On Saturday, May 3, 2008 the Music Teachers' Association of California South Bay Branch held the annual Scholarship Audition at two locations - St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Lomita and the studio of teacher Eunee Yee. There were more than fifty competitors in all. The judges for the event were Angela Cholakyan, Sheryl Hoffman, Joseph Matthews, DM, Janice Park, Deon Nielsen Price, Karl Snider, DMA and David Stockhammer.
The winners listed below (not including those receiving Honorable Mention) will appear at the Scholarship Winner's Recital on Sunday, May 18 at 7:30pm at the Pacific Unitarian Church in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Senior Division:
Edith Knox Senior Pianist Award - Katharine Daly, piano - student of Edwin Deveny
Erika Chary Senior Instrumentalist Award - Joseph Lee, violin - student of Gail Mellert
A~Muse Senior Pianist Award Co-Winners - Ian Counts, piano - student of Hyeja Chong Ganahl and Alexander Nelson, piano - student of Janet Favreau
A~Muse Senior Instrumentalist Award - Julie Matsuda, violin - student of Gail Mellert
Betty Nansen Award for Pianists Co-winners - Linda Edsinga, piano - student of Hyeja Chong Ganahl and Leigh Gaines, piano - student of Hyeja Chong Ganahl
Betty Nansen Award for Senior Instrumental and Vocal - Micah Nakajima, violin - student of Gail Mellert
Honorable Mention - Francesca Benfanti, voice - student of Jan Bunker
Honorable Mention - Young Choi, piano - student of Jin Yoo
Honorable Mention - Kelsey Chung, piano - student of Jin Yoo
Honorable Mention - Mari Hwang, piano - student of Lim Angela Choi
Honorable Mention - Takumi Kawashima, voice - student of Akiko Dohi
Honorable Mention - Eunice Kim, piano - student of Dr. Hyun Jung Han
Intermediate Division:
Eunee Yee Intermediate Pianist Award, 1st Prize - Fiona Stout, piano - student of Janet Favreau
Intermediate Pianist Award, 2nd Prize Co-Winners - Nathan BenYehuda, piano - student of Deborah Aitken and Chas Sonoda, piano - student of Hyeja Chong Ganahl
Honorable Mention - Cynthia Chao, piano - student of Kimmy Wang
Honorable Mention - Stephanie Chou, piano - student of Dr. Linda Mazich-Govel
Honorable Mention - Grace Waddell, piano - student of David Wu
Honorable Mention - Susan Wang, piano - student of Janet Favreau
Junior Division:
Amy Marchisotto Junior Pianist Award 1st Prize - Eric Xu, piano - student of David Wu
Ruth Cuccia Junior Pianist Award, 2nd Prize - Sabrina Kozak, piano - student of Hyeja Chong Ganahl
Elizabeth Holborn Junior Instrumentalist Award - Ellie Dunbar, violin - student of Gail Mellert
Jan Bunker Junior Vocalist Award - Ginger Luckey, voice - student of Jan Bunker
Honorable Mention - Isabella Ma, piano - student of Anli Lin Tong
Angela Cholakyan is an International Piano Competition winner and the recipient of prestigious awards in two piano competitions in the former Soviet Union.
She has collaborated with a number of famous orchestra conductors and performed solo recitals throughout the Soviet Union and the United States.
Born in Sochi, Russia, Mrs. Cholakyan began professional piano studies at the age of six, which she continued at Tchaikovsky School for Gifted Children.
A brilliant performance of Lizst’s Concerto #1 in E flat Major with the State Symphony Orchestra at the age of thirteen won Mrs. Cholakyan the reputation of a mature pianist and musician and started her performance career.
Angela performed her first solo recital at the age of fourteen, and the following year she performed Brahms concerto #1, D minor with the State Symphony Orchestra.
After winning prestigious awards in two challenging piano competitions in the Soviet Union, Angela moved to Moscow to study at Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Professor Malinin, a student and assistant of legendary Heinrich Neuhaus, the founder of the Russian School of Piano Performance.
In 1988, Angela Cholakyan immigrated to the United States.
In 1998, she founded Tchaikovsky Music Academy, where she and her colleagues taught the best traditions of the Russian School of Performance to hundreds of students.
In the United States, Angela was one of the top winners in the International Piano Competition in Florida.
Currently, Mrs. Cholakyan is working on her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at USC simultaneously working as an assistant for Professor Norman Krieger.
In 2007, Angela became the 1st prize winner of the prestigious Concerto Competition, and performed Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1, B flat minor, with the Thornton Symphony led by Carl St.Clair.
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Sheryl Hoffman performed as soloist with the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra as an Artist of the Future Concerto Competition Winner in 1977 under the baton of Maestro Joseph Valenti.
She subsequently earned a BA in Music Theory and Composition from UCLA.
