2020 San Diego Branch VOCE Results & Acknowledgement

San Diego Branch VOCE 2020 was an amassment of extraordinary talent and skill under one roof! Ten teachers sent a total of 34 soloists and 6 ensembles to compete, and 1 non-competitive entry. They were assisted by 8 accompanists. The event was held January 5 at Grossmont College in two competition rooms, and was open to the public.

Co-Chairs:
Hernan Constantino, Danette White, and Yuko Maruyama

Studios represented:
Ruslan Biryukov, cello & coach; Hernan Constantino, violin & coach; Peter Dayeh, clarinet; Constantino Felicetta, clarinet; Annelle Gregory, violin; Sunjin Kim, violin; Tasha Koontz, voice; Alex Palamidis, violin & coach; Pasha Tseitlin, violin & coach; and Elena Yarritu, flute & piccolo

Accompanists:
Yulia Atoyan, Dana Burnett, Melissa Creider, Katherine Dvoskin, Yuju Jung, Dale Liao, Joanne Stohs, and Bryan Verhoye

Judges:
Ai Nihira & Jian Wang—Junior & Intermediate Solo Strings
Ethan Parnela & Edmund Stein—Senior Solo Strings, and Intermediate & Senior Ensembles
Amy Taylor & Sheryl Renk—Intermediate & Senior Solo Winds, and Solo Voice
Dan Ratelle—Solo Voice

6 teachers worked as volunteers:
Ruslan Biryukov, Peter Dayeh, Annelle Gregory, Sunjin Kim, Alex Palamidis, and Pasha Tseitlin

3 San Diego Branch board members provided additional support on site:
Chutaphin Yeager, Brian Goral, and Miriam Cole

A tremendous thank you to all involved!!

Congratulations to EACH student for your performance—for dedication to music—and willingness to put yourself out there and go for it!!

Below are the results. 1st Place Winners (including ties) are eligible to compete at the MTAC State VOCE in April. A further online application is required. If 1st Place Winners cannot compete, then a 1st Place Alternate may do so. Note that 2nd Place cannot substitute in the absence of 1st.

Junior Solo Strings
1st Place Tie—Brianna Baek, violin
1st Place Tie—Ethan Zhou, violin
1st Place Alternate—Julian Wu, cello
2nd Place—Alexia Ciobanu, violin
3rd Place Tie—Jasmine Chan, violin
3rd Place Tie—Benjamin Luo, violin
Honorable Mention—Joyce Kwack, violin

Intermediate Solo Strings
1st Place—Stacy Widyono, violin
1st Place Alternate—Justin Wu, cello
2nd Place—Ethan Zhang, cello
3rd Place—Kevin Hu, violin
Honorable Mentions (alphabetical)—Chisato Kamakura, violin; Daeho Lee, violin

Senior Solo Strings
1st Place Tie—Adam Kulju, violin
1st Place Tie—Phoebe Olszewski, violin
1st Place Alternate—Alina Hernandez, violin
2nd Place—Evan Zhou, violin
3rd Place—Janice Hu, violin
Honorable Mentions (alphabetical)—Charlotte Hou, violin; Wei-Shan Huynh, violin; Andrew Yang, cello

Intermediate Solo Winds
1st Place—Nathan Haghgoo, flute
2nd Place—Nithin Chilakapati, flute/piccolo
3rd Place—Ramona Terry-Lorenzo, flute

Senior Solo Winds
1st Place—Gary Lin, clarinet
2nd Place—Elaine Yiu, flute
3rd Place—Daeyoun Na, clarinet

Senior Solo Voice
2nd Place—Sophia Khurana, mezzo-soprano

Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble
1st Place—”Ember String Quartet”
Stacy Widyono, violin; Chisato Kamakura, violin; Maya Rosenbaum, viola; Josephine Kim, cello

2nd Place Tie—”SKY Trio”
Kevin Hu, violin; Sunny Fan, cello; Eric Wang, piano

2nd Place Tie—”String Quartet”
Janice Hu, violin; Tristan Upton, violin; Dasha Zerboni, viola; Ethan Zhang, cello

Honorable Mention—”Mini-Cellissimo”
Han Li, cello, Debora Okhotina, cello

Senior Instrumental Ensemble
1st Place—”The String Beans”
Evan Zhou, violin; Wei-Shan Huynh, violin; James Renk, viola; Dylan Renk, cello

