We are thrilled to announce violinst Ella Hightower as winner of the 2026 BSO Youth Concerto Competition. On March 8, 2026, Ella will perform Dvorak’s Concerto for Violin, Allegro ma non troppo with the BSO. We are also pleased to announce our runner-up, violinist Alina Sukolina.
Ella Hightower began violin instruction at the age three and joined the Indiana University String Academy at age four under Dr. Brenda Brenner and later with Mimi Zweig. Ella has been a featured soloist and chamber musician on both violin and viola with the IU String Academy, the Summer String Academy at Indiana University and Texas Strings Festival. She is a member of the Indiana University Violin Virtuosi, a select ensemble of young violinists, and since age nine has attended the Indiana University Summer String Academy. Ella was concert master of Hoosier Youth Philharmonic, and was selected as an Indiana All State violinist. She received first prize in the 2023 Young Artist Junior Concerto Competition with the Indianapolis Youth Symphony Orchestra in Indianapolis, and was selected a finalist in the Senior Division in 2024 and 2025. Ella has performed in master classes under the tutelage of renowned artists, including Richard Lin, Robin Scott, Kerson Leong, Ayano Ninomiya, Grigory Kalinovsky, as well as chamber music coachings with Simin Ganatra and Brandon Vamos of the Pacifica Quartet, Sarah Kapustin of the Reubens Quartet, and Suzanne Lefevre.
Alina Sukolina hails from Vladivostok, Russia, and is now a Harmony School junior, studying violin with Mimi Zweig at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music String Academy. She has taken lessons from Grigory Kalinovsky and participated in masterclasses with Robin Scott, Sarah Kapustin, Alexey Koshvanets, Alexander Trostyansky, Evgeny Bushkov, Valery Vorona and Levon Ambartsumian. Alina has won multiple prizes at international violin competitions, including first prize at both the 2016 and 2017 “Where Art Is Born” international competitions in Krasnodar, Russia, first prize at the 2018 “Playing With Orchestra” international competition in Rostov, Russia, as well as 3rd prize at the 2018 international violin competition in Ryazan, Russia. She currently performs as a member of the Virtuosi ensemble in Jacobs School of Music String Academy.
