While it remains to be seen who the future stars will be, there is no doubt that there are some remarkably talented young musicians in the Classical vein emerging around the world. The competition for the limited slots available on the world stage is fierce, in part because we seem to have gotten better and better at finding, training, and nurturing talented young people.

On one hand, this is sad because often it seems that the ability to play and deal with the pressures of the top tier of artistic performance is not enough. Today’s young artist must play flawlessly with great artistic depth AND look like someone from a glamor magazine, too, or be shuffled off to one of the increasingly competitive secondary markets.

On the other hand, audiences are treated to an unprecedented number of truly great performers who can deliver virtually error-free virtuosity time and again. In fact, it is sometimes a shock to listed to recordings of the greats from the first half of the 20th Century and hear that they did include the occasional clinker. This does not diminish their greatness, but simply acknowledges that eliminating even the smallest mistake was not their goal. Today’s audiences, brought up on the perfection of the recording studio, expect, and get, note-perfect performances from performers who can deliver them with great musical content.

Seattle audiences can hear some of these potential future stars on Saturday, May 19th, when the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival presents a concert of the winners of their 2012 Concerto Competition. Performers Evan Hjort, Amelia Sie, and Lu Yu Lucy Wang, violins, Jeremy Steele and Karissa Zadinsky, cello, and Daniel Oslin, piano will perform in concert with Philharmonia Northwest  conducted by Eric Garcia, Assistant Conductor of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Performance is at 7:30 PM at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus (NE 41st St & 15th Ave NE in Seattle).