Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026
Grades 7 through 12
Registration: $35
Registration Ends: Sunday, January 18, 2026
Registration:
Due Date: Sunday, January 18, 2026
General Information:
*ALL QUESTIONS/COMMENTS SHOULD COME FROM TEACHERS ONLY: Email competition@azmusicfest.org*
Parents and students are not allowed to contact Musicfest staff to discuss any portion of the competition.
Teachers should take time to review all of the current Guidelines, and go over these Guidelines with the participating students and their parents.
- Performers must complete the application and submit the registration fee in order to perform. Early application is advised. It is possible that all available slots for performers will be filled before application deadline.
- The application must include the complete and accurate titles of the pieces to be performed, along with the full composer names, opus/catalog numbers (if applicable), movement designations (if applicable), and key signatures (if applicable).
- Performers must be Arizona residents.
- Performers must be in grades 7 through 12, no younger than 13 (acceptable if student is turning 13 within the school year) and no older than 18 years of age.
- Conflicts may be submitted in the application form’s comments section, but Arizona Musicfest does not guarantee that we will be able to accommodate all conflicts. No conflicts will be accepted after the application deadline.
- To edit your application information after submission, please return to the original confirmation email you received and follow the instructions in that email. No changes are allowed after the application deadline.
- No application refunds will be given in the event of performer withdrawal.
- Each teacher and performer must abide by all requirements and deadlines stated herein. Non-compliance will result in disqualification.
Date & Time:
- The Competition will be held on ________
- The times in the table below are the estimated window for each division.
- Divisions may begin earlier or later depending on the number of entrants
- Exact performance timeslots will be emailed out the week following the application due date.
- Performers may only perform during their division’s window
- The times in the table below are the estimated window for each division.
Divisions:
| Division | Number of Pieces | Warm-Up Duration | Performance Duration |
| I (Grades 9 & 10) | 1 or 2 | 10 minutes | 12 minutes |
| II (Grades 11 & 12) | 1 or 2 | 10 minutes | 12 minutes |
Location:
- The competition will be held at Arizona Musicfest: 7950 E Thompson Peak Pkwy. Scottsdale, AZ 85255. (Map)
Music:
- Music chosen for the competition must be standard literature chosen from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modernist, or Contemporary periods by composers of renown and/or established pedagogical composers. Simplified versions and transcriptions are not accepted.
- Multiple movements from the work may be entered as one selection.
- If the performer’s piece(s) exceed the length of the allotted competition time, please note the judges may stop a performance in order to stay on schedule, with no penalty to the performer.
- Memorization is not required.
- Accompanied pieces must be performed with an accompanist.
- Performers must provide three total copies of their score(s):
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- Scores should not have markings that would indicate the performer or teacher’s identities.
- Score(s) must have measures numbered and cuts marked (if any) so the judges can use them as a reference during the performance.
- Scores will be checked at the Welcome Table for the above requirements and will be returned directly after the performance.
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Dress Code:
Appropriate concert attire is required for both the Competition and the Winners Recital. This may include dresses (knee-level or longer), button-down shirts, slacks or dress trousers, and dress shoes; optional attire: sport coats, ties, or suits.
No jeans, sweatpants or sweatshirts, sneakers, gym attire, tennis shoes, flip flops, boat shoes, or platform shoes with a sole greater than 1/2 inch. All apparel must be modest and non-revealing. Hair should not hide a performer’s face. Please do not wear clothing that will detract from the performance or the dignity of the event.
Location:
The competition will be held at Arizona Musicfest: 7950 E Thompson Peak Pkwy. Scottsdale, AZ 85255
Prizes:
- Standout performers from each Division may be awarded cash prizes in the amounts detailed below.
- Awarded performers may be invited to perform in the Young Musicians Concert Series in the MIM Music Theater.
- Awarded performers may receive additional performance opportunities as they are announced.
| Division | First Prize | Second Prize | Third Prize |
| I (Grades 7, 8 & 9) | $350 | $200 | $100 |
| II (Grades 10, 11 & 12) | $450 | $350 | $200 |
Adjudication:
- Judges will stop performers if their performance exceeds the competition time limits. There is no penalty if a performer needs to be stopped for this reason.
- Judges may elect to award Honorable Mentions to students demonstrating high levels of artistry in their performances. Ratings will only be awarded with unanimous recommendation from the committee.
- Judges have the option to withhold prizes.
- All teachers will receive judges’ comments within a week of the adjudication date.
- Musicfest’s competitions do not have a prescribed scoring system, and thus require that all judges hear all the competition participants to allow for proper verbal deliberation and a fair outcome. Since selective recusal is not allowed, by agreeing to be on this jury panel, the judges agree that they will not submit their own students as competitors. Furthermore, performers are ineligible to participate if they or their principal teacher have a familial relationship with a judge.
- The judges have full discretion over awarding decisions, which are final and cannot be challenged.
