Young Artist Competition

The Young Artist Competition is a solo competition for freshmen and sophomore students at the OU School of Music. The top 7 competitors will perform in the Young Artist Honors Recital that takes place on a later date. This is a competition that encourages a variety of different areas in the School of Music to compete and perform. There are also cash prizes for the top 2 winners of the competition!

• The competition will take place March 8^th, 2026 from 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm in Pitman Recital Hall.
• Applications are due March 1^st, 2026, by the end of the day (11:59pm CST). Late applicants will not be considered.
• The competition will be open to the public.
• The top 7 finalists will be announced and sent through email to all of the competitors after the judges have finished deliberating. This email will be sent as soon as possible, no later than 2 hours after the competition has ended.

• The top 7 competitors from the Young Artist Competition will perform at the Young Artist Honors Concert on March 25^th, 2026, from 8:00 pm - 9:15 pm in Pitman Recital Hall. This concert will be recorded and live streamed.
• The Young Artist Honors Concert will ideally feature a vocalist, keyboard instrumentalist (piano, organ, etc.), string instrumentalist, brass instrumentalist, woodwind instrumentalist, percussion instrumentalist, and one additional performer from any group. This is dependent on applications and can change to match the pool of applicants.
  • The purpose of this is to encourage all students, no matter the area, to compete!
  • The actual order of winners (1^st through 7^th place), is not determined by representation.
  • If there are less than 2 competitors in a specific instrument family or vocalists, then that specific instrument family will possibly not have representation in the Honors Concert.
  • If an instrument family is considered to not have any performers that the judges deem appropriate of being in the top 7 winners, then it is possible that area will not have representation in the Honors Concert. This is to create a competition that is as fair as possible while also still promoting representation of different areas.
  • The decision of the judges is final.

Students must be available for the March 25^th Young Artist Honors Concert in order to accept an award.

• 1st Place: $400 and performance at Honors Concert
  
• 2nd Place: $200 and performance at Honors Concert
  
• 3-7 Place: Performance at Honors Concert

• Must be a freshman or sophomore music major enrolled in applied lessons
  • Must be in your first or second academic year, no further than the 4th semester of study.
• Must be in good academic standing at the time of the competition.
• Must be a full-time student.
• Must have an average GPA of 3.0 or higher.

• Perform up to 7 minutes of solo repertoire
  • For the competition, performance time may be reduced (minimum of 5 minutes) to accommodate all participants. Winners will perform the full material (7 minutes) at the Honors Concert.
• Pieces with piano accompaniment are highly encouraged, but not required.
• There are no repertoire restrictions.
• One movement of a large work or one single short piece is suggested for the competition.
  • Vocalists may consider singing two pieces, as long as they fit within the competition time allotment.

Apply using the form linked below.

Applications are due March 1st, 2026, by end of day (11:59pm).

Apply - 2026 Competition

Please direct any questions to Dr. Matthew Reynolds at wmreynolds@ou.edu