Category Archives: Branch News

2024 Concerto Results & Acknowledgements

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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!

2024 Popular Music Festival Acknowledgements

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This past Saturday, a smorgasbord of movie themes, ragtime, Broadway songs, video game music, jazz tunes and even an original composition, filled the Cuyamaca College Theatre. This was due to the Annual Popular Music Festival which featured students of various levels in three recitals. Aside from pianists, there were budding jazz singers as well as a violinist making this event even more special. Congratulations to all participating students who shared their music with us, and a big thank-you to all the teachers, families and friends who braved the rain to come and support these young performers.

Judges Yuko Maruyama and Steve Baker wrote comments and suggestions which will be sent by email to the students’ teachers. The students were rewarded with individual certificates and a medal at the end of each recital.

Event co-chairs Chutaphin Yeager and Miriam Cole, along with Yuko Maruyama would like to extend their gratitude to the teachers who helped out: Irina Bessanova, Lea Schmidt-Rogers and Anna Savvas. Your help was very valuable.

The 2024 Popular Music Festival Participating Studios were: Irina Bessonova, Jim Guerin, Vanessa Lee, Yu Carole Liu, Floyd Lo, Yuko Maruyama, Carol Ong-Chen, Anna Savvas, Lea Schmidt-Rogers, Anna Stal, Chetan Tierra, and Mei Yin

We hope to see you all again next year!

2023 Sonata Results & Acknowledgement

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November 4, 2023, was a beautiful day at Point Loma Nazarene University where the Sonata Contest in Memory of Jane Smisor Bastien, was held. It was a joy to hear and see so many of our students! We had 263 entrants this year.

I want to thank our incredible team of volunteers! First and foremost, thank you to MTAC member, Dr. Victor Labenske for co-sponsoring our event and helping us to secure Point Loma Nazarene University as our facility. Thank you to Brian Goral, Chutaphin Yeager and Lea Schmidt Rogers for organizing our lovely breakfast and lunch. Thank you to our branch president Yuko Maruyama for helping us communicate with our teachers and student families. To our other MTAC member volunteers: Sarah Victor, Karlin Labenske, Miriam Cole, Eleanor Hum, Kathy Kim, Jamie Lin, Hua Wang, Isabelle Roux, Dan Yu, and Carole Liu Yu, thank you so much for your time.

Other volunteers: Riley Vickers, Lindsey Heinrich, Brittney Heinrich, Patty Rudolph, Hector Hum, Leslie Lucas, Francisco Mamon, Chelsea Clements, Ezra Mizrachi, Richardson Liou, Zachary Haubenstock, and to the several Point Loma Nazarene music students who volunteered: we thank you so much for your time.

To my husband, Eric, thank you for your time, patience, and technical expertise to help organize the event.

We are very grateful to our highly esteemed judges for the day: Dr. Randi Rudolph (Vista), Joanne Stohs (Northern San Diego), Mark Mendez (Montebello), Teri Watson (Fullerton), Dr. Rob Watson (Fullerton), La Vaun Beyer (Orange County), Dr. Ching-Ming Cheng (San Marcos), Crystal Rivette (Azusa), and Madeline Miller (Valencia). We thank them for their time, dedication, and musical expertise.

We hope to see everyone again next year!

Sincerely,

Lori Bastien Vickers, Chairperson

Sonata Contest 2023 Winners List

Group 1A-Bastien
1st Place: Brady Ma
2nd Place: Elena Song
3rd Place: Aaron Deng

Group 1B-Bastien
1st Place: Aden Jung
2nd Place: Corina Lin
3rd Place: Jack Stone

Group 2A-Bastien
1st Place: Kye Urgolites
2nd Place: Lilica Whitacre
3rd Place: Mikaila Lin, Frank Liu, Jadon Wang

Group 2B: Bastien
1st Place: Renae Chen, William Wang
2nd Place: Daniel Jung
3rd Place: Autumn Chen

