XI CCMF CONCERTO COMPETITION

JULY 26TH, 2025 @ 11am

Deadline to apply: May 1st, 2025

In 2025, CCMF will hold its 11th Annual Concerto Competition for pianists and string players. Two winners will be invited to perform with the Northeastern Illinois University Orchestra conducted by Dr. Benjamin Firer on Friday, October 24th, 2025. CCMF Concerto Competition is open to pre-college CCMF participants only.

2025 CCMF Concerto Competition will be held live on July 26th, 2025 at 11am in the beautiful Jewel Box Recital Hall at NEIU. A panel of three distinguished musicians will serve as judges for the competition. Judges will provide written comments to all Concerto Competition participants.

A $50 Concerto Competition ticket is required to enter the competition. This ticket can be purchased in the Payment Page.

Competition Repertoire - One movement from a concerto or solo work. Please, refer to the approved repertoire list. Contact CCMF for works outside this repertoire list, as they will need to be approved prior to entering the competition.

Repertoire must be performed from memory and with accompaniment.

Concerto Competition is open to pre-college CCMF participants.

Deadline to apply: May 1st, 2025.

Concerto Competition Ticket: $50

Benjamin Firer, Conductor

 American conductor Benjamin Firer is currently serving as Orchestra Director and Professor of Conducting at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Illinois.  He formerly served on the teaching faculties at Yale University, Pennsylvania State University, Juniata College, Performing Arts School of Central Pennsylvania, and most recently Northwestern University where he is a Doctoral Fellow in Orchestral Conducting.  As a student at the Bienen School of Music, Ben twice received the prestigious Emma Peters Hooper Endowed Award for outstanding musicianship and scholarship. Alongside his doctoral studies, Ben served as the assistant conductor for the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra participating in the historic 2018 tour of Asia.

As a guest conductor, Ben has performed with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra de la Francophonie, the Northwestern University Opera Theatre, Alice Millar Brass Ensemble, and New Music New Haven.  As a dedicated music educator, Ben is in demand as a clinician for school and youth orchestras including regular collaborations with the Midwest Young Artists, The People’s Music School and the Merit School of Music.

In the summer of 2016 Ben was selected as an Emerging Conductor with the Peninsula Music Festival and as Conducting Fellow for the Atlantic Music Festival.   Other recent awards include The American Prize in Conducting, The Woolsey Concerto Competition, Yale Chamber Music Competition, Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship, and Long Island University Conductors Award.  Recognized for his musical entrepreneurship, he was awarded the 2010 SUNY Thayer Fellowship in the Arts.

Ben’s primary conducting teachers include Victor Yampolsky, Gerardo Edelstein and Toshiyuki Shimada.  In addition to his formal conducting studies, he has attended masterclasses in Europe and the United States, studying with prominent teachers such as Larry Rachelff, Donald Schleicher, and David Effron.