Details for the 2026/27 RSYO Concerto Competition will be posted soon!

Meet the 2025/26 Winners

Kenneth Gallwas, First Place

Piano | Elmhurst, IL

Kenneth Gallwas of Chicagoland, a senior at York Community High School, has quickly emerged on the piano scene as the 3rd Place winner of the 2024 MTNA National Competition (Senior Piano Duet) with his twin brother, Joseph. An avid 17-year-old concerto and solo pianist, he has performed with the Chicago Arts Orchestra, the TIMM Ensemble Orchestra in Todi, Italy, and the SEEN Festival Orchestra under Conner Gray Covington, and earned top prizes in the DuPage, IYACC, ISMTA, Sejong, Aloha International, and other national and international competitions. Kenneth studies with Jeffrey Panko, Mary Sauer, and Sean Bennett at the New Music School in Chicago, and has performed in masterclasses with renowned pianists including Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Steven Osborne, and Joyce Yang. Also a cellist and varsity ice hockey player at York, he is a Level 4 USA Hockey referee, youth coach, sports counselor, and community musician performing at senior residences and churches in Elmhurst.

Cecilia O’Malley, Second Place

Violin | Wheaton, IL

Mina Pollack, Third Place

French Horn | Chicago, IL

Levin Zhang, Honorable Mention

Piano | Verona, WI

Past Winners

2024

Joseph Gallwas, piano
Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor

2023

Selina Wen, piano
Camille Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 2

2022

Sofia Radovic, violin
Sergei Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor

Zoe Hart, flute
W.A. Mozart - Concerto No. 2 in D major

2021

2020

Elena Stavropoulos, piano
Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor

2019

Claire Arias-Kim, violin
Antonin Dvořák - Concerto in A minor

2018

Kodai Speich, piano
Robert Schumann - Piano Concerto

2017

Annaliesa Caswell, violin
Edward Lalo - Symphonie Espagnol, Op. 64

Anna Stenzel, violin
Camille Saint-Saëns - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso

2016

Margaret O'Malley, violin
Max Bruch - Concerto No. 1 in G Minor for Violin and Orchestra

2015

Sofiya Kyrylyuk, violin
Camille Saint-Saëns - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso

2014

2013

Kristiana McCombs, cello
Dmitri Kabalevsky - Cello Concerto No. 1

2012

Joanna Nerius, violin
Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E minor

2010/11

Hannah Bingham, violin
Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto, Op. 64

2009

Genevieve Smelser, violin
Edward Lalo - Symphonie Espagnol, Op. 64

2008

Colette Metras, French horn
Camille Saint-Saëns - Morceau de Concert

Sam Battista, violin
Samuel Barber - Concerto for Violin, Op. 14; Allegro molto, moderato