Concert features Stanger-winning musicians

Fifty years ago, the Kiwanis Club of Elmhurst and the Elmhurst Symphony Association joined forces to create the Robert Stanger Young Artist Concerto Audition.

The auditions provide a forum for outstanding high school instrumentalists to compete for the chance to perform a concerto movement with the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra during a subscription concert each season.

To help celebrate the golden anniversary of supporting young musicians, the ESO is planning an evening of musical performances by three past audition winners, followed by a wine reception, all at the historic Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook.

Featured on the program are flutist Mary Stolper and oboist Kathleen Golding, both Elmhurst natives, who were awarded first place in the Stanger Audition in 1971, performing together in Cimarosa's Concerto in G major for Flute and Oboe, and the 1998 winner, violinist Dylana Leung.

All three have gone on to careers as professional musicians.

Mary Stolper is principal flute of both the Grant Park Symphony Festival Orchestra and the Music of the Baroque Orchestra. She also acts as principal flute with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and the Joffrey Ballet, among many other positions, and is a sought-after chamber musician. She recently retired from DePaul University, where she taught for 30 years.

Kathleen Golding is a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Richmond, Virginia, Symphony, the Grant Park Orchestra, and the Orquestra Sinfonica de Mineria in Mexico City, where she was principal oboe. Audiences in Washington, D.C., have heard her as a soloist at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Dylana Leung has been a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 2010. She previously was concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, assistant concertmaster of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and section member in the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. The winner of several competitions, Leung has appeared as a soloist with a number of regional orchestras

The anniversary concert begins at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, in the Event Hall at Mayslake, 1717 W. 31st St., Oak Brook. Tickets are $40 for adults and $25 for students 18 and younger.

For tickets and information, visit the ESO website at www.elmhurstsymphony.org or call the Box Office at (630) 941-0202.