2022 Scholarship Award Winners
Benjamin Kronk currently studies at DePaul University with Professor Janet Sung. He earned his Master’s of Music at Mcgill University with Alexander Read, and his Bachelor’s of Music from the Eastman School of Music with Juliana Athayde. He has taken masterclasses with Midori and Pinchas Zuckerman. As soloist, he has most recently appeared this last summer with the National Repertory Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Toccoa Symphony and the Caroga Lake Music Festival. He is a member of the Iris Orchestra under Michael Stern, and regularly plays with the Chicago Philharmonic Society, the Wisconsin Philharmonic, the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, and the Oistrakh Symphony. He is the artistic director for the SouthEastern Young Artists (SEYA), a chamber music festival in Georgia, which he founded in 2018. SEYA brings artists from around the US to perform intimate chamber concerts, in venues from the Historic Ritz Theatre to private homes.
Benjamin Kronk, Violin
2022 American Opera Society of Chicago Scholarship Award
A second-year member of Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Katherine comes from Traverse City, Michigan. She holds a Bachelor’s degree of Music in Vocal Performance from Michigan State University, and a Master’s degree of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Houston. She has been an apprentice singer with the Santa Fe Opera. Katherine was awarded the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation. She is a Sullivan Award Winner and a semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
2022 American Opera Society of Chicago Eileen Deneen Scholarship Award
Katherine DeYoung, Mezzo-Soprano
Sidney Lee, Viola
Sidney began playing violin at age of 4 in her hometown, San Francisco, studying with Florin Parvulescu of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. She attends Buffalo Grove High School, is a merit scholarship fellow at the Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago, and she studies with Roland and Almita Vamos. Sidney was named a 2022 National YoungArts Winner and was the winner of 2021 American Protégé Concerto Competition. She has been a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, concertmistress of the Interlochen Symphony Orchestra, and has been invited to perform solo at Carnegie Hall.
2022 American Opera Society of Chicago Scholarship Award
A native of Coralville, Iowa, Katya is a merit scholarship student at the Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago, and studies with Almita Vamos. She attends Indiana University Online High School. She began violin lessons at the age of 4 and made her orchestra debut at age 12. In addition to performing with symphonies in Iowa, she has participated in concert tours of Singapore and Bangkok, and performed in Brazil, Belgium, and Italy. She has won honors and awards in both national and international competitions, including the Grand Prize of the ENKOR Violin Competition.