ROCKLAND – Bay Chamber Concerts is seeking outstanding student musicians for its annual jazz and classical prize competition “Young Stars of Maine.” The competition is open to Maine residents between the ages of 12 and 25 who are serious in their study and performance of jazz or classical music.

Each prize carries a $1,000 award and the opportunity to perform at the Rockport Opera House as part of Bay Chamber Concerts’ 2007 Summer Music Festival.

For more than 40 years Bay Chamber Concerts has put on an annual student prize program to recognize, encourage and reward outstanding young Maine musicians. This year, there will be five classical prizes and one jazz prize. The classical prizes are open to soloists in voice, piano, woodwinds, brass or strings. Applicants for the jazz prize may be individuals or ensembles of any instrumentation.

Auditions are by invitation only, after professional review of all applications and audition recordings. Applications must be postmarked by April 2, 2007. Auditions will be held at the Rockport Opera House Saturday, June 9, for the classical prizes; and Saturday, June 16 for the jazz prize.

Professional musicians from Maine and around the country will serve as judges. Winners must be available to perform in the Young Stars of Maine concert Tuesday, July 3, 2007, at the Rockport Opera House.

Last year, the A. H. Chatfield Jr. Piano Prize was won by 22-year-old Elizabeth Noonan of Cumberland, a scholarship student at the University of Southern Maine who studying piano pedagogy and performance. The Jean and Harvey Picker Senior Prize winner was flutist Leslie Anne Harrison, 20, of Cape Elizabeth, and a student at Ithaca College. The Elsie Bixler Junior Prize went to 16-year-old violinist Angela Doxsey of Gorham.