2023 Goodlin Registration now open!

Registration for the 2023 Goodlin Competition is now open! Teachers must register their students online. Please visit the Goodlin Competition page for more details and to access the registration form. The MTAC San Diego Branch members are required to login to access the registration form. Non-members and parents may request the Non-member Registration Form.

2023 Bach Festival AMB Results

Thank you for participating in the 2023 Bach Festival. Here are the results for the AMB Festival:

1st Place #4 Viktor Shen
2nd Place #2 Yeema Liu
3rd Place #5 Cooper Kistler
Honorable Mention – #5 Sophia Wang

Teachers must log into the scjbf.org website to view the CWA results.

2023 Concerto Results & Acknowledgement

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)

2023 Popular Music Festival Acknowledgement

Congratulations to all participants who performed in the Popular Music Festival this weekend! Thank you to all participating teachers, who prepared their students for this first in-person Popular Music event since the start of the pandemic. The three recitals were held at the beautiful Cuyamaca College Theatre and provided a marvelous auditory display of the talents of the participants. We enjoyed listening to jazz, pop, boogie, rag, movie and video game music as well as works by favorite contemporary composers. The selections included improvised music and original arrangements by teachers and students. We even had a performance on electric guitar, a singer accompanying herself on piano, and a pianist performing to a Latin percussion track.

Dr. Taylor Smith of Cuyamaca College and Yuko Maruyama served as judges. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out throughout the day: Irina Bessonova, Kathy Kim, Yuko Maruyama, Leslie Olson, Carol Ong-Chen, and Chutaphin Yeager

Participating studios: Eunji Bae, Irina Bessonova, Jim Guerin, Yoonhee Huh, Kathy Kim, Philip Lim, Yu Carole Liu, Yuko Maruyama, Leslie Olson, Carol Ong-Chen, Anna Stal, and Chutaphin Yeager

We hope to see you again next year!

2022 State VOCE Results for San Diego Branch

The 2022 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 three (3) teachers, a special congratulations goes to these San Diego Branch students who received awards at the 2022 State VOCE Competition!

Junior Solo Strings
Elisha Kim, violin – 3rd Place

Senior Solo Winds
Daniel Tran, bassoon – 2nd Place

Senior Solo Voice
Flora Yuan, soprano – 1st Alternate

Intermediate 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.

2022 Regional VOCE Results for San Diego Branch

The 2022 MTAC Southern CA Regional VOCE competition was held online via video submission on January 10th. ALL students who competed at regionals are to be commended for such hard work and dedication!

Thank you to the nine (9) San Diego Branch teachers who entered students in VOCE 2022: Ruslan Biryukov, Dawn Renee Calvo, Chia-Ling Chien, Hernan Constantino, Alexander Palamidis, Rachel Eunhee Park, Pasha Tseitlin, Danette White, and Elena Yarritu.

Congratulations to these fourteen (14) San Diego Branch students who were selected as “finalists” at the 2022 Southern CA Regional VOCE!

Junior Solo Strings
Elisha Kim, violin
Jasmine Chan, violin

Intermediate Solo Strings
Cynthia Huang, cello
Tyler Xiao, cello

Senior Solo Strings
Samraj Khurana, violin

Intermediate Solo Winds
Serena Liu, flute

Senior Solo Winds
Xili He, flute
Daniel Tran, bassoon

Senior Solo Voice
Flora Yuan, soprano

Intermediate Ensemble
BC Duo” – Caleb Liu, bassoon & Bryce Liu, piano
Stairway Trio” – Ethan Zhou, violin; Helen Wang, cello; Kanon Endo, 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.