Senior Selah Dowell was recently announced as the winner of the 2024 Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (A2SO) Young Artist Competition, and will be performing the first movement of Camille Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto No. 3 on February 25th with the A2SO at their Link Up youth concert at Hill Auditorium, presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. She also received a $1,000 cash prize for her triumphant performance, which placed her first out of seven finalists from all over Michigan, with applicants auditioning on flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and cello.
“I saw a three year old violinist on TV when I was four, and it motivated me to start playing the violin,” Dowell said.
She now studies violin with Professor Danielle Belen at University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and is a concertmaster for the Huron High School Symphony orchestra.
The jury members, all of whom were A2SO musicians, made remarks about Dowell’s fiery playing.
“(Selah is a) passionate, polished, mature, confident, and impressive performer,” Principal Timpani John Dorsey stated. “(She possesses) astonishing technique, and expressive, musical playing.” Fellow jury members further attested to this: “She demonstrated excellent artistry. The performance was very polished, and her interpretation of the piece was powerful,” Principal Bassoon Christian Green said. Principal Viola Scott Woolweaver wrote: “(she) has a broad palette of colors and sounds, from which she appropriately draws.”
“I was pretty confident, because I spent a lot of time the day before practicing, so I just knew I had to not mess up and I would be fine,” Dowell said. “I was like, ‘I did my best, and the other competitors are really good,’ so I just didn’t know who would win.”
She has previously performed with the Michigan Pops Orchestra, but is excited with this opportunity to play with a professional orchestra. She recalled watching the winner of the A2SO concerto competition as a fourth grader and the immense inspiration she felt.
“I remember the winner of that year’s concerto competition played the Mendelssohn [violin] concerto,” Dowell said. “My peer was like, ‘that’s going to be you someday’. And now it’s actually real.”
