Meet the 2026 Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition Winner: Samuel Wenger-Stickel

The St. Louis Symphony’s Youth Orchestra, or YO, was founded in 1970 by Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin and is comprised of young musicians from throughout the bi-state region. The YO boasts over 2,000 alumni, three of whom are currently members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Some have gone on to careers in professional orchestras, while many go on to be leaders in a variety of other fields.

Each year, YO musicians have the opportunity to compete in the YO’s concerto competition. After multiple rounds of auditions, the winner performs with the YO at its second concert. In 2026, Samuel Wenger-Stickel, a senior at Westminster Christian Academy and the YO’s Co-Principal Second Violin, was declared the winner and will perform Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto at the YO’s final concert of the season on May 31 at Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

I remember loving how the violin sounded after going to a couple of symphony concerts and then begging my parents for violin lessons for my 8th birthday, which they gave to me. My first real “performance” was actually playing happy birthday for anyone in my second grade class whose birthday it was.

I had always loved listening to all kinds of music, but I never really thought about what it would be like to be a part in the making of music until I had been to some symphony concerts and thinking about how much I wanted to be up there performing.

The first time I auditioned was the last year that the SLSO and the YO got to play in Powell Hall before its renovations. It felt almost surreal. Powell Hall felt so grand and as a rising freshman, I felt so small inside the hall that I had only ever been in as an audience member. The auditions were held blind, with the judges behind a big curtain. I remember telling myself to not say anything to the judges, as that might get me disqualified from the audition.

It feels profoundly exciting. The energy that I put into the music getting reciprocated by musicians who love and engage with the music as much as I do is really exhilarating, especially in really special moments in the music. The amount of vulnerability that is needed in playing in such a large group as the YO really pushes my boundaries.

I remember my first ever rehearsal with the YO under Norman Huynh. We were learning the Firebird Suite by Stravinsky, and my only memory was being utterly unprepared. It seemed that everyone around me knew exactly when to play. The other memory that stands out to me is the season opener of my fourth year in YO (this season). We performed Enigma Variations by Elgar, and when we got to the Ninth Variation (Nimrod), I remember completely forgetting that the audience was even there for those five precious minutes and losing myself in the music.

I think the heart of playing virtuosically is having a heart for the music. In the Barber, I am able to leave behind the high technical demand that other concertos have (at least for the first two movements) and truly assume the role of the lead voice or “soprano,” if you will. Although Barber is often looked on as an “easy” concerto, there is nothing easy about it. Barber’s demand for sustained lines and thoughtful colors within the labyrinth of harmony truly brings the work to life. The third movement almost seems like a compensation for the first two movements, as if he is saying “you thought this was going to be easy?”

I plan to attend Rice University with Kathleen Winkler in the Shepherd School of Music, majoring in violin performance. As for after school, I aspire to be in a professional chamber group. Chamber music has always appealed to me as the most intimate form of music where a small group of like minded musicians come together to create something really special.

Compiled by Eric Dundon.