Senior cellist Zachary Reaves (top right) performs with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra. Reaves won the concerto competition with his performance of Cello Concerto in B Minor by Antonín Dvorák. (Photo Courtesy the Meadows School of the Arts)

SMU’s annual concerto competi-tion has come and gone, recognizing some of Meadows’ most talented music students.

This weekend those students will be featured in the Student Conductors concert.

The winners were Laurentiu Tanase on clarinet, cellist Zachary Reaves, Baritone Njabulo Mthimkhulu, and Elizaveta Ivleva on piano.

Mthimkhulu performed “Why do the Nations” from Handel’s “Messiah” and a piece from Richard Wagner’s “Tannhauser” at the competition.

“I was nervous, but really excited that I made it to finals,” Mthimkhulu said. “Winning my first competition in America is very exciting.”

The performers’ winning pieces will be played in the concert this weekend with the entire Meadows Symphony Orchestra.

Reaves had been working on Dvorak’s Cello Concerto for over two years before he used it for this competition.

“This will be my first experience performing the Dvorak with an orchestra instead of piano accompaniment,” Reaves said. “My hope is that it won’t be my last.”

This concert is one of the best opportunities to see the talent that Meadows music has to offer, as some of the most accomplished students take center stage, from the winners of the competition, to the graduate conducting students and the MSO line-up conducted by Dr. Paul Phillips.

Other pieces that will be played at the concert include works by Franz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Maurice Ravel and Ludwig van Beethoven.

The concert takes place on Friday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 30 at 3 p.m. in the Caruth Auditorium in Owens Art Center.