Neena Agrawal, 16, of Chicago, is the 2026 winner of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Arthur D. Montzka Young Artists Concerto Competition, held January 3.

Agrawal will perform with the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra during the Arthur D. Montzka Memorial Concert on Saturday, February 21, at 7 pm (early start) in Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Northern Illinois University Music Building in DeKalb. Guest conductor Stephen Squires will lead the orchestra.

The concert is sponsored in part by Annette and Jerry Johns. Admission is free for students.

Concert Program

• Neena Agrawal, viola — First movement of William Walton’s Viola Concerto
• Alison Chung, violin (competition runner-up) — First movement of Walton’s Violin Concerto
• KSO premiere of Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed by Adolphus Hailstork, commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Felix Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”)

Audience members are invited to attend a pre-concert talk at 6 pm in a room near the concert hall featuring the competition winner and runner-up. More information is available at kishorchestra.org.

About Neena Agrawal

Agrawal is a scholarship fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, a pre-college program for advanced string and piano students. She studies viola with Teng Li and Sang Mee Lee and intermittently with Peter Slowik. She is also a fellow of the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, which supports classical musicians from underrepresented backgrounds.

In 2025, Agrawal made her solo debut with the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest after winning its concerto competition and received an honorable mention in the O’Malley (formerly Walgreens) National Concerto Competition. As a member of the Porphyrion Quartet, she earned a bronze medal at the 2025 St. Paul String Quartet Competition and was a finalist in the 2024 American Viola Society Competition.

Her recent performances include appearances in the Young Steinway Concert Series, Opening Night Live at Center Stage Strings, the Music Institute of Chicago Gala, and festivals celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. and composer Florence Price. She has performed at the Thirsty Ears Classical Music Festival and appeared on WFMT’s Introductions.

Agrawal has participated in summer programs including Music@Menlo, Center Stage Strings, the Ascent Chamber Music Festival, the Oberlin Viola Workshop, and the Chicago Chamber Music Festival. She has studied in masterclasses with leading violists and musicians, including Antoine Tamestit, Atar Arad, Tatjana Masurenko, and Matthew Lipman.

She served as principal viola of the 2024 National Pathways Festival Orchestra, performing with the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero, and has twice participated in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Youth in Music Orchestra. She currently performs as principal viola with the Academy Chamber Orchestra and Northside College Prep’s Chamber Strings.

In her free time, she enjoys baking and drawing.

About Alison Chung

Alison Chung, 17, is a senior at Glenbrook North High School and has studied violin since age 6. She began her training at the Betty Haag Academy under Betty Haag-Kuhnke and Yonghee Hong-Park and currently studies with Desirée Ruhstrat of Northwestern University.

Chung made her solo debut at age 14 with the Northeastern Illinois University Symphony Orchestra after winning the Chicago Chamber Music Festival Concerto Competition. She later won the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and performed as a featured soloist. Her honors include first prizes at the International Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition, the Sejong Music Competition, and the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, along with recognition from the O’Malley Foundation National Concerto Competition and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra Competition.

She has performed at venues including Symphony Center Chicago, Carnegie Hall, and the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Portugal. An active chamber musician, Chung performed at the Cordes en Gascogne Festival in France in 2024 and earned a bronze medal at the 2025 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with Quartetto Speranza.

She currently performs with the Spizella Quartet, serves as co-concertmaster of the Merit School of Music Philharmonic, and is concertmaster and president of the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra. She is also a co-founder of the Glenbrook Chamber Music Society, which brings chamber music to local libraries and senior centers.

In 2025, Chung served as an ambassador for the Cuban-American Youth Orchestra in Havana. In her free time, she enjoys reading, painting, and performing violin duets with her younger brother.

About the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra

The Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra is a nonprofit community orchestra composed of professional musicians, students, and dedicated amateur performers.

Founded informally in 1976, the orchestra began presenting concerts in 1977 and now performs at least five public concerts each season. The KSO’s mission is “to engage, educate, and enrich the community through music.”