DePonte Creativity Partners (DCP) announces:
The Young Artists
Professional Development
Competition
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN DCP & CHATTER-PDX
After 25+ years of producing concerto concerts for young artists, conductor Niel DePonte is creating a new opportunity for young artists in the Portland, SW Washington area. The Young Artists Professional Development Competition (YA-PDC) is a new program for talented students that will provide the winners with performance opportunities at one of two established performance stages: the Sunday morning series known as chatterPDX in downtown Portland, and The Concerts At The Barn summer music festival in late July and August in Beaverton.
Applicants must be between 14 and 18 years of age for instrumentalists and 16-21 years of age for vocalists. This year's inaugural competition is for violin, cello and piano only. Future seasons will be for winds and voice on a rotating basis.
Each winner will perform a significant chamber music piece, during the year following a live audition round, with professional musicians from the ranks of the Oregon Symphony. Oregon Ballet and/or Opera Orchestras at one the two venues mentioned above. The intent of the competition is to expose young artists to the professional expectations and preparation protocols that come with working with veteran chamber music musicians and reward them with a public performance opportunity and an honorarium of $1000.
Please Read the Additional Information and Competition Rules below.
2025 Young artists
professional development competition form
Competition info & rules
The competition has two rounds:
Note: The instruments eligible for competition year 2025 are piano, violin and cello.
The Application Round
Applicants must fill out the application form completely and accurately. Each applicant must submit an unedited YouTube video of the first movement of a major concerto or romantic period sonata with accompaniment. The video should be as close to professional video and audio quality as possible. All videos must have piano accompaniment for the soloist except those submitted by pianists. In this case, a second pianist is not required. Your solo must be the same work you would play at the competition if selected for the Live Performance Round. Applications must be submitted to Chief Judge Niel DePonte using the form by 11:59PM, June 30, 2025. They must be submitted as YouTube videos that are unedited and between 10 and 20 minutes in length.
The Live Performance Round
To be held on October 19, 2025 in Room 75 of Lincoln Hall on the campus of Portland State University from 1:00 – 3:00 PM.
Candidates will perform a movement of a major concerto or sonata with piano accompaniment. They will then “sit-in” with professional musicians and play through a pre-selected chamber music work alongside them. THIS WORK MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE PIECE CHOSEN TO BE PREPARED FOR THE PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITY IN 2026. THAT WORK IS TBD AFTER THE COMPETITION. After these performances, the professional musicians, chatterPDX artistic staff and chief judge Niel DePonte will choose winners to perform in concert with the professionals.
Winners are required to attend at least three rehearsals with professional colleagues to prepare the chamber music work selected for performance at either ChatterPDX or The Concerts At The Barn stages. Winners may be asked to attend private coachings on their parts with professional mentors.
Note: An important part of our process is the coaching sessions. Winners will be expected to attend rehearsals as often as the program directors deem necessary to optimize their performance experience. Students will be encouraged to take any technical issues back to their teachers for their input. Interpretation of a work will be primarily driven by the ensembles themselves but we encourage young artists to have a point of view on the work themselves. It is important to note that DCP reserves the right to cancel an applicant’s right to perform at any time and for any reason.
Awards:
Besides the performance opportunity afforded to winners, each winner will be awarded a $1000 honorarium for their participation in the concert performance opportunity, to be paid at the performance event scheduled for 2026. Performance dates at either chatterPDX or The Concerts At The Barn’s BUTLER BARN venue will be determined in consultation with the winners and the ensemble members.
Note: WINNERS MUST BE AVAILABLE FOR THE CONCERT DATES OFFERED TO THEM AND COMMIT TO THOSE PERFORMANCES. UNAVAILABILITY FOR THESE PERFORMANCES VOIDS WINNING A POSITION IN THIS COMPETITION. THE COMPETITION WILL STRIVE TO IDENTIFY MUTUALLY AGREEABLE PERFORMANCE DATES.
Applicants must reside within a two-hour commute to downtown Portland (essentially from Eugene, OR to Vancouver, WA or points east) and be available for rehearsals at mutually agreeable times in the Portland area.
About the officials
About the Chief Judge:
Niel DePonte, creator and artistic director of the Young Artists Debut Concerto Competition (1995-2021), former music director and conductor of Oregon Ballet Theatre, Grammy nominated concerto soloist, and designer of the DePonte Protocols for Professional Performance (D3P), a program designed to maximize performance success during concert appearances and especially auditions, juries, and competitions. Maestro DePonte is a national judge for The American Prize competition in the areas of ensemble performance, conducting, and composition. Artistic Directors from Chatter-PDX will also join the judges panel. Other judges to be announced later this year.