Congratulations to ALL participating students and their teachers! As always, every student seems prepared for this event and it’s a pleasure to be there as a listener.
This year, the prize winners are as follows:
DIV I PIANO (through 11 yrs)
1st Clarie Chen
2nd Julia Yu
3rd (3-way tie) George Chang, Michael Fang, Enoch Yu
DIV II PIANO (12-14 yrs)
1st Henry Sun
2nd Kadmus Ma
3rd Jayson Bordges
HMs Cady Ang, Aiden Park
DIV III PIANO (15-18 yrs)
1st Marcus Huang
2nd Edward Kim
3rd (tie). Eric Feng, Aaron Ye
HMs Arianna Gago, Ashley Li, Victor Reverdatto
DIV IV WINDS (through 18 yrs)
1st Ryan Choi
2nd Juliette Yoon
3rd Rashmi Chelliserry
HMs Bethany Hu, Eva Kurima, Michael Zheng
DIV V STRINGS (through 13 yrs)
1st Clarie Chen
2nd Sequoia Jain-Hong
3rd Zhewei Zhang
HMs Lahee Kong, Gary Kanwar, Aaron Seo
DIV VI STRINGS (14-18 yrs)
1st Dylan Ellis
2nd Beichen Li
3rd David Lee
HMs Jasmine Chan, Tracie Liu
This year’s first-place winners in all 6 divisions will have the opportunity to perform with the MiraCosta College-Oceanside Symphony Orchestra, Brandon Muresan, director. Three first-place winners will perform on Sat-Sun, March 14-15, and the other three first-place winners will perform on Sat-Sun, May 16-17.
A BIG THANK YOU TO THIS YEAR’S ADJUDICATORS:
PIANO – Dr. Hyun Jeong Ahn, Anthony Kim, Dr. Stephen Pierce
WINDS – Holly Hofmann, Pam Vliek Martchev, Terri Tunnicliff
STRINGS – Isaac Allen, Julia Umarova, Dr. Sophie Webber
STUDIOS REPRESENTED IN THIS YEAR’S COMPETITION:
Emily Balderrama, Irina Bendetsky, Dana Burnett, Chia-Ling Chien, Anna Cho, Sun Yung Cho, Dr. Tina Chong, Michael Dvoskin, Elena Edgar, Dr. Karen Follingstad, Vladimir Goltsman, Susanna Han, Kathy Kim, Chris Kim, Sunjin Kim, Anne Liu, Inessa Litvin, Jane Masur, Alexander Mirolyan, Julia Pautz, Viktor Shekhtman, Alina Steele, Chetan Tierra, Melissa Tierra, Irina Tseitlin, Pasha Tseitlin, Paul Wang, Elena Yarritu, TingTing Zhang.
Thank you to the 30 teachers who participated in this year’s concerto competition. Your dedication and teaching expertise is reflected in your students’ performances. I want to give a special THANK YOU to these teachers who volunteered: Dana Burnett, Dr Tina Chong, Michael Dvoskin, Elena Edgar, Susanna Han, Chris Kim, Kathy Kim, Sunjin Kim, Anne Liu, Inessa Litvin, Jane Masur, Chetan Tierra, Pasha Tseitlin, Paul Wang, Elena Yarritu and TingTing Zhang.
For many years now, Robert Catalano (Greene Music Sales Manager) has allowed MTAC San Diego Branch to use their beautiful recital hall for this event. I am deeply grateful to Robert, Greene Music as well as Ken who opened the store before store hours on both days. Of course, it is such a treat for the students to be able to perform on that beautiful 9’ Yamaha CFX!
This year, I asked for help from someone that I knew could take charge on Sunday. I am deeply grateful to Annelle Gregory who, at my request, was the co-chair for this year’s event. I couldn’t have asked for more! She was ready to assist whenever needed, and agreed to be in charge all day on Sunday. After the competition was over, she scanned all the adjudicators’ comment sheets then emailed them to the appropriate teacher. Thank you, Annelle!
We have such a wonderful community of music colleagues! It has been a privilege to serve and to give back in such a rewarding way. My hope is that there will always be volunteers in our organization who will sacrifice some of their time and expertise to keep our student programs alive.