Mattias Luitjens is a talented senior musician at WACO High School. Recently Luitjens was announced as the winner of the 2023 Marilyn Minford McCoid Young Artist Contest, sponsored by the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra.

Held yearly in the fall, the competition is open to students across southeast Iowa. After auditioning in front of a panel of professional musicians from the symphony, Luitjens was selected as this year’s recipient.

In addition to the honor, Luitjens will play with the Southeast Iowa Symphony this weekend as a soloist, where he will perform Henryk Gorecki’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. The first performance is Saturday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bridge Center in Ottumwa. Two performances on Sunday, March 19 begin at the Capitol Theater in Burlington at 2 p.m. followed by the Chapel Auditorium at Iowa Wesleyan University at 6:30.

Luitjens participates at WACO in choir as a bass, band as a percussionist, orchestra as a cellist, and jazz band as a pianist. He plans to major in music and computer science next year.