Registration for the 2025 Chopin Festival is now open! Teachers must register their students online. Please visit the Chopin Festival page for more details and to access the registration form. Login is required to access the registration form.
2025 State VOCE Results for San Diego Branch
The 2025 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 six (6) teachers, a special congratulations goes to these San Diego Branch students who received awards at the prestigious 2025 State VOCE Competition!
Junior Solo Strings
Emel Cubukcu, violin – 3rd Place Three-Way Tie
Intermediate Solo Strings
Tracie Liu, violin – 3rd Place Tie
Senior Solo Strings
Alvin Wang, viola – Honorable Mention
Intermediate Solo Winds
Maggie Liang, flute – 3rd Place Tie
Senior Solo Winds
Ethan Worthen, bassoon – 1st Place
Edward Pacal, bassoon – 1st Place Alternate
Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble – 3rd Place Tie
“San Diego Youth Cello Quartet”
Julian Wu, cello; Laiyina Shate, cello; Elaine Wang, cello; Alice Lau, cello
Senior Instrumental Ensemble – 2nd Place
“San Diego String Quartet”
Dylan Ellis, violin; Benjamin Luo, violin; Ethan Zhou, viola; David Lee, cello
All 1st Place State VOCE winners will perform at the MTAC Convention VOCE Recital held at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, CA, at 5:00 PM on Sunday, July 6, 2025, and will also receive a monetary prize.
2025 Duo Festival Acknowledgements
The 2025 Piano Duo Festival was held on Saturday, April 5th at Greene Music in two successful recitals. We had a total of 14 duo teams competing in 4 categories. Our judges, Joanne Stohs and Steve Baker were very impressed by the level of preparation and performances! Thanks so much to the studios of Dr. Bon Kim, Kathy Kim, Elaine Tokman, Carol Ong-Chen, Carol Seefeldt, and Luba Ugorski. Also, appreciation to great help from Yuko Maruyama, Carol Ong-Chen and Carol Seefeldt. See you next year!
Category I: Ages 5 – 9
HM: Sharon Yu & Evelyn Chong
Category II: Ages 10 – 12
1st place: Jimin Lai & Andrew Ong
2nd place: Siyul Park & Siwoo Park
3rd place: Ava Yang & Leyna Yang
HM: Angelina Desclos & Claire Weng
Category III: Ages 13 – 15
1st place: Yen-Cheng Wu & Vincent Wu
2nd place: Charity Chen & Yen-Cheng Wu
3rd place: Yong-xun Cai & Yong-shi Cai
HM: Jason Park & Daniel Park, Emery Faustino & Cameryn Faustino
Category IV: Ages 16 – high school
1st place: Charity Chen & Peiran Liang
2nd place: Kyla Ho & Sonya Yasuda
2025 Sonata List Now Available!
Dear Teachers,
Please see the Sonata Contest repertoire list for 2025! Teachers may login to the Sonata page to view the list. The Sonata Contest date is not confirmed yet but it will likely be sometime in October. We will make an announcement as soon as we receive confirmation from Point Loma.
Lori Bastien Vickers, Sonata Contest Chairperson
2025 MTACSD Spring Recital Report
On Sunday, March 9th, we held our first recital, hopefully first of many recitals at Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa Library. We had 18 students from 7 studios perform in two recitals. Thank you to the participating studios: Ken Ard, Xiao Chen, Yuko Maruyama, Lea Schmidt-Rogers, Hua Wang, Elena Yarritu, and Dan Yu. We welcome suggestions from teachers about the length of pieces and how many pieces students may play (some being only 30 seconds for the younger ones). We may schedule our next recital as needed, perhaps even as soon as this fall. We hope to see you at the next recital.
New Date: 2025 Chopin Festival
Due to the conflict with the Bach Festival Regional round, the Chopin Festival has been rescheduled on May 31st. Please visit the Chopin Festival page for updated schedule. We look forward to seeing you all then.
2025 Regional VOCE Results for San Diego Branch
The 2025 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!
Representing eight (8) teachers, congratulations to these twenty-nine (29) San Diego Branch students who were selected as “finalists” at the 2025 Southern CA Regional VOCE!
Junior Solo Strings
Clarie Chen, violin
Emel Cubukcu, violin
Intermediate Solo Strings
Tracie Liu, violin
David Lee, cello
Senior Solo Strings
Alvin Wang, viola
Intermediate Solo Winds
Maggie Liang, flute
Harper Xu, flute
Senior Solo Winds
Edward Pacal, bassoon
Ethan Worthen, bassoon
Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble
“Trio Calzino”
Mila Keres, violin; Sophia Slott, cello; Bradley Carpiuc, piano
Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble
“San Diego Youth Cello Quartet”
Julian Wu, cello; Laiyina Shate, cello; Elaine Wang, cello; Alice Lau, cello
Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble
“Quartet Cellissimo”
Mason Kwon, cello; Sion Lee, cello; Andrew Hong, cello; Anthony Hong, cello
Intermediate Instrumental Ensemble
“Luminis Trio”
Jasmine Chan, violin; Vera Muller, cello; James Cao, piano
Senior Instrumental Ensemble
“San Diego String Quartet”
Dylan Ellis, violin; Benjamin Luo, violin; Ethan Zhou, viola; David Lee, cello
Senior Instrumental Ensemble
String Quartet
Ronica Najmabadi, violin; Nadja Marjon, violin; Alvin Wang, viola; Paul Tassos, cello
Regional VOCE “finalists” are eligible to move on to the State VOCE competition held online March 15.
