WAMSO Young Artist Competition winners.(Impromptu: Items of Interest)(Minnesota Orchestra Volunteer Association)

Winners of the 52nd annual WAMSO Young Artist Competition have been announced.

The competitions first prize was awarded to cellist Fedor Amosov. The 19-year-old native of Moscow is currently in the artist diploma program at Michigan State University, studying with Suren Bagratuni. Amosov received $7,500 in WAMSO awards, plus the $500 Vincent R. Bastien Memorial Cello Award. He has earned a performance with the Minnesota Orchestra and a solo recital performance with the Schubert Club of St. Paul, as well as a taped performance on McGraw Hill's Young Artist Showcase, WQXR in New York City. He also was the recipient of a $5,000 scholarship to the Aspen Music School in Aspen, Colorado.

Tubist Aubrey Foard, 25, won second prize. Foard, a native of Brookfield, Wisconsin, is currently a professional studies certificate candidate at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, working with Norm Pearson. He holds a master's degree from Rice University and a bachelor's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. The second prize includes a $4,000 award from WAMSO plus a taped performance on radio WQXR in New York City.

The $2,000 third prize went to pianist Ksenia Leletkina, 24, who recently completed her master's degrees in piano performance and collaborative piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Antonio PompaBaldi and Anita Pontremoli. Leletkina also ...