2021 Cogen Competition

The Ruth P. Cogen Competition was established by the Board of Trustees of Levine Music in 1983 to honor Ruth Cogen, one of the school’s founders and its first chair of the Board of Trustees. 

The 2021 Competition took place virtually with students competing in three age divisions: Junior (age 9 & under), Intermediate (age 10-13), and Senior (age 14-18). Each participant prepared a video recording of one movement from a concerto or solo piece intended for performance with an orchestra for the preliminary round. Students in the final round recorded their performances with piano accompaniment using Levine’s zero-latency rooms and additional protocols to make it a safe experience. One grand prize winner was chosen from all the first-place division winners to play in a virtual performance with the Levine International Orchestra comprised of Levine faculty, alumni, and musicians worldwide. Watch the grand prize performance.

Enjoy the final round performances in the videos below. Congratulations to all the participants, their teachers and families!

Special thanks to: Aaron Percy, Recording Engineer, Vasily Popov, grand prize conductor and video editor, Lois Narvey and Ted Cooper, competition organizers, Irina Kats, accompanist, Stephen Bulla and Stephen Czarkowski, competition judges, Levine campus staff and return to campus task force.

This program has been made possible through the generous support of the Marinus and Minna B. Koster Foundation, Inc.

Piano Intermediate Division

Concerto in D Major,  Joseph Haydn
I. Vivace
Uma Das, student of Karen Bartman

Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15, Ludwig van Beethoven
III. Rondo Allegro
Sanjeev Belle Trichur, student of Deborah Lloyd 

Concertino for Piano Op. 73, Johann Nepomuk Hummel
III. Rondo
Pamina Burton, student of Cecilia Cho 

Instrumental Junior/Intermediate Division

Violin Concerto Op. 3, No. 6, Antonio Vivaldi
I. Allegro
Chloe Robertson, violin student of Hyunji Lee 

Cello Concerto Op. 85, Edward Elgar 
I. Adagio – Moderato 
Amelia Baisden, cello student of Maxfield Wollam-Fisher 

Concerto Op. 12, No. 1, Antonio Vivaldi
I. Allegro
Daniel Boukhalov, violin student of Patrick LeStrange and Leslie Silverfine 

Instrumental Senior Division

Concerto in A Minor for Oboe, Ralph Vaughan Williams
I. Rondo Pastorale
John Rhee, oboe student of Kenny Stilwell

Symphonie Espagnole Op. 21, Edouard Lalo
I. Allegro non troppo
Jacquelin Cavallin, violin student of Leslie Silverfine

Flute Concerto No. 2 K314, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
I. Allegro Aperto
Ruby Ahdoot, flute student of Kathleen Jacobi