2025 Bach Festival Programs posted
The 2025 San Diego Branch Bach Festival programs are posted on the Bach Festival page. Please follow the link to view the programs: https://mtacsd.org/so-california-junior-bach-festival/
2025 Duo Registration Now Open!
Registration for the 2025 Piano Duo Festival is now open! Teachers must register their students online. Please visit the Piano Duo Festival page for more details and to access the registration form. Login is required to access the registration form.
2025 Concerto Results & Acknowledgements
The participants in this year’s competition provided us with two days of exceptional musical performances. Congratulations to all contestants and their teachers!
The first-place winner in each division will perform with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, directed by Branden Muresan. Concerts will take place at:
Mira Costa College – Oceanside Campus Concert Hall (Bldg 2400), 1 Barnard Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056
DIVISION I PIANO (through 11 yrs old)
First Place: JANELLE CHEN – Mozart Concerto in A Major, K.414, 1st mvt
~ Performs with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Branden Muresan, conductor, on Fri-Sat March 15-16, 2025 (7:30 pm)
Second Place: Claire Chen
Third Place: Claire Ding
Honorable Mentions: Kye Urgolites, Julia Yu, Mananya Debnath, Daren Ren
Studios represented for these award winners: Elena Edgar, Berta Godkin, Chris Kim, Carol Seefeldt, Anna Stal, Lori Vickers.
DIVISION II: PIANO (12-14 yrs old)
First Place: YEN-CHENG WU – Haydn Concerto in D Major, 3rd mvt
~ Performs with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Branden Muresan, conductor, on Fri-Sat March 15-16, 2025 (7:30 pm)
Second Place: Luna Lee
Third Place: Ashley Li
Honorable Mentions: Ryan Jian, Clara Stone, Euan Lee, Aven Ko
Studios represented for these award winners: Carol Ong-Chen, Sun Yung Cho, Karen Follingstad, Minji Lee, Chetan Tierra, Lori Vickers.
DIVISION III: PIANO (15-18 yrs old)
First Place: VICTORIA CHEN – Grieg Concerto in A Minor, 1st mvt
~ Performs with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Branden Muresan, conductor, on Fri-Sat March 15-16, 2025 (7:30 pm)
Second Place: Celine Kargodosa
Third Place: Khai West
Honorable Mentions: Yo Yo Wu, Ethan Chen
Studios represented for these award winners: Brendan Nguyen, Carol Seefeldt, Chetan Tierra, Ting Ting Zhang.
DIVISION IV: WINDS
First Place: MAGGIE LIANG – Ibert Concerto for Flute, 1st mvt
~ Performs with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Branden Muresan, conductor, on Fri-Sat May 16-17, 2025 (7:30 pm)
Honorable Mentions: Ruth Tu
Studios represented for these award winners: Elena Yarritu
DIVISION V: STRINGS (through 13 yrs old)
First Place: EMEL CUBUKCU, violin – Mendelssohn Concerto E minor, 1st mvt
~ Performs with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Branden Muresan, conductor, on Fri-Sat May 16-17, 2025 (7:30 pm)
Second Place: Aaron Seo
Third Place: Sequoia Jain-Hong
Honorable Mentions: Olivia Min
Studios represented for these award winners: Sunjin Kim, Michael Tseitlin, Pasha Tseitlin.
DIVISION VI: STRINGS (14-18 yrs old)
First Place: CAITLIN WANG, violin – Lalo Symphonie espagnole, Op. 21
~ Performs with the Mira Costa College Symphony Orchestra, Branden Muresan, conductor, on Fri-Sat May 16-17, 2025 (7:30 pm)
Second Place: Julian Wu (cello)
Third Place: Tracie Liu (violin)
Honorable Mentions: Caroline Lee (violin) Alvin Wang (violin), Helen Wang (cello)
Studios represented for these award winners: Ruslan Biryukov, Chia-Ling Chien, Susanna Han, Irina Tseitlin, Michael Tseitlin, Pasha Tseitlin.
Thank you to those who were tremendously helpful to me during the competition:
Sun Yung Cho, Kathy Kim, Carol Ong-Chen, Carol Seefeldt, Chetan Tierra, Melissa Tierra, Lori Vickers, Ting Ting Zhang in piano. Elena Yarritu in winds, and Michael Dvoskin, Susanna Han, and Pasha Tseitlin in strings. And a SPECIAL thank you to Carol Seefeldt who scanned all judges’ comment sheets so they could be emailed to you quickly!
There were 27 teachers who participated this year and a total of 55 students competing!
Cheers to all!