Registration for the 2018 Popular Music Festival is now open. Please visit the event page at https://mtacsd.org/popular-music-festival/ for event rules, online registration form and student registration instructions. This event will be held at Grossmont College on Saturday, November 3, 2018.
The 2018 Sonata Contest list is now published. The Sonata list has been emailed to all MTACSD member teachers.
This list is also available on the Sonata Contest page, which has been updated. Teachers must login to view the list on this page: https://mtacsd.org/sonata-contest/
On April 14-15, we celebrated Chopin’s music triumphantly together during the inauguration of the first MTACSD Chopin Festival at the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego. Our three accomplished judges from Los Angeles, Dr. Andrew Park, Dr. Wojciech Kocyan, and Dr. Sarkis Baltaian, commented that they were “very inspired with the level of performance and very impressed with the teaching in our branch.” We had 36 contestants represented by 18 studios. There were definitely magical moments and artistic excellence present throughout the Festival. Congratulations to all the performers for their outstanding demonstration of musicianship! Thank you to all the teachers for your exemplary guidance, and please continue to inspire your students to make beautiful music.
My goal for Chopin Festival is to showcase not only some of the strongest music ever written for pianists, but also to feature the many talented musicians we have in our community. This festival encourages young musicians to express themselves with piano, connect with one another through their music-making, and uplift spirits through Chopin’s music. The highlight of the festival was, of course, the Winners’ Recital on Sunday evening, where the attendees benefited from a wonderful showcase of the magnificent artistry of the top two winners and the engaging fellowship at the reception time. I appreciate tremendously for the much enthusiastic support from many of you leading up to and during the two-day weekend. A special shout-out to incredible individuals: Dr. Ed Basilio, Jane Klofkorn, Nimpa Akana, Quynh Nguyen, Sarah Lincoln, Marilyn Carnes, Yuko Maruyama, Miriam Cole, Brian Goral, Lee Galloway, and Jaclyn Summers. I’m most grateful to the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego for hosting us with a fine Steinway concert grand and many cheerful volunteers. Partnering with them has been a real blessing for us all.
Below, please find the winners’ list that the judges have deliberated. Congratulations!
| CATEGORY | 1st Place | 2nd Place | 3rd Place |
| Waltz/Mazurka | Malvyn Lai | Stephanie Ling | Amaia Schmitigal |
| Etude | Claire Lewis | Priscilla Ling | Risa Schapiro |
| Scherzo | Joelle Jeon | Ian Llacer | Justin Lee |
| Nocturne | Sarah Deng | Jason Li | Alexis Wu |
| Ballade | Andrew Vu | Luke Kim | Cameron Lincoln |
The 2018 San Diego Branch Certificate of Merit was held on March 24-25 and March 31 at the San Diego State University. This annual event is sponsored by the state MTAC, and organized by the MTAC San Diego Branch. This year, our branch received over 1,200 student applications from 139 teachers. The results are now available on both the teacher and the parent portals of the state MTAC website. (Link is below.)
Running the three days of CM was a concerted effort by all of our CM volunteers, some of whom worked very long hours. The outstanding CM team of our branch planned the entire three-day operation in great details months in advance; our CM teachers fulfilled various tasks of testing, grading and recording on the CM days; and our student runners escorted the CM students safely to and from the evaluation rooms on strict schedule.
Our CM students were evaluated on their level-appropriate repertoire performance, technique, sight-reading, theory and ear training skills. Students who scored high in all areas receive branch honors and are offered additional performance opportunities at the state MTAC Convention in June.
Here are some photos from our CM days. A million “Bravos” to the CM team members, teachers, runners, and our CM students!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 Bach Festival!
| You chae Bae | Celine Lau | Hahnlin Noonan |
| Soo Hyun Bahn | Jonathan Lee | Luke Qiao |
| Anna Cao | Richard Lee | Emily Shi |
| Emma Cao | David Lee | Ethan Song |
| Michael Chen | Claire Lewis | Edmund Sumpena |
| Walter Chen | Archimedes Li | Andrew Sun |
| Frederick Chien | Eric Li | Katie Tang |
| Aaron Chizhik | Chloe Li | Aidan Wahlmann |
| Benjamin Fitzpatrick | Jason Li | Sunny Xiao |
| Colin Huang | Priscilla Ling | Jonathan Xue |
| Allen Huang | Stephanie Ling | Laura Yu |
| Edward J Kim | Annie Lu | Dorien Zhang |
| Skylar Larsen | Ally Negulescu | Ryan Zhou |
| 1st Place | Ella Xing |
| 2nd Place | Haowen Sun |
| 3rd Place | Rien Chen |
Congratulations to the 2018 Concerto Competition winners!
The first place winners of Divisions I through VI, will perform their winning pieces with orchestra as follows:
Adora Xiao, piano and Sunny Xiao, piano
will perform with the Greater San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Dr. Angela Yeung, conductor.
Dates: Friday, March 16 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 18 at 2:00 pm (two performances)
Location: University of San Diego, Shiley Theatre
Adora will perform the Haydn Piano Concerto in D Major, 3rd mvt.
Sunny will perform the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto in G minor, 3rd mvt.
Kevin Lu, piano, Stacy Widyono, violin, and Phoebe Olzewski, violin
will perform with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Branden Muresan, conductor.
Dates: Saturday, May 19 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, May 20 at 3:00 pm (two performances)
Location: Mira Costa College Concert Hall- Oceanside Campus
Kevin will perform the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, 1st mvt.
