General Information

Thank you for applying to the PSSO student solo competition. This new competition was established to honor exceptional high school musicians who demonstrate how classical music has enriched their lives and the lives of others. The award is a $1000 cash scholarship to the student, a $500 cash grant to the high school’s music department, and a solo performance with the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra.

The competition is broken into two phases. Phase 1 involves reviewing your resume, transcript, and an audio clip of you playing a portion of the solo work. After we consider all submissions, a subset of students will be asked to participate in Phase 2. This involves a personal statement, a letter of recommendation from your high school instructor, playing the entire solo work in person with an accompanist and engaging in a short interview following the performance. We understand that preparing an entire solo work is difficult and time consuming. This two phase approach ensures only a reasonable number of applicants go through the stressful process of preparing and performing the entire solo work.

What kind of student are we looking for? To answer that, it helps to understand PSSO a bit more. Founded in 1999 by Alan Shen, PSSO is a community orchestra dedicated to providing a fun, musically enriching experience free of competition and politics. It is a unique organization in that nearly all members (including the conductor) volunteer their time and lead non-musical professional and academic lives. This ensemble of highly talented musicians plays in PSSO for the love and passion of classical music. With respect to the scholarship, the ideal high school candidate demonstrates an approach to making music which embodies tenets similar PSSO. Such qualities include musical excellence, academic achievement, a diverse set of interests, and a desire to make music a fun experience for everyone. The ideal candidate views the gift of playing an instrument as enriching rather than all-encompassing.

Important Dates (DEADLINE EXTENDED)

March 15th - COMPLETE
March 31st - Phase I Finalists Announced
April 19th to 27th - Phase II Audition Window
May 10th - Winner Announced
Nov 22nd - Concert featuring soloist

Application

Here is the application form: Student Solo Application Closed. It's an online application form and may contain a few bugs. If you have any problems, just e-mail alanshen@psso.org or call 206.353.5128 and we'll figure out the problem. We don't want any issues with the online application process to prevent you from applying!