2nd Place—”San Diego Youth Cello Quintet”
Darren Jiang, cello; Andrew Yang, cello; Sebastian Brumm, cello; Ethan Zhang, cello; Justin Wu, cello

2019 Sonata Results & Acknowledgement

There were 280 participants in the 2019 Sonata Contest, and I really appreciate the help of the following people who contributed their time and made this a successful day! First, a very big thank you to MTAC members: Victor Labenske, Mitzi Kolar, Yuko Maruyama, Miriam Cole, Magdi Bornemisza, Dan Yu, Sarah Victor, Angelina Hardy, Emi Clements, Abby Vickers and Karlin Labenske for their help on the day of the contest and in the preparations for the event. A special thank you to Brian Goral and Chutaphin Yeager for serving a fabulous breakfast and lunch!

Thank you to the following non-MTAC-member volunteers: Chelsea Clements, Patty Rudolph, Aurora Gryzbek, Renee Chang, Paul Otterson, Leslie Lucas, Lindsey Heinrich, Francisco Mamon, Joseph Mamon, Sabrina Jiang, Jordan Klein, Amiee Duncan, John-William Gambrell, Isabella Ettore, Soren Pederson, Meliza San Jose, and Risa Schapiro.
Another big thank you to my husband, Eric Vickers, for his computer expertise, and for his encouragement and support with running this event!

Finally, I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Victor Labenske who helped make it possible for us to utilize the Cooper Music Center for the first time. It is a beautiful venue for the Sonata Contest and I sincerely thank Victor and Point Loma Nazarene University for their generous hospitality allowing us to use their facility.

The judges this year were: Jaeryoung Lee (San Diego), Rob and Teri Watson (Fullerton), Randi Rudolph (Phoenix), Sanaz Rezai (Los Angeles), Joanne Stohs (Northern San Diego), Laurie Meinhold (Aliso Viejo), Lea Schmidt-Rogers (San Diego), and Sonya Schumann (San Diego).

Happy Holidays to all of you and I look forward to seeing you next year!

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Sonata Winners List 2019

Group and Composer1st place2nd Place3rd Place
1A--Bastien Sonatina in COlivia LiangLeia ParkTie: Sophia Liang/Avery Yang
1B--Bastien Silver SonatinaTie: Chloe Kim/Abigail GuoOlivia TsaiTie: Eli Krongold/Charlotte Zheng
2A--Bastien ChromaticKadmus MaElena ChenAiden Seungchan Lee
2B--GillockRuiya XiaTie: Rain Yang/Katelyn LiAria Chan
3A--Vandall SunriseAn TranDiya NairAlicia Liu
3B--Vandall FestivaIvy VoSeojin LeeAlyssa Ju
4A--Vandall Sonatina in A MinorTie: Maya Hanoch/Willem HuangTie: Andrew Lee/Lydia TsaiClaire Otterson
4B--BeethovenTie: Isabella Yang/Healin LeeTie: Ellie Tsvetov/Joy XuEric Liu
5A--Clementi G MajorVeronica YuMiyana LuedkeDavid Liu
5B--Clementi C MajorGrace XuRien ChenAnthony Liu/Anna Cao
6A--LynesTie: Tyler Chang/Claire LimJoshua YuYouchae Bae
6B--KuhlauSarah DengSeungbeom BaekBryce Liu
7--Mozart C MajorMinhtu NguyenVicky ChenAmber Zhang
8--KabalevskyAndrew ZhangEdward J. KimAnnalise Chang
9--Mozart B Flat MajorEthan SongMargaret FanTie: Selena Xiang/Adora Xiao
10--BeethovenAidan WahlmanZixuan ChenCindy Cao
11--HaydnTie: Bradley Carpiuc/Sabrina Li/Caleb Smedra

2019 Gail Lew’s New Materials Review

On October 7th, teachers attending Gail Lew’s New Materials Review presentation received a glittering presentation of the best of the new releases, just in time for choosing New Materials pieces for students’ Certificate of Merit/Convention pieces. They also received free music and door prizes as well as the opportunity to buy music and music related items at the Bookmarks Music Store which arrived on location for the event.

This program has always been one of the most popular presentation at the MTAC Convention yearly and now continues to be popular as it travels to branches for intimate presentations to members. Due to its success and the enthusiasm of members, we plan to bring her back next year about this time. Watch for notice of it and don’t miss out!