Getting Here
Community Room at Arizona Musicfest
7950 E Thompson Peak Pkwy
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
Directions
7950 E Thompson Peak Pkwy
7950 E Thompson Peak Pkwy, Scottsdale, AZ 85255, USA
Adjudication Panel
Jeff Anderle
A pioneer in the world of clarinet and bass clarinet, Jeff Anderle is exploding the boundaries of classical music with his innovative performances, recordings, commissions, and mentorship. As a soloist and a member of cutting-edge ensembles including Sqwonk and Splinter Reeds, Anderle has augmented the sonic possibilities of the clarinet to captivate audiences nationwide. In 2024, Anderle was appointed as the Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Arizona State University after sixteen years as a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Determined to expand the classical music repertoire, Anderle has commissioned or premiered over 250 works and has recorded twenty albums including contemporary chamber music, solo multi-track projects, and classical/pop hybrid collaborations. Praised for his “keen sense of timing and virtuosic proficiency” (The Clarinet Magazine), he has performed concertos across the country, including commissioning and premiering Mary Kouyoumdjian’s Walking with Ghosts with One Found Sound, the La Jolla Symphony, and the Minneapolis Philharmonic. Anderle has been featured nationally at concert series and festivals such as Bang on a Can Marathon, Kronos Festival, Omaha Under the Radar, ClarinetFest, and the Festival of New American Music.
Anderle has co-founded and is a member of a wide-range of ensembles, demonstrating his imagination and commitment to an incredible array of musical styles and combinations. He is a member of the bass clarinet duo Sqwonk, which infuses aspects of classical, folk and popular music into its own distinct style; Splinter Reeds, a reed quintet dedicated to new innovative music; and the virtuosic heavy metal bass clarinet quartet Edmund Welles.
Anderle is an Artistic Partner with the eight-person wind band Nomad Session working to create new concerto repertoire, a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and has performed extensively with the S.F. Contemporary Music Players. No stranger to the orchestra, he is Principal bass clarinet of the Monterey Symphony, a member of the Magik*Magik Orchestra, and has played frequently with the San Francisco Symphony, including on a 2023 Grammy-nominated album of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
In addition to his work as a performer, Anderle was a co-founder of Switchboard Music, a genre-defying presenting organization which featured hundreds of innovative musicians through its annual marathon and concert series during its 10 year history.
A dedicated educator and mentor, Anderle was appointed as the Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Arizona State University after sixteen years as chair of the woodwind department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he taught clarinet, bass clarinet, chamber music, technology, and professional development. Anderle has given masterclasses and presentations across the country on topics drawn from his wide-ranging performance and teaching experiences. Anderle holds a M.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a B.A. from University of California at Los Angeles. He is a Selmer Paris Performing Artist and performs on Presence clarinets and a Privilege bass clarinet.
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith, an Arizona native, has had a varied career including international tours, residencies, and solo performances crossing the genres of Jazz, Pop, and Classical music.
Throughout his career he has also been an advocate for music education holding clinics in universities and secondary institutions across the United States, Japan, and Australia. His performance background includes the TONY Award-winning national tour of Kinky Boots, 42nd Street, and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus’s Built To Amaze tour. He was also a jazz trumpet soloist for the award-winning production Blast! across three North American tours and one Japan tour from 2005-2012. From 2006-2011 he also performed regularly on Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruise lines as a lead trumpet player and regular soloist. As an orchestral trumpet player, he has performed with the Phoenix Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Norman Philharmonic, West Valley Symphony, and Symphony of The Southwest.
Smith held teaching positions at Oklahoma Baptist University as Interim Professor of Trumpet in 2022 and also at the Academy of Contemporary Music through the University of Central Oklahoma where he was an instructor of music technology and recording in 2023 developing and teaching introductory courses in recording techniques and audio engineering. He received two Master of Music degrees from the University of Oklahoma in 2023 in Trumpet Performance and Instrumental Wind Conducting. During his graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma he served as a Graduate Teaching Associate for the University of Oklahoma Bands where he conducted all of the ensembles, as well as taught regular undergraduate trumpet lessons and undergraduate conducting classes. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance at Arizona State University where he also serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Josef Burgstaller, instructing undergraduate and graduate level trumpet majors. During his time as an educator, Andrew’s students have achieved top chairs in All-State bands, gained acceptance into top-ranked music schools, and have professional careers with United States military bands and touring musical productions.
Su Yin Tan
Having grown up in a multicultural country of Malaysia, Su Yin is exposed
to endless stream of opportunity to learn and grow as a musician from a
young age. Su Yin is also a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music,
New York City where she was surrounded by artists who constantly
striving to be the best version of themselves.
In 2019, Su Yin won the position of Sub-Principal Percussion of the
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Besides collaborating with local
organisations in her homeland like the Hands Percussion and the Kuala
Lumpur City Opera, she also toured and performed as a percussionist in
major cities in Asia including Tokyo, Singapore, Hanoi, Beijing and Taipei.
As a soloist, Su Yin made her debut marimba solo recital in Tokyo in the
year 2009. She was a semi-finalist of the Great Plains Marimba
Competition held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in July 2013. Later that
year, she won Best Performance Award at the Thailand World Music
Championship Pattaya, Thailand. In June, 2014, she made her debut
percussion concert performance with the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth
Orchestra in Dewan Philharmonic Petronas, Malaysia.
Su Yin is currently based in Phoenix, Arizona sharing her experience and
passion for percussion as a professor at Glendale Community College
and Grand Canyon University as well as frequently performing with The
Phoenix and Tucson Symphonies.