The Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Arthur D. Montzka Young Artists Concerto Competition winner Neena Agrawal, 16, recently performed at its annual Arthur D. Montzka Memorial Concert.

The concert was held at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall at the Northern Illinois University Music Building, 550 Lucinda Ave., DeKalb.

The concert, conducted by Stephen Squires, featured “Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed,” arranged by Adolphus Hailstork and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 3.″

Agrawal performed a first movement of “Viola Concerto” by William Walton.

The competition runner-up Alison Chung also played a first movement of Walton’s “Violin Concerto.”

Agrawal is a Music Institute of Chicago Academy scholarship fellow and Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative fellow. She is studying viola under violist Teng Li and violinist and violinist Sang Mee Lee and studies intermittently with musician Peter Slowik.

Agrawal is a Porphyrion Quartet member, received a 2025 St. Paul String Quartet Competition bronze medal, earned an O’Malley National Concerto Competition honorable mention, was a 2024 American Viola Society Competition finalist, and debuted solo with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest in 2025.

She recently performed in the Young Steinway Concert Series, the Music Institute of Chicago Gala, Opening Night Live at Center Stage Strings, and at Martin Luther King Jr. and composer Florence Price festivals. Agrawal also appeared at WFMT’s Introductions and performed at Thirsty Ears Classical Music Festival. She participated in summer programs such as the Chicago Chamber Music Festival, Ascent Chamber Music Festival, Oberlin Viola Workshop, Center Stage Strings, and Music@Menlo.

Agrawal also served as a 2024 National Pathways Festival Orchestra principal viola, performed with the Nashville Symphony, and participated in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Youth in Music Orchestra twice. She currently performs as the Academy Chamber Orchestra and Northside College Prep’s Chamber Strings principal viola.

Chung began studying violin at the age of 6 at the Betty Haag Academy.

She debuted solo with the Northeastern Illinois University Symphony Orchestra after winning the Chicago Chamber Music Festival Concerto Competition at the age of 14. Chung performed as a featured soloist and won the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and earned first prize at the International Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition, the Sejong Music Competition, and the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius. She also received recognition from the O’Malley Foundation National Concerto Competition and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra Competition.

Chung has performed at Symphony Center Chicago, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Cordes en Gascogne Festival in France.

She also earned a 2025 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with Quartetto Speranza bronze medal and served as a Cuban-American Youth Orchestra in Havana, Cuba, in 2025.

Chung currently serves as a Merit School of Music Philharmonic co-concertmaster, a Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra president and concertmaster, and performs with the Spizella Quartet. She also is studying with violinist and Northwestern University violin professor Desirée Ruhstrat.

For information, visit kishorchestra.org.