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2019 Popular Music Festival Report

The Popular Music Festival, chaired by Kathy Kim, was held Saturday, October 12, 2019 at Grossmont College Recital Hall. 43 students were heard in three recitals playing pop, rock, blues, boogie, movie themes, folk, rags, and jazz. This event is a celebration of popular music as well as student creativity. Students played their favorites from many available books. Some played their arrangements from a chord chart, some learned their songs by ear, and we also heard a cello duo team perform a cover of a song originally recorded by the popular rock band AC/DC.

The three recitals were “emceed” by MTACSD teachers Tracy Lovley, Claudia Smetona and Jim Guerin, who introduced each performer and entertained us by their clever commentary between the performances. At the end of each recital, medals were presented to each student.

The event was enriched with a presentation at 3 PM by Yuko Maruyama, “Learn to Play from Chord Charts.” This lecture-presentation covered the basic rules of chord chart notation and how to apply them in songs. Examples were explained and demonstrated using many theory concepts from CM and were relevant to teachers and students familiar with CM theory.

The Popular Music Festival was a joyful day of music filling me with memories. As I have watched it expand and grow in the 25+ years of the event, teachers and students have added freedom of creativity, escalating their personal growth and accomplishments, so important to music education. I invite more teachers and students to join in the fun next year.


2019 POPULAR MUSIC FESTIVAL

Studios Represented: Eunji Bae, Irina Bessonova, Paul Burd, Melissa Creider, James Guerin, Sarah Harris, Kathy Kim, Amy Lee, Tracy Lovley, Yuko Maruyama, Leslie Olson, Carol Ong-Chen, Anna Savvas, Claudia Smetona, Anna Stal, Sophie Webber, Irina Williams and Mei Yin
Judges: Yuko Maruyama and Taylor Smith

Thank you to the 2019 Popular Music Festival Volunteers:
Eunji Bae, Irina Bessonova, James Guerin, Sarah Harris, Kathy Kim, Tracy Lovley, Yuko Maruyama, Leslie Olson, Carol Ong-Chen, Anna Savvas, Risa Schapiro, Claudia Smetona, and Irina Williams

Report of September Events – 2019

September was an eventful month for the San Diego Branch. Our Annual Fall Breakfast was held on Monday, September 23. In this annual meeting, we said goodbye and gave a warm thank-you to the immediate past branch President, Miriam Cole and her Board of Directors, and gave a hearty welcome to the new President, Yuko Maruyama and the new Board of Directors. The new Fall Breakfast venue, Elijah’s Restaurant, was appreciated for many reasons. The organizational flow of the event gave ample time for all updates and reports, for browsing the music exchange table, and for connecting with new and old friends. The gratitude of all teachers in our branch for the excellent leadership we have was shown in the frequent, enthusiastic applause for the leaders and their reports. A special thank-you goes to the 1st Vice President, Brian Goral and the 2nd Vice President, Chutaphin Yeager, who created the fun take-home mug filled with information and for the enthusiastic kick-off of the CM season by Eleanor Hum.

Five days after the Fall Breakfast, Yuko Maruyama and her jazz group, The Mercantile Alley Band, presented the KIM Scholarship Benefit Concert at the Rancho Bernardo Library, Saturday, September 28. The concert was an incredible gift to the community and to the Goodlin Fund’s KIM Program. Admission was free and online donations to the KIM Program were encouraged. In attendance were MTACSD teachers, KIM students and parents, KIM teachers as well as many library patrons. Yuko’s creativity, musicianship and skills in playing, composing, and arranging are so superb that those of us who attend one of her concerts always look forward to her next one. Yuko’s daughter Risa, a senior in high school, sings with the group and from the first sounds from her voice we delighted in her velvety, rich, strong tones. We all enjoyed hearing her on the accordion, and on the wide array of percussion instruments she played such as a slide whistle, bar chimes, vibraslap and the Kawai toy piano!

