ROCKPORT — For almost 60 years, Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School has awarded cash prizes to aspiring young musicians from Maine to assist with their continued studies and advance their professional opportunities.

There are seven recipients of cash prizes of $1,000 each, two of whom are sharing an award. The winners will perform in a free concert for the public on Sunday, June 23, at 4 p.m., at the Rockport Opera House. The community is invited to come celebrate these talented and accomplished young musicians.

Daphne te Boekhorst

Daphne te Boekhorst, flutist and winner of the Jean and Harvey Picker Senior Prize was born in Amsterdam and graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School in 2019. She has studied flute for four years with Nicole Rabata in Portland and with David Houston at the Boston Flute Academy, and has also played piano for ten years.  

She was principal flute in the Maine All-State Orchestra in 2019 and 2018. In 2018, she won the Bay Chamber Young Stars of Maine Ezra Rachlin Prize for Excellence, was a finalist for the Bangor Symphony Concerto Competition and was a scholarship recipient for the Kotzschmar Memorial Trust Scholarship. In 2017 and 2016, she participated in the Interharmony International Music Festival in Italy.

A resident of Cape Elizabeth, she was also a member of the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble and the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Advanced Repertoire and Conservatory ensembles at the Boston Flute Academy. In the fall, she will attend Oberlin College and Conservatory, studying flute performance and biology in the dual-degree program.

Annabel Parker

Annabel Parker, soprano, is the winner of the Ezra Rachlin Prize for Excellence.

Annabel, a resident of Rockport who also studies piano, is a junior at Camden Hills Regional High School. She has been studying classical voice and piano since the age of seven, and currently studies voice with Kathryn DerMarderosian and piano with Jim Gna at Bay Chamber Music School.

Annabel is a three year Allstate and District lll Mixed Choir participant, and four-time winner of NATS in her respective divisions. Since freshman year, she has been an active member multiple school ensembles such as Chamber Singers, Chorale, Jazz Band on the piano, and Concert Band on the oboe and clarinet.

Annabel has starred in productions as Ariel in Little Mermaid Junior, Nina in In the Heights, Cookie in Rumors, Silvi in Is Mozart in Maine? and various other roles through her school and the community. She enjoys singing both classical and contemporary music, and loves every minute of every performance she does. Annabel is so excited to be the recipient of the Ezra Rachlin Prize of excellence. 

Elijah Huttman

Elijah Huttman, oboist and co-winner of the Elsie Bixler Junior Prize is an eighth grader at Hall-Dale Middle School in Richmond.

Elijah began playing oboe at ten, the viola at twelve, and violin when he was seven. He currently studies oboe with Sarah Dow-Shedlarski. He studies viola with Betsy Kobayashi and fiddle with Ellen Gawler. He is a member of the Kennebec Valley Youth Symphony, Mid-Maine Youth Orchestra, Mozart Mentors Orchestra, Hall-Dale High School Band and has played with the Augusta Symphony Orchestra. He also plays sax in the Hall-Dale Middle School band and jazz band. Elijah is looking forward to traveling to the Shetland Islands this summer with the Pineland Fiddlers. 

Ida Santos

Ida Santos, soprano and winner of the Eleanor Erdman and Diane Nixon Prize for Vocal Excellence, is a Senior Vocal Performance Major at USM School of Music, studying voice with Scott Wheatley, and piano with Tina Davis. She spent several years performing in with local theaters and opera groups in her home town of Concord, NH, before arriving at USM, where Ida has performed several leading roles at USM, including Anne Page (Merry Wives of Windsor), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Norina (Don Pasquale), and Cunegonde (Candide).

In 2018 she was selected as a performer at the annual Honors Recital, and was a winner of the 2018 Concerto Competition at USM; In the spring of 2019, she was honored with the prestigious Lillian Nordica Memorial Scholarship, and placed 2nd in the Portland Rossini Club Barbara Littlefield Vocal Scholarship.

Santos currently lives in Portland, working towards Master’s Degrees in both Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting.

Lydia Gilman

Lydia Gilman, vocalist and winner of the Nathan E. Corning Jazz Prize is a junior at Erskine Academy in China, Maine.

Lydia has been on stage since a very young age – participating in numerous talent competitions and signing for school events. She is a two-time winner of the Alfond Youth Center Talent Search in Waterville. She has used some winnings to purchase an acoustic electric guitar and also an electric piano that she uses in her room to practice and learn new songs.

In 2018, Lydia was a finalist in The Central Maine Talent Search hosted by the Centre Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft. In 2019, she won 1st place in Maine’s Got Talent, hosted by Sand-Castle Clinical and Educational Services. 

She enjoys learning new songs on the piano and can play by ear. Her true passion, however, is singing. Lydia is delighted and honored to have been chosen to participate in the Young Stars of Maine performance and concert for 2019.

Ina Wolovitz

Ina Wolovitz, co-winner of the Elsie Bixler Junior Prize is a pianist, as well as organist, and violist. Ina is an 8th grader at Ashwood Waldorf School.

She started piano lessons at age 8 with Mary Ann Driscoll and has been studying with Dr. Patricia Stowell since 2017. Ina participates in the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Program and accompanies Suzuki students at Bay Chamber Music School. She enjoys playing chamber music and especially loves studying the score.

Ina recently started teaching young beginner students on piano and violin. As an organist, she plays at the Broad Bay Congregational Church in Waldoboro, the Lincolnville UCC, and occasionally as a pianist at the First Universalist Church in Rockland.

When she's not practicing, Ina loves to read, sing harmonies, contra-dance, listen to music, play music with her sister, attend dance classes, play ultimate frisbee, run, and solve algebraic problems. She lives with her younger sister, mother, and father in Camden.

Joshua Chun

Joshua Chun, co-winner of the Elsie Bixler Junior Prize, is a junior at Belfast Area High School.

Josh currently studies piano with Dr. Patricia Stowell and has been playing since the age of 7. Recently won first prize in the Biennial Pine Tree Piano Competition after winning second prize two years ago. He enjoys playing in chamber ensembles, participating in Bay Chamber Music School's Envision program as well as Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill.

Aside from classical music, he plays piano for his school's jazz band and the euphonium for the concert band, which allowed him the opportunity to attend the Kennebec Valley Music Festival. He sometimes accompanies the choir at his church and loves to play in the pit band for local musical theater productions in Belfast.

Outside of music Josh is engaged in a diverse array of activities ranging from playing on his school's tennis and soccer teams as well as serving on the Student Senate. 

For more information on Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School programs, call (207) 236-2823 or visit www.baychamberconcerts.org.