on their instruments, as soloists, as ensemble members as well and some of them are also teachers in the area,” Carucci said.
Madison Sheffield, senior music performance major and 2025 Dana Young Artist Competition winner, said the judging experience was positive and casual.
“[The judges] discussed who they best thought could work with the ensemble, who they thought had the most accuracy, the most musicality. So it’s not a set rubric, but when you’re at that level of musicianship, you can kind of just tell who should be the winner,” Sheffield said, “But we did get our comments back, and they were more just little details that they liked or they enjoyed. So it was a really positive experience from them.”
The preparation process for the competition takes months of work to showcase what the soloist completed in their applied lessons, Sheffield said.
“I started discussing it with my professor about a year before … then near the end of the spring semester before the competition, we discussed and decided on a piece, and then I just kind of worked on it all summer,” Sheffield said. “So I just learned it all in one summer, and then I had September and October to kind of really prepare it [and] work with my accompanist.”
Sheffield said the competition provides solo opportunities for instruments where solo repertoire is atypical and creates a healthy competition between students to showcase talent within Dana.
“It gives an opportunity for instruments to be a soloist, especially for instruments who don’t play solo a lot … It also gives you something to work towards,” Sheffield said. “It also is nice competing against your peers … it does also showcase the amazing musicians we have at Dana.”