The benefit concert brought in some online donations for Kids Into Music (KIM), our outreach music lesson scholarship program administered by the H. B. Goodlin Foundation. We are thankful for that and we want to thank each of you who gave a donation at the Music Exchange Table in the Fall Breakfast. Those donations also go into the KIM fund. The Goodlin Board is pleased that our branch can offer lessons to children of limited means. If you would like to contribute to the KIM program, please follow this link to the KIM donation page: https://mtacsd.org/donations/support-kim/

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2019 Goodlin Acknowledgement & Photos

Thank you to all participants, teachers, volunteers, friends and families for making the 2019 H. B. Goodlin Competition a successful event celebrating the excellence in music education in San Diego County. We had 104 students from 48 teaching studios participating in five divisions. The auditions were adjudicated by 14 distinguished judges from all over Southern California.

The auditions took place on Saturday, May 18 at Cuyamaca College. In the afternoon, the piano master class was given by Dr. Sanaz Rezai, who judged Division III Keyboard. The Division III students Eric Thomas and Ursula Hardianto participated in the master class. The Winners Concert on Sunday, May 19 featured outstanding performances by the 1st and 2nd place winners in each division. A special new award, the Aryana Pizarro Inspirational Award, was presented to Youchae Bae, Division I Keyboard, at the conclusion of the concert.

Thank you to the San Diego Foundation, the William E. Schmidt Foundation and Friends of the Pizarros for their generous support of this event. Thank you to Cuyamaca College for hosting the Saturday competition, and the Foothills UMC for allowing us to use their sanctuary for the Winners Concert on Sunday.

This event could not have been possible without all the work done by the volunteers, which included many music teachers and their students, friends and families. In particular, I would like to thank the current and the past members of the MTAC San Diego Executive Board, and the members of the H. B. Goodlin Foundation Board. Special thanks to Lea Schmidt-Rogers for always “being there” for us.

The 2019 Goodlin Competition Volunteers were: Brian Alba, Connie Almond, Yousol Bae, Soo Hyun Bahn, Magdolna Bornemisza, Jessie Chang, Sun Yung Cho, Miriam Cole, Matthew Dharmawan, Holly Franz, Lee Galloway, Brian Goral, Jim Guerin, Eleanor Hum, Hanan Jamal-Ouchi, Chuck King, Mitzi Kolar, Kathleen Kranz, Ed Litvin, Rinna Livshin, Yuko Maruyama, Leslie Olson, Marj Osgood, Michele Resnick, Larry Rogers, Josh Sasaki, Risa Schapiro, Lea Schmidt-Rogers, Claudia Smetona, Jaclyn Summers, Chutaphin Yeager, Dan Yu, Melonna Zawacki, TingTing Zhang

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We were privileged to have the following 2019 Goodlin Competition Adjudicators:

Division I Keyboard: Jared Jacobsen maintains a four-pronged career as organist, pianist, choral conductor, and teacher. He is Director of Music for First Lutheran Church in San Diego and is a member of the faculty of The Bishop’s School in La Jolla. In summers, he is Organist and Coordinator of Worship and Sacred Music at the historic Chautauqua Institution, a center for education, religion and the arts in western New York State.

Division I Keyboard: Pianist Pamela Monroe (MM, Cleveland Institute of Music) performs solo and chamber concerts throughout Southern California with ensembles such as the San Diego Chamber Music Society and the Cabrillo Chamber Orchestra. She is currently Director of Music and organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in San Diego. Her teachers include Julian Bern, Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin.

Division II Keyboard: Julie Ann Ballard (DMA, USC) is a pianist, composer and researcher. Her research is published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, CAPMT Connect and Clavier Companion. Her music is published by The FJH Music and Hal Leonard. Dr. Ballard oversees various music programs and serves as an executive officer for professional organizations such as MTNA and CAPMT.

Division II Keyboard: Ching-Ming Cheng (DMA, University of Miami) has received numerous honors including a silver medal in the 2013 International Keyboard Odyssiad Piano Competition. She was recently a featured pianist for performances at prestigious venues such as Xian National Concert Hall and Shanghai Oriental Art Center in China. Dr. Cheng is currently Associate Professor of Music at CSU San Marcos.

Division II Keyboard: Pianist Andrea Garreffa (DMA, University of Arizona) graduated from the Buenos Aires National Conservatory. Recipient of many scholarships and prizes, she studied in Europe and United States. She performed with orchestras in the U.S., Europe and South America. Dr. Garreffa is the Piano Academy Coordinator at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in Orange County. She has presented at CAPMT Conferences and published in CAPMT Connect.

