WALNUT CREEK — Twelve-year-old Ellie Xuan, a seventh-grade student at Gale Ranch Middle School in San Ramon, has won the Diablo Symphony Orchestra’s 2026 Yen Liang Young Artist Competition and will perform Edvard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A minor” with the orchestra this spring.
Xuan won the competition on Sunday, Jan. 10. She has studied piano for five years and is a student of Dr. Chia-Lin Yang.
“I love expressing myself through music with other people,” Xuan said. “It brings me joy, and I’m so excited for this opportunity with the Diablo Symphony Orchestra.”
In addition to a $1,500 honorarium, Xuan will perform the Grieg concerto at two March performances of the orchestra’s “Joy of the Symphony” concert, which will also feature Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.”
“Ellie’s playing combined brilliance with musicality,” said Music Director and Conductor Matilda Hofman, one of the competition judges. “She really draws in the audience through powerful playing — it was inspiring to watch. Diablo Symphony is excited to have Ellie perform the Grieg piano concerto with us!”
The first performances will be school concerts for local students at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive in Walnut Creek. The public performance will take place Sunday, March 29, at 2 p.m.
Tickets for the public concert are $45 for adults, $35 for seniors, $15 for youths younger than 18, and free for children 12 and younger.
The Yen Liang Young Artist Competition is the Diablo Symphony Association’s annual concerto competition, named in memory of the orchestra’s longtime second violinist. The competition showcases outstanding young musicians from across Contra Costa County and rotates annually among strings, piano, and wind, brass or percussion.
The orchestra’s next concert, “Sounds of the Americas: A Mariachi Valentine,” featuring Mariachi UC Davis and Director Oscar Garibay, will take place Sunday, Feb. 15, at 2 p.m. at the Lesher Center. The program includes Arturo Márquez’s “Danzón No. 2” and José Pablo Moncayo’s “Huapango.” Tickets are priced the same as for the March concert.
Tickets are also on sale for the Diablo Symphony Orchestra’s Feb. 28 fundraising gala, “Sounds of Vienna.”
Founded in 1962, the Diablo Symphony Orchestra is the oldest volunteer orchestra in Contra Costa County.
