DIVISION I (Piano through 11 yrs)
First Place – Kadmus Ma
Second Place – Ray Fu
Third Place – (TIE) Astrea Archibald and Janelle Chen
Honorable Mentions – Alexis Lee, Clara Stone, Julia Yu

DIVISION II (Piano 12-14 yrs)
First Place – James Rong
Second Place – Seoyeon Lee
Third Place – Aaron Ye
Honorable Mentions – Jayson Bordges and Benjamin Huang

DIVISION III (Piano 15-18 yrs)
First Place – Ethan Song
Second Place – Khai West
Third Place – You Wu
Honorable Mentions – Hayden Crocker and Nathan Dai

DIVISION IV (Winds)
First Place – Harper Xu (flute)
Second Place – Maggie Liang (flute)
Third Place – Edward Pacal (bassoon)
Honorable Mentions – Rashmi Chelliserry (flute) and Beckham Kunkler (bassoon)

DIVISION V (Strings through 13 yrs)
First Place – Elisha Kim (violin)
Second Place – Clarie Chen (violin)
Third Place – Tracie Liu (violin)
Honorable Mentions – Emel Cubukcu (violin) and Victoria Kim (violin)

DIVISION VI (Strings 14-18 yrs)
First Place – Anthony Kim (violin)
Second Place – Lucas Lee (violin)
Third Place – Brianna Baek (violin)
Honorable Mention – Caitlin Wang (violin)

PIANO ADJUDICATORS: Dr. Wan-Chin Chang, Dr. Kookhee Hong, Dr. Stephen Pierce
WINDS ADJUDICATORS: Pam Martchev (flute), Teri Perrin (flute), Valentin Martchev (bassoon)
STRINGS ADJUDICATORS: Angela Choong, Dr. Wan-Chin Chang, Yoomin Seo.

Congratulations to all competitors and teachers in this year’s MTACSD Concerto Competition. All students performed beautifully and expressively and hopefully feel rewarded for their hard work. I want to give special thanks to Greene Music (Robert Catalano, Jaime Pecorella, Ken Schoenwetter) for allowing us to use the Recital Hall for 2 full days, even opening the store several hours earlier so we could finish in two days.

We are excited that this year all 6 division first-place winners will be performing with the Mira Costa College – Oceanside Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Brandon Muresan.

Dates and performances are:

Friday-Saturday, March 15-16, 2024, 7:30 pm
Soloists:
Ethan Song (Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2, MVT III)
Elisha Kim (Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5, MVT I)
Anthony Kim (Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor, MVT I)

Friday-Saturday, May 17-18, 2024, 7:30 pm
Soloists:
Kadmus Ma (Shostakovich Piano Concerto Op. 102 No. 2, MVT II)
James Rong (Mozart Piano Concerto in G Major, K.453, MVT I)
Harper Xu (Morlacchi The Swiss Shepherd for flute and orchestra)

I am very grateful to the following teachers who either helped by donating food for the judges, donated their time to assist me at the competition, or both: Dana Burnett, Jessie Chang, Berta Godkin, Chris Kim, Carol Seefeldt, Pasha Tseitlin, Lori Vickers, Danette White, Elena Yarritu, and Dan Yu. I also want to thank Jay Jay Lim for allowing us to use the Greene Music Education Center for teachers to pick up the judges comment sheets.

Congratulations again to ALL contestants and ALL participating teachers! Hope to see you next year!

Congratulations to all competitors and teachers in this year’s MTACSD Concerto Competition. All students performed beautifully and expressively and hopefully feel rewarded for their hard work. I want to give special thanks to the following who made this event possible:

Robert Catalano and Greene Music, Sun Yung Cho, Hernan Constantino, Karen Follingstad, Susanna Han, Inessa Litvin, Gaiana Mndoian, Cho-Hyun Park, Viktor Shekhtman, Pasha Tseitlin, and Lori Bastien Vickers! I also want to thank Jay Jay Lim for allowing us to use the Greene Music Education Center for teachers to pick up the judges comment sheets later this week!

We are excited that this year all 6 division first-place winners will be performing with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Oceanside, under the direction of Mr. Branden Muresan.