Division III Keyboard: Pianist Edith Orloff is a versatile performer, who is praised at home and abroad for interpretive vitality and perceptive musicianship. She is a founding member of the Pacific Trio, with violinist Roger Wilkie and cellist John Walz, which regularly tours the U.S. and Europe. She holds two degrees from CalArts, and her teaching appointments include the Idyllwild Arts Summer Festival. Her solo CD is entitled: “Personal Touch.”

Division III Keyboard: Sanaz Rezai (DMA, UCLA) has taken part in many music festivals, presented solo recitals, and performed as a soloist with orchestras. Her doctoral dissertation topic was Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit within the context of Orientalism during Impressionism. Dr. Rezai is currently a lecturer at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Her areas of interest include piano pedagogy, collaborative piano, and the interdisciplinary studies of art and music history.

Division III Keyboard: Pianist Craig Richey is currently on the faculty at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU Long Beach. Mr. Richey holds a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Hailed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for his ‘No-nonsense pianism!’ he made his New York debut as guest duo-soloist with Pamela Mia Paul and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. His major teachers include Joseph Kalichstein and Martin Canin.

Junior Instrumental: Violist Travis Maril’s career centers around chamber music and teaching. His chamber music partners have included principals of the Cleveland Orchestra, LA Phil, Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Travis is coordinator of the string department at SDSU, where he also directs the String Academy for pre-college students.

Junior Instrumental: James Romeo received his BM in flute under Thomas Robertello at Indiana University, and MM under Joshua Smith at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has won numerous competitions, including the Musical Merit Foundation, and the Goodlin Scholarship in 2006. He has served as guest principal flute with the Tucson and Modesto Symphony Orchestras and performs regularly with the San Diego Symphony.

Junior Instrumental: Violinist Angela Xing (DMA, Eastman School of Music) has performed all around the globe. She was a prize winner of the Oleh Krysa International Violin Competition. Ms. Xing has worked as a professional violinist in the Rochester Philharmonic, Symphoria, Ann Arbor Symphony, and OKC Philharmonic. After relocating to San Diego in 2017, she has performed with the San Diego Symphony and worked at CSU San Marcos among others.

Senior Instrumental: Cellist Alex Greenbaum is in residence as a member of the Hausmann Quartet at SDSU, where he teaches cello and chamber music. A long-time member of The Knights, he has performed and recorded with the group throughout the U.S. and Europe, including the festivals of Caramoor, Dresden, Ojai, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Salzburg and this season returned to Hamburg’s Elbphilarmonie and Vienna’s Musikverein.

Senior Instrumental: Shannon Kitelinger holds DMA and MM in conducting from the University of North Texas, having taught at multiple age levels, as well as serving as the assistant conductor for the Lone Star Wind Orchestra. He has worked as a guest conductor and clinician across the nation as well as receiving invitations to Europe and Japan. Dr. Kitelinger is currently Associate Professor and Director of Bands at SDSU.

Senior Instrumental: Violinist Ernest Salem is currently Professor of Music at CSU Fullerton. He has performed in concerts and recitals across the U. S. and presented master classes at various universities, colleges and arts schools. Dr. Salem holds degrees from Michigan State University, the University of Houston and the University of Minnesota. His teachers include Yfrah Neaman, Fredell Lack and members of the Juilliard Quartet.


2019 Goodlin Competition Participating Studios: Irina Bendetsky, Ruslan Biryukov, Magdolna Bornemisza, Jessie Chang, Chi-Yuan Chen, Sun Yung Cho, Hernan Constantino, Barry Dubis, Holly Franz, Rodney Girvin, Eleanor Hum, Toni James, Fabiola Kim, Bonshin Ko, Hoisu Ko, Kathleen Kranz, Inessa Litvin, Carole Liu, Rinna Livshin, Pamela Martchev, George Maxman, Lesi Mei, Laszlo Mezo, Alexander Mirolyan, Jared Nepute, Quyen Nguyen, Leslie Olson, Alexander Palamidis, Cho-Hyun Park, Wesley Precourt, John Ramirez, Young Robbins, Anna Savvas, Sarah Schwartz, Claudia Smetona, Shirley Stafford, Anna Stal, Michael Tseitlin, Pasha Tseitlin, Ruth Weber, Helena Wei, Danette White, Ariel Yang, Elena Yarritu, Mei Yin, Dan Yu, TingTing Zhang, Yao Zhao