Taranaki Symphony Orchestra
Concerto and Aria Competition

 Saturday 21 March 2026

A competition for local musicians aged under 24 years

The Taranaki Symphony Orchestra will run a competition for young local musicians. The aim is to encourage young players to learn a movement from the concerto and vocal repertoire and to offer a public performance opportunity under competitive conditions. 

The competition is open to players of all instruments, including strings, piano, winds, brass and percussion, as well as singers who have either lived, or studied, in Taranaki for over three months.

The junior class will be under the age of 14 years on the day of the performance.
The intermediate class will be under the age of 18 years on the day of the performance.
The senior class will be under the age of 24 years on the day of the performance.

Performances in the competition will be with piano accompaniment.

Some competitors from this competition will be selected by the adjudicators to play in the Student Stars concert with the Taranaki Symphony and Youth Orchestras. The Student Stars concert will take place later in the year of the competition. 

Those selected may or may not be the winners of their class. The aim in selecting students will be to balance the concert programme as well as to choose works that have music available for hire and works that are playable by the orchestra. It is advisable to check the availability of music with the Taranaki Symphony Orchestra Librarian, Jaye Warder julw@xtra.co.nz or with Jocelyn Beath, joc.beath@xtra.co.nz .

The organisers wish to have a balance of competitors in each class. To achieve this competitors may be allocated into a different class, based on age with the intent of ensuring similar numbers in each class.