CEDAR CITY – The Orchestra of Southern Utah is issuing a call for young soloists as well as professional musicians and advanced music students, ages 13-25, to audition for the annual Roy L. Halversen Young Artist Concert performance to be April 15, 2010.

According to a press release, the Roy L. Halversen Young Artist Concert honors a beloved teacher who came to Cedar City after training at Julliard and then in Germany. Halversen has been responsible for the training of countless youth in the local area and even built a string program at the university.

Auditions are to be submitted along with a $20 non-refundable audition fee to OSU Executive Director Pete Akins by Dec. 11 at 5 p.m. All auditions are to be recorded on a digital CD or a high quality type II tape. Musicians who want their CD returned must note it and include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Akins can be reached at (435) 590-4266 or at peteakins@tlc2.org.

Those who are submitting CDs can download an audition form online at the OSU Web site. Applicants should choose music that is currently available in the OSU library for purchase. The library can be found at orchestraofsouthernutah.org and rent only music will not be considered.

Six to eight finalists will be chosen from the recordings to come in and formally audition in front of the judges on Jan. 16, 2010. Live auditions require a piano accompaniment.

“Those selected to perform with OSU will receive a $50 honorarium and have the experience of soloing with a symphony orchestra,” Akins said.

Laurel Kay Dodgion, OSU press agent, said “sll recordings will be judged blind, meaning the recordings will be numbered as received and the judges will not know who is playing on them.”

“Also, as this is a concert competition it is essential to hear the accompaniment along with the solo, any auditions submitted without the accompaniment will not be considered,” she added.

OSU is also looking for community musicians and advanced students to participate in the OSU fall recital series. Recitals will be recorded and broadcast via podcast online and sold as a CD by OSU, who will also retain copyrights to the performances.

Recitals will be held once a week beginning Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Jude’s Episcopal Church and will run until Oct. 6. Each week will cover a different theme from popular music to Chopin.

Anyone interested in performing in the recitals can sign up by sending an e-mail to osucedarcity@gmail.com no later than Aug. 7. Musicians are asked to provide a photo for publicity purposes. Any questions can be directed to Sara Penny at 586-2286.