We are delighted to invite you to our upcoming Solo and Concerto Competition Winners’ Concert on Sunday, February 22nd, at the gorgeous Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr!
This will be a truly wonderful concert showcasing the hard work, dedication, and incredible talent of the students who participated in our recent competition. It’s an inspiring opportunity to see your peers perform their winning pieces on stage. Six winners from our concerto category will perform a movement of a concerto, alongside the NBS Faculty Quartet.
Concerto Competition category Winners
-
Charlotte performing Mozart Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major
-
Emma performing Mozart Piano Concerto No.14, in E-flat major
-
Michelle performing Mozart Piano concerto No. 23, in A major
-
Chaseton & Preston performing Antonio Vivaldi – Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins
-
Saindhana performing Mozart Piano Concerto No.9, in E-Flat Major
-
Gabrielle performing Flute Sonata II by JS Bach, Mvt. 1
Concert Details:
-
Date: Sunday, February 22nd
-
Time: 1:30 – 4:00 PM
-
Location: The Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr
-
Tickets: $25 for adults, $15 for children
We encourage all students to attend to support your fellow musicians and be inspired by their accomplishments.
All proceeds for this concert benefit our NBSCMI, a 501 © (3) non-profit scholarship program.
We are excited to announce our fourth annual NBS Competition with two categories;
Solo Category
Concerto Category
We present this competition to provide our hard-working piano, string, wind, and voice students with an opportunity to practice towards a special goal: to choose a piece, bring it to as close to perfection as possible, and perform it in front of a panel of esteemed judges for high level feedback. The culmination of students’ efforts will be showcased at our Winners Concerts at the Church of the Redeemer and the NBS Recital Room.
For the Solo category of this year’s competition students will choose a solo work or sonata movement from the Baroque, Classical, or Beyond periods. Platinum and Gold medalist in each age category will be chosen to perform at the beautiful Church of the Redeemer on February 9th. Our Silver and Bronze medalists in each age category will perform at the Winners Recital at the NBS Recital Room on Saturday, February 28th.
For the concerto aspect of this year’s competition students will select one movement of a concerto from the Baroque, Classical, & Beyond periods. Ten platinum winners of this competition will get the chance to rehearse and perform with our fabulous NBS Faculty String Quartet. For the concerto category, teachers must contact the office with their choice of concerto movement for their student to ensure that it has not already been claimed, we cannot have duplicate concerto movements.
As we look forward to our upcoming competition, here are some important dates to make note of.
NBS December Rising Stars Concert – Sunday, December 7th & 14th
These concerts are a great opportunity for students to practice performing their piece for the competition.
Registration and Audition Fee* Deadline – Monday, December 1, 2025
The office must also receive piano accompaniment music by this date for all concerto competition participants (including pianists whose movements include orchestra accompaniment reduction) as well as any solo competition participants requiring piano accompaniment.
Rehearse with piano accompaniment – December 15th – January 17th
For all concerto category and any solo category competitors whose piece is written with accompaniment. You will indicate your availability for rehearsals in the registration form.All
Competition Auditions at NBS – Sunday, January 18, 2026
Auditions will be 10 minutes long. Judges reserve the right to stop students once a sufficient evaluation of their performance has been made. At the winners concerts, students will have the opportunity to perform their piece/movement in its entirety.
Rehearsals with NBS Quartet for Platinum Concerto Winners only – Sunday, February 8, 2026
Winners Concerts at Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr – Sunday, February 22, 2026
Concerts for Platinum and Gold winners of the Solo Competition and the Platinum Winners Performances featuring the NBS Faculty Quartet.
Winners Concerts at NBS Recital Room – Saturday, February 28, 2026
Concerts for Silver and Bronze winners of both categories.
2026 Competition Judges
Jeffrey Solow
Jeffrey Solow’s impassioned and compelling cello playing has enthralled audiences throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia. His multi-faceted career embraces performances as recitalist, soloist with orchestra and chamber musician, as well as teaching, writing and lecturing on a variety of cellistic topics and arranging and editing music for the cello. Two of his many recordings were nominated for Grammy Awards.
Mr. Solow’s concerto appearances include performances of more than forty different works with orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic (on subscription series and at the Hollywood Bowl), the Japan Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the American Symphony (with whom he also recorded). He has presented recitals throughout the US and in Europe, Japan, Korea, China, Central and South America and has been guest artist at many national and international chamber music festivals.
In addition to performing, Jeffrey Solow is a regular contributor to Strad magazine (London), Strings magazine and American String Teacher and is editor of The Violoncello Society Newsletter (NY). A noted authority on healthy and efficient string playing, he is frequently invited to give lectures and presentations on the subject. His wide-ranging interests include scuba diving and underwater photography, protozoology and paleontology and he graduated with a degree in Philosophy magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA. These attainments as well as his knowledge in many fields outside of classical music give him an exceptional ability to communicate with audiences of all ages and all levels of musical sophistication, both musically and in personal interaction.
Recognized worldwide as an outstanding teacher, Jeffrey Solow has presented master classes throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Europe, Asia and South America and he is professor of cello and chamber music at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance. Mr. Solow has served as president of ASTA—the American String Teachers Association—and he is the president of the Violoncello Society, Inc. in New York, the nation’s second oldest cello society.
Dr. Ariane Alexander
Dr. Ariane Alexander received her early musical training at the Julliard School of Music studying with Richard Faber and continued her studies at Indiana University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Houston Moores School of Music where she received a DMA degree in piano performance working with Abbey Simon, Horacio Gutierez and Ruth Tomfohrde. Dr. Alexander has performed as soloist and has given master-classes at both the preparatory and collegiate levels throughout the United States and Europe. As collaborative artist and chamber musician she has performed with notable artists including Janos Starker, Yair Kless, Tanya Reminikova, and Sally O’Reilly to name a few. While living in Houston, her students regularly won prizes competing state-wide and at the national level and frequently won scholarships to study at prominent music schools in the United States. Now living in Philadelphia, Dr. Alexander continues to concertize and is on faculty at the Nelly Berman School of Music. In the summers, she teaches at the Italy Summer Music Festival in Pienza and is both assistant director and piano faculty at the BRAVO! Summer String and Keyboard Institute at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.