Winner of the 2026 Youth Concerto Competition
May 25, 2026 | Announcements
The Bucks County Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce that Channa Lee was awarded first place in the 2026 Youth Concerto Competition for her extraordinary performance of the Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor (1st movement) by Camille Saint-Saëns. She receives the prestigious Jeanne Marvin Phillips Prize, including a scholarship to attend the Luzerne Music Center summer camp in New York, and an invitation to perform with the BCSO at the 2026 Family Concert in December.
Channa is a seventh-grade student in the gifted program at Black Rock Middle School in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She studies violin with Ms. Yayoi Numazawa and piano as her secondary instrument with Ms. Natalia Varlashova.
Channa made her performance debut at the age of four at the Mann Music Center’s Rising Star summer event. That same year, she joined both the Vivace Orchestra and the Philadelphia International Music Festival. At the age of five, she received a PBS Producer’s Choice Award and began performing at local nursing homes in Gladwyne, PA, sharing music with senior residents.
In recent years, Channa has performed as a soloist at several events, including the Elite International Music Festival and the Triumph Music Festival. Most recently, she was awarded first place in the Tri-County String Junior Division. She has performed with the Warminster Symphony and Ambler Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared on prestigious stages such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. In both 2023 and 2025, she was selected to attend the Heifetz International Music Institute, where she continued to develop her artistry. She also participates in advanced chamber studies at Settlement Music School.
Channa has been accepted into the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra twice but was unable to accept due to scheduling conflicts with other musical commitments. She has frequently performed to raise funds for community causes and her preschool in Wayne.
Beyond music, Channa is a member of the Technology Student Association. She enjoys reading, writing short novels, drawing, traveling, and spending time with her family. Above all, she is passionate about using her music to inspire joy and kindness wherever she goes.