Group 3A-Gillock
1st Place: Ruitong Alina Xia
2nd Place: Janelle Chen
3rd Place: George Chang

Group 3B-Vandall
1st Place: Maya Almog
2nd Place: Ryan Nguyen
3rd Place: Olivia Chen

Group 4A-Beethoven
1st Place: Clara Stone
2nd Place: Tara Liu
3rd Place: Nishant Mantravadi

Group 4B- Bober
1st Place: Angela Cai
2nd Place: Daren Ren
3rd Place: Bokyang Kwon

Group 5A- Diabelli
1st Place: Kayla Tsubokawa, Candace Wu
2nd Place: Alice Zhang
3rd Place: Maggie Hu

Group 5B- Beethoven
1st Place: Nathan Chou
2nd Place: Jovan Lim
3rd Place: Matthew Chao

Group 6A- Vandall
1st Place: Katelyn Li
2nd Place: Caleb Felker
3rd Place: Amy Fang

Group 6B-Clementi
1st Place: Ashley Li
2nd Place: Benny Chen
3rd Place: Vivian Wu

Group 7-Kuhlau
1st Place: Claire Lim
2nd Place: Ruiya Xia
3rd Place: Yuji Liee

Group 8-Kabalevsky
1st Place: Landon Han, Nathan Teng
2nd Place: Amy Zhang
3rd Place: Isabella Nguyen

Group 9-Haydn
1st Place: Luna Lee
2nd Place: Isabella Yang
3rd Place: Minhtu Nguyen

Group 10-Ravel
1st Place: Tyler Chang
2nd Place: Chloe Li
3rd Place: Rudy Zhang

Group 11-Beethoven
1st Place: Yoyo Wu
2nd Place: Amber Zhang
3rd Place: Addison K. Lee

2023 State VOCE Results for San Diego Branch

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The 2023 MTAC State VOCE Competition was held online via video submission on March 15th. Students became eligible to participate in State VOCE by being selected as “finalists” at the Southern or Northern California Regional VOCE. Congratulations to all our branch students who competed!

Representing four (4) teachers, a special congratulations goes to these San Diego Branch students who received awards at the 2023 State VOCE Competition!

Junior Solo Strings
Helen Wang, cello – Honorable Mention

Intermediate Solo Winds
Serena Liu, flute – Honorable Mention

Senior Solo Winds
Keira Suniga, bassoon – 3rd Place Tie
Daniel Tran, bassoon – Honorable Mention

Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble
“Viva Trio” – Honorable Mention
Ethan Zhou, violin; Helen Wang, cello; Melinda Wang, piano

Senior Instrumental Ensemble
“BC Duo” – Honorable Mention
Caleb Liu, bassoon & Bryce Liu, piano

NEW VOCE FORMAT
The MTAC VOCE Competition format changed beginning January 2022, with the first round, formerly a branch competition, now a regional competition, Northern and Southern California. Two (2) changes in the judging format were:

1) At Regional VOCE, numerous “finalists” in each division were selected to move on to State VOCE. All regional contestants became either a finalist or non-finalist. No awards for 1st Place Winner, 1st Alternate, 2nd, 3rd, or Honorable Mention were chosen.

(In 2022 only: all regional “finalists” were labeled “1st Place” in their VOCE portals even though no regional winners were chosen).

2) At Regional VOCE, all contestants were heard by only one (1) judge, with a separate judge assigned to each instrument—not division—but instrument: a different judge for violins than cellos, flutes than reeds, wind ensembles than string ensembles, etc. Each judge selected finalists for their specific instrument, voice, or ensembles.

The State VOCE judging format remained unchanged, with the traditional panel of two (2) judges per division selecting 1st Place Winner, 1st Alternate, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mentions.

Re-using the regional video was prohibited, and a newly recorded video was required for the state competition.

The non-competitive option remained available.

There are 10 VOCE divisions. VOCE stands for Voice, Orchestral Instruments, and Chamber Ensembles.

