The annual David Hochstein Recital Competition recognizes outstanding musicianship and performance skills of advanced student musicians in grades 10-12 who reside in the nine-county region surrounding Greater Rochester. The students who win this competition perform at a recital at Hochstein each spring.
This year's winners are flutist Jashanti Henry of Rochester’s School of the Arts and cellist Jackie Hager of Brighton High School.
They were recorded in concert on May 1, 2018 on 7:30pm by Carl Pultz of Alembic Productions. You can hear this concert on the radio on Wednesday November 21st, at noon (and again at 10pm) as Live from Hochstein takes a break for the Thanksgiving week holiday.
A senior at Rochester’s School of the Arts, Jahshanti Henry has been playing the flute since he was 9 years old. He began in the Eastman Pathways Program and still continues to study in the studio of Jan Angus with the help of the Schoenegge and Pearson merit scholarship at ECMS. He performed this year in numerous orchestras, including Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra, All-County Orchestra, and the Gateways Festival Orchestra. He also had the opportunity to play for Joel Seligman, former president of the University of Rochester, at the Diversity Award Ceremony.
In addition to winning the 2018 David Hochstein Recital Competition, he was also runner-up in the winds category and honorable mention for exceptional artistry at the Rochester Philharmonic League Young Artist Auditions. He has been very influenced by jazz and was honored with the Essentially Ellington Certificate of Merit for his solo flute performance with the Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra at the Essentially Ellington Competition in New York City.
A senior at Brighton High School, Jackie Hager has been playing the cello since the age of 4. She has been featured as a guest soloist with the Genesee Symphony Orchestra, Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Her piano trio had the honor of being invited to perform for the Rochester Society for Chamber Music two years in a row and Syracuse Society for Chamber Music. She also has performed with the cello group Break of Reality, and has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra for four years. She was awarded first prize in the NYSMTA Empire State Competition, the 2018 SUNY Geneseo Young Artists Competition, the David Hochstein Recital Competition, and the 2018 Penfield Symphony Concerto Competition. Jackie enjoys volunteering at ROCmusic, where she gives cello lessons to many young cellists.