Dates and performances are:

Friday-Saturday, March 17-18, 2023, 7:30 pm

Soloists
Amy Zhang (Mozart Concerto No.23 in A Major, K.488, Mvt III)
Richard Lee (Beethoven Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Mvt I)
Andrew Zhang (Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Mvt I)

Friday-Saturday, May 19-20, 2023, 7:30 pm

Soloists
Daniel Torrero (Weber Concerto in F Major, Op.75, Mvt I)
Beichen Li (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, Mvt I)
Ethan Zhou (Paganini Violin Concerto, No.1 Op.6, Mvt I)

Tickets and other information available at https://miracostatheatre.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx?cid=168

Dr. Kay Etheridge, Chair
MTACSD Concerto Competition

2023 MTACSD CONCERTO COMPETITION RESULTS

DIVISION I (Piano through 11 yrs)
First Place – Amy Zhang
Second Place – Aiden Park
Third Place – Blake Hawkinson
Honorable Mentions – Clara Stone, Alex Hawkinson

DIVISION II (Piano 12-14 yrs)
First Place – Richard Lee
Second Place – Aaron Ye
Third Place – Daniel Park
Honorable Mention – Kanon Endo

DIVISION III (Piano 15-18 yrs)
First Place – Andrew Zhang
Second Place – Huizi Zhong
Third Place – Robin Moon
Honorable Mention – Eric Li

DIVISION IV (Winds)
First Place – Daniel Torrero (bassoon)
Second Place – Lauren Suh (flute)
Third Place – Daniel Tran (bassoon)

DIVISION V (Strings through 13 yrs)
First Place – Beichen Li (violin)
Second Place – Helen Wang (cello)
Third Place – Jasmine Chan (violin)
Honorable Mention – Benjamin Luo (violin)

DIVISION VI (Strings 14-18 yrs)
First Place – Ethan Zhou (violin)
Second Place – Hannah Lee (violin)
Third Place (tie) – Brianna Baek (violin), Caden Jiang (violin)
Honorable Mention – Alvin Wang (viola)

MTACSD CONCERTO COMPETITION with live auditions a success!

Congratulations to all participants and their teachers who entered the 2022 MTACSD Concerto Competition!  I am indebted to Jay Jay Lim, Lee Galloway and Greene Music for all of their support and assistance in making these auditions “live”; Dana Burnett, Chetan Tierra, and Jane Masur who generously helped me with audition monitoring duties, and some fabulous parents who assisted me as well!  Thank you, of course, to our adjudicators for their time and expertise. Their bios are at the end of this article.

Dr. Kay Etheridge
Chair, MTACSD Concerto Competition

2022 CONCERTO RESULTS

DIVISION I PIANO (up through 11 years old)
**1st place Alicia Jiang

DIVISION II PIANO (12-14 years old)
**1st place – Bradley Carpiuc
2nd place – Aaron Ye (alternate)
3rd place (tied) – Edward Kim and Robin Moon
HMs – Julian Cheng, Tyler Chang

DIVISION III PIANO (15-18 years old)
**1st place – Zixuan Chen
2nd place – Julian Woodman (alternate)
3rd place – Luke Qiao
HMs – Margaret Fan, Eric Ryu

DIVISION IV WINDS (through 18 years old)
**1st place – EMMA WARD, piccolo
2^nd place – NATHAN HAGHGOO, flute
3rd place (tied) – DANIEL TRAN, bassoon and SERENA LIU, flute
HM – XILI HE, flute

DIVISION V STRINGS (through 12 years old)
**1st place – ANTHONY KIM, violin
2nd place – CAITLIN WANG, violin
3rd place (tied) – BEICHEN LI, violin and ELISHA KIM, violin
HM – CYNTHIA HUANG, cello

DIVISION VI STRINGS (14-18 years old)
**1st place – ELLIE LEE, violin
2nd place – CADEN JIANG, violin
3rd place – BRIANNA BAEK, violin
HM – DASHA ZERBONI, violin, ALVIN WANG, viola and CLAIRE KANG, violin