2023 Regional VOCE Results for San Diego Branch

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The 2023 MTAC Southern CA Regional VOCE competition was held online via video submission on January 12th. ALL students who competed at regionals are to be commended for such hard work and dedication!

Thank you to the ten (10) San Diego Branch teachers who entered students in VOCE 2023: Ruslan Biryukov, Chia-Ling Chien, Hernan Constantino, Michael Dvoskin, Alexander Palamidis, Irena Tseitlin, Pasha Tseitlin, Sophie Catherine Webber, Danette White, and Elena Yarritu.

Congratulations to these fifteen (15) San Diego Branch students who were selected as “finalists” at the 2023 Southern CA Regional VOCE!

Junior Solo Strings
Helen Wang, cello

Intermediate Solo Strings
Brianna Baek, violin
Jasmine Chan, violin
Cynthia Huang, cello
Laiyina Shate, cello
Owen Spithill, cello
Ethan Zhou, violin

Senior Solo Strings
Debora Okhotina, cello
Tyler Xiao, cello

Intermediate Solo Winds
Serena Liu, flute

Senior Solo Winds
Keira Suniga, bassoon
Daniel Tran, bassoon

Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble
“Viva Trio” – Ethan Zhou, violin; Helen Wang, cello; Melinda Wang, piano

Senior Instrumental Ensemble
“BC Duo” – Caleb Liu, bassoon & Bryce Liu, piano

Regional VOCE “finalists” are eligible to move on to the State VOCE competition.

NEW VOCE FORMAT
The MTAC VOCE Competition format changed beginning January 2022, with the first round, formerly a branch competition, now a regional competition, Northern and Southern California. Two (2) changes in the judging format were:

1) At Regional VOCE, numerous “finalists” in each division were selected to move on to State VOCE. All regional contestants became either a finalist or non-finalist. No awards for 1st Place Winner, 1st Alternate, 2nd, 3rd, or Honorable Mention were chosen.

(In 2022 only: all regional “finalists” were labeled “1st Place” in their VOCE portals even though no regional winners were chosen).

2) At Regional VOCE, all contestants were heard by only one (1) judge, with a separate judge assigned to each instrument—not division—but instrument: a different judge for violins than cellos, flutes than reeds, wind ensembles than string ensembles, etc. Each judge selected finalists for their specific instrument, voice, or ensembles.

The State VOCE judging format remained unchanged, with the traditional panel of two (2) judges per division selecting 1st Place Winner, 1st Alternate, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mentions.

Re-using the regional video was prohibited, and a newly recorded video was required for the state competition.

The non-competitive option remained available.

There are 10 VOCE divisions. VOCE stands for Voice, Orchestral Instruments, and Chamber Ensembles.

2023 Chopin Festival Results

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Here are the winners of the 5th Annual MTAC San Diego Branch Chopin Festival.

Division I
Elijah Robins, 1st Place
Chloe Li, 2nd Place
Astrea Archibald, 3rd Place
Yvonne Gao, Honorable Mention
Landon Han, Honorable Mention
Ruiya Xia, Honorable Mention
Isabella Yang, Honorable Mention

Division II
Aaron Ye, 1st Place
Daniel S. Park, 2nd Place
Veronica Xu, 3rd Place
Serafin Gimutao, Honorable Mention
Sonya Yasuda, Honorable Mention
Amber Zhang, Honorable Mention

Division III
Emma Erickson, 1st Place
Andrew Zhang, 2nd Place
Nathan Dai, 3rd Place

Congratulations to all the winners and their teachers: Irina Bendetsky, Jessie Chang, Lynn Chen, Sun Yung Cho, Emi Clements, Eleanor Hum, Jeeyoon Kim, Kathy Kim, Inessa Litvin, Yu Carole Liu, Viktor Shekhtman, and Jia Sheng Zhou.

We look forward to seeing you next year!