Stacy will perform the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor, 1st mvt.
Phoebe will perform the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole, 1st mvt.
Zackery Edwards, bassoon
will perform with the New City Sinfonia, Mr. Daniel Ratelle, conductor.
Date: Sunday, June 3 at 2:00 pm
Location: Church of Mary Magdalene (Bay Park)
Zackery will perform the Weber Andante and Rondo Ongerese, Op. 35
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
The 2018 Piano Duo Festival was held on Saturday, January 20th at Greene Music. I am sincerely thankful to the judges, all the volunteers, teachers and students who came and did an excellent job at the festival. 12 teams participated and 10 teams competed. All the teams were well-prepared and performed wonderfully. The judges’ final results are below:
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Piano Duo Festival Final Results
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Category I: Ages 5 – 9
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1st place
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Anya Davis & Kailey Phillips
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2nd place
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Katelyn Duong & Allison Duong
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Category II: Ages 10 – 12
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1st place (tie)
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Ashley Arner & Sophia Guan
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1st place (tie)
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Ruei-Chi Lai & Davina Zhu
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3rd place
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Wei-Shi Lai & Peiran Liang
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Category III: Ages 13 – 15
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1st place
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Emily Suh & Lauren Suh
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2nd place
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Stephen Zhu & Hsiang-Kuang Zhuang
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Category IV: Ages 16 – high school
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1st place
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Tori Tinsley & Sophia Lam
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Category V: College |
1st place |
Isabelle Chen & Daniel Chen |
Playing piano duets is an effective way to improve the student’s musicianship, as the students learn to work with other musicians on various aspects of ensemble performance. This would be beneficial for their solo playing as well. Thank you again to the studios of Eunice Ahn, Carol Ong-Chen, Yulia Atoyan, Anna Vasilyeva, Irina Bessonova, Yun-Yin Wu, Tracy Lovley and Dan Yu. Thank you to judges Dr. Marina Sakach and Mr. Steve Baker. Thanks for the wonderful help from Yuko Maruyama.
Thank you for participating in the 2018 MTAC VOCE Competition. We also would like to thank Grossmont College for the use of their facilities. Thank you to our 3 judges, Rose Lombardo, Catie Longhi and Wesley Precourt. Thank you to Yuko Marumaya and Risa Schapiro for their tremendous help, as well as Danette White.
1st-Place Winners in their categories in the MTAC VOCE Branch Auditions Competition are eligible to compete in the VOCE State Finals Audition on April 22, 2018 at Chapman University in Orange, CA.
The official results are below:
MUSIC TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA
San Diego Branch VOCE Competition on January 7, 2018
Instrumental Ensemble: Intermediate, Competitive
String Quintet – First Place
Instrumental Ensemble: Senior, Competitive
Equinox String Quartet – First Place
4 Cellos – Honorable Mention
Junior Strings, Competitive
Andrew Maxwell – First Place
Senior Strings, Competitive
Katherine Zhu – First Place
Luzy Guanuna – First Place Alternate
Ryan Zhou – Second Place
Amy Lee – Third Place
Intermediate Strings, Competitive
Nathan Sariowan – First Place
Evan Zhou – First Place Alternate
Susan Lee – Second Place
Stacy Widyono – Second Place
Darren Jiang – Third Place
Phoebe Olszewski – Honorable Mention
Jacey Yang – Honorable Mention
Senior Winds, Competitive
Gabriela Beltran – First Place
Zackery Edwards – Second Place
Michelle Liu – Honorable Mention
Intermediate Winds, Competitive
Elisha Tan – First Place
Nithin Chilakapati – Second Place
Anna Lee – Third Place
Praveena Ratnavel – Honorable Mention
Thank you,
Hernan Constantino
Miriam Cole
Co-Chairs, 2018 VOCE Competition
There were 280 participants in the 2017 Sonata Contest and we are so grateful for all of those who helped us to make this a successful day. First, a very big thank you to MTAC members: Mitzi Kolar, Chutaphin Yeager, Jacki Summers, Ping Hu, Stuart Thurston, Lynn Sundfor-McPherson and Miriam Cole, for their help on the day of the contest and in the preparations for the event.
We were pleased that many former participants returned and helped as well. They included: Abby Vickers, Karlin Labenske, David Rudolph, Matilda Rudolph, Ashley Luk, Sarah Victor and Emma Chan. Parents of former participants, Patty Rudolph and Nancy McClintock also helped out. Thank you to Victor Labenske and Brenda Martin who sent their college students from Point Loma Nazarene to help. Thank you to Chutaphin Yeager for bringing her nephew and other student volunteers who helped out all day long. Thank you to Leslie Lucas, an active volunteer in many community events, for helping us again for the sixth year in a row.
Another big thank you to Eric Vickers for his computer technical expertise, which streamlines the administrative work and allows me to sleep at night!
Thanks, finally, to San Diego State University for their generous hospitality and allowing us to use their facility.
The judges for this year were: Sharon Townsend-Roth (Glendale), Rob and Teri Watson (Fullerton), Linda Rohmund (Carlsbad), Sanaz Rezai (Los Angeles), Mark Mendez (Montebello), Brenda Martin (San Diego), Pamela Mullins (North Carolina), Joseph Matthews (Orange County) and Erika Ramos (Redlands).
Happy Holidays to all of you and we hope to see you next year!