**UPCOMING PERFORMANCES WITH ORCHESTRA**

BRADLEY CARPIUC – Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Mvt I
ZIXUAN CHEN – Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Mvt III
EMMA WARD – Liebermann Concerto for piccolo, Andante
ELLIE LEE – Sibelius Concerto for violin, Mvt I
will be performing with
Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra (Brandon Muresan, director)
Mira Costa College-Oceanside Concert Hall
Saturday, May 21 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 22 at 2:00 pm

ALICIA JIANG – Mozart Piano Concerto in D Major, K.537, Mvt III
ANTHONY KIM – Mozart Violin Concerto in G Major, No. 3, Mvt I
will be performing with
Greater San Diego Chamber Orchestra (Angela Yeung, director)
St Bart’s Episcopal Church, Poway
Friday, June 10 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, June 12 at 4:00 pm

2022 CONCERTO COMPETITION ADJUDICATORS

Congratulations to all students and their teachers who participated in this year’s MTAC San Diego Branch Concerto Competition!  Each contestant submitted a video-recording of his/her concerto without accompaniment. Listed below are the students who will be awarded with a plaque or honorable mention ribbon in the near future. Thank you, as always, to our judges who took time from their professional commitments to create a more meaningful event for all contestants!

Dr. Kay Etheridge
University of San Diego
Chair, MTACSD Concerto Competition

            Piano Adjudicators
            Dr. Beverley Simms (Indiana University-Terre Haute)
            Dr. Baruch Meir (Arizona State University)
            Dr. Tina Chong (SDSU, San Diego Symphony)

            Winds Adjudicators
            Pam Vliek Martchev (University of San Diego)
            Frank Renk (San Diego Symphony)
            Beth Ross Buckley (Co-Artistic Director of Camarada)

            Strings Adjudicators
            Dr. Philip Tyler (Point Loma Nazarene University)
            Isaac Allen (SDSU; Hausmann Quartet)
            Alex Greenbaum (SDSU; Hausmann Quartet)

DIVISION I PIANO (through 11 yrs.)

1^st: Aaron Ye – Chopin Concerto in F Minor, Mvt III
2^nd: Benjamin Chuang – Handel Piano Concerto F Major

DIVISION II PIANO (12-14 yrs.)

1^st: Bradley Carpiuc – Prokofiev Concerto Op. 26, C Major, Mvt I
2^nd: Sonya Yasuda – Haydn Concerto in D Major, Mvt III
3^rd: Ella Xing – Kabalevsky Concerto No. 3, Mvt I
HM: Robin Moon – Beethoven Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Mvt I

DIVISION III PIANO (15-18 yrs.)

1^st: Zixuan Chen – Beethoven Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Mvt I
2^nd: Hahnlin Noonan – Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 in Bb Major, Mvt I
3^rd: Rubi Choi – Mozart Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, Mvt I

DIVISION IV WINDS (through 18 yrs.)

1^st: Nithin Chilakapati – Lieberman Concerto for Piccolo
2^nd: Nathan Haghgoo – Carmen (Borne/Bizet)

DIVISION V STRINGS (through age 13)

1^st: Saejoon Hong – J.S.Bach Violin Concerto No. 2, Mvt I
2^nd: Caitlin Wang – Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Mvt I
3^rd: Alvin Wang – J.C.Bach Viola Concerto in C Minor
HM: Benjamin Luo – Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor, Mvt I

DIVISION VI STRINGS (14-18 yrs)

1^st: Stacy Widyono – Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Mvt III
2^nd: Saeji Hong – Glazunov Violin Concerto, Mvt I
3^rd: Susan Lee – Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, Mvt I
HM: Janice Hu – Sibelius Concerto, Mvt I

Congratulations to all students who performed in this year’s Concerto Competition! The first-place winners in each division will be performing with an orchestra this spring. Details coming soon.

I want to thank the distinguished panel of judges for taking time from their busy schedules to make this event especially meaningful for all participants: Tina Chong, Kookhee Hong, Crystal Rivette (piano judges); Pamela Vliek Martchev, Valentin Martchev, Amy Taylor (winds judges); Isaac Allen, Angela Choong, Paivikki Nykter (strings judges).

I am extremely grateful to all of the teachers who helped to make this event a success:
Sarah Victor, Magda Bornemisza, Dana Burnett, Glen Campbell, Hernan Constantino, Sun Yung Cho, Annelle Gregory, Scott Johnson, Inessa Litvin, Jane Masur, Alex Mirolyan, Alexander Palamidis, Cho-Hyun Park, Anna Savvas, Viktor Shekhtman, Claudia Smetona, Seiran Sohn, Chetan Tierra, Pasha Tseitlin, Michael Tseitlin, Elena Yarritu.

PLEASE NOTE: USD’s Shiley Theatre will not be available for this competition (or any other event) next year due to the major renovations throughout Camino Hall and Founders Hall. We need to find a different location in order to hold this competition in 2021!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Congratulations to all the participants in this year’s Concerto Competition! 

I want to give a special thank you to Sarah Victor, who was my assistant both days, Dana Burnett for preparing the warm-up schedules both days, Lori Vickers, Sun Yung Cho, Alexander Mirolyan, Stacey Liao and Michael Tseitlin for providing pastries and fruit for judges.  I also want to thank USD’s Department of Music for generously sponsoring this event! 

I would also like to express my gratitude to our panel of judges this year:

PIANO: Wan-Chin Chang, Gema Garcia, Mark Gutierrez
WINDS: Beth Ross Buckley, Pamela Vliek Martchev, James Romeo
STRINGS: Elizabeth Brown, Paivikki Nykter, Philip Tyler

Here are the results and photos. Winners performances with orchestra will be announced very soon.

Members may login to view the results with full names below:

Congratulations to all the participants in this year’s Concerto Competition! It is a fact that in competitions some auditioners must go home without a ribbon or plaque award. However, both days were filled with beautiful music from the morning until the end of the day.

I want to give a special thank you to Yuko Maruyama and Dana Burnett who were tremendously helpful to me. Additionally, I want to thank the teachers and helpers who furnished food for the judges and worked at the check-in table: Jane Bastien, Sun Yung Cho, Susanna Han, George Katz, Inessa Litvin, Alex Mirolyan, Anna Savvas, Risa Schapiro, Carol Seefeldt, Seiran Sohn and Danette White.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the distinguished panel of judges this year:
PIANO: Dr. Doug Ashcraft (Idyllwild), Dr. Jan Meyer Thompson (ASU), Dr. Beverly Simms (ISU)
WINDS: Beth Ross Buckley (flute), Pamela Vliek Martchev (flute), Frank Renk (clarinet)
STRINGS: Isaac Allen (violin), Alex Greenbaum (cello), Angela Choong (viola)

We are in the process of finalizing the orchestra performance for the first-place winners. I hope to have that information for all within the next few days. We will publish the concert information on the website in hopes that many of you will attend!

2018 MTAC SAN DIEGO CONCERTO COMPETITION RESULTS

DIVISION I Piano (through 11 years old)
First Place Adora Xiao – Haydn Concerto in D Major, Mvt III
Second Place Leo Zhang
Third Place Gene Chang

DIVISION II Piano (12-14 years old)
First Place Sunny Xiao – Mendelssohn Piano Concerto in G Minor, Mvt III
Second Place Alexis Wu
Third Place Jeremiah Cho
HM Saeji Hong
HM Soo Hyun Bahn

DIVISION III Piano (15-18 years old)
First Place Kevin Lu – Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Mvt I
Second Place Zisheng Shang
Third Place Athena Tsu
HM Sofia Chamberlain
HM Andrew Zhao

DIVISION IV Winds
First Place Zackery Edwards – Weber Andante and Rondo Ongerese, Op. 35 for bassoon
Second Place Helen Zhu
Third Place Michelle Liu
HM Isabelle Jamois
HM Jennie Cao

DIVISION V Strings (through age 13)
First Place Stacy Widyono – Bruch Violin Concerto in G Minor, Mvt I
Second Place Isabel Kim
Third Place Lucas Lee
HM Saejoon Hong
HM Caden Jiang

DIVISION VI Strings (14-18 years)
First Place Phoebe Olzewski – Lalo Symphonie Espagnole
Second Place (TIE) Katherine Zhu and Jacey Yang
Third Place Pearl de la Motte
HM Evan Zhou
HM Nathan Sariowan