She is grateful to have studied piano with Edith Know, Johanna Harris and Patricia Robinson.
A private piano teacher and member of MTAC for almost 30 years, Ms Hoffman is now a member of the Pasadena Branch, and is honored to return as an adjudicator for the South Bay Branch scholarship auditions.
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Joseph Matthews, D.M., Professor Emeritus of music in piano at Chapman University, received both his Bachelors and his Master degrees from the University of Missouri and receive his Doctorate from Indiana University. His former piano instructors include Abbey Simon, Sidney Foster and Gyorgy Sebok. As a vocal accompanist he has played for Eleanor Steber, Gianna D’Angeleo Agnes Davis and Walter Bricht.
Dr. Matthews remains an active member of MTAC. His students have received high honors from MTAC, as well as at numerous international, state and local competitions.
In 1982 he was one of ten West Coast College and University professors selected by Pomona College and the American Council of Learned Societies to receive the Arnold L and Lois P. Graves Award for outstanding teaching in the humanities.
He has recently appeared as piano soloist with the Long Beach Community, the Saddleback and the Chapman Symphonies, and in duo piano recitals with Karen Knecht.
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Janice Park, DMA, instructor of piano at Chapman University and Irvine Valley College, received Masters and Doctorate in Musical Arts degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from Chapman University.
At Chapman, she taught music theory and was a pianist for Women’s Choir.
She has been a faculty member at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music and an Assistant Lecturer at USC.
Dr. Park has received numerous honors and awards.
She is a member of Music Teachers National Association, Music Teachers’ Association of California, and Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society.
She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Musical Arts Club of Orange County.
Currently, she is a vice president and program chair of MTAC Orange County Branch.
Over the years she has judged several piano competitions and auditions.
Her article on how to teach piano students was published in the piano magazine, Keyboard Companion.
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Deon Nielsen Price is a prize-winning pianist and recording artist, commissioned composer, veteran educator and author of texts for pianists: "Accompanying Skills for Pianists" and "College Class Piano: Comprehensive Aproach".
Her degrees in piano are from Brigham Young University, University of Michigan, and University of Southern California.
Dr. Price has served on the piano and theory faculties at UCSB, CSUN, USC, LAHC, LBCC, retired from El Camino College, and is a visiting artist/composer at universities in several countries.
In April 2008, she performed two concerts with the Price Duo at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing and her concerto for clarinet and orchestra was performed at the new China National Center for the Performing Arts by the China National Symphony Orchestra.
A catalog of her books and compositions, performance schedule, discography, and audio excerpts are available on the publisher website: www.culvercrest.com.
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Karl Snider, DMA is a certified instructor of the Alexander Technique and instructor of voice.
Dr. Snider holds a doctoral degree in Choral Conducting and Vocal Pedagogy from the University of Southern California graduating with honors, a masters in Musicology from the Eastman School of Music, a BA in piano and flute performance from Pomona College and is AmSAT certified in the Alexander Technique through the Alexander Training Institute of Los Angeles.
He has taught voice and the Alexander Technique at Loyola Marymount University since 1993, also having worked at Mt. St. Mary’s College from 1988-2000.
He joined the faculty of the graduate theatre program at California State University, Long Beach and the California Repertory Company in 2005.
Dr. Snider has sung professionally with Opera Pacific and Pacific Chorale.
His students can be seen with Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Opera Pacific, Pacific Chorale, Tanglewood, Interlochen, and numerous performance venues and graduate programs nationally.
He remains active in music direction for musical theatre and opera and is a regular guest director for the Sinatra Opera Workshop at Loyola Marymount University.
As a clinician, Dr. Snider is in demand for workshops in the Alexander Technique with special emphasis in the performing arts, including actors, singers, instrumental musicians, conductors, and dancers.
Clinics include the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, several chapters of the Music Teachers Association of California, California Repertory Theatre, the Oakland Symphony Chorus, the Alexander Training Institute of Los Angeles and the New California Conservatory and several university master classes.
In 2006, Dr. Snider served as the General Coordinator for the National Convention of the American Society for the Alexander Technique.
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David Stockhammer, a native of Canada, has both a bachelors and masters degree from Juilliard School of Music in New York City where he studied with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy De Lay.
He went on to receive a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Southern California where he studied with Eudice Shapiro.
Mr. Stockhammer has performed extensively in Western Canada, New York, New England, the Midwest, the South and at Spoleto, Italy in both chamber and orchestral ensembles including the York Quartet, the USC String Quartet, the Aspen Festival Orchestra, the Ojai Festival Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
He also plays regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
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Chair: Lenita McCallum Witherspoon
I wish to acknowledge with gratitude the following persons who assisted with administering the Scholarship Program this year. -Lenita McCallum, Scholarship Chair
Eunee Yee: who gave us the use of her studio and procured the judges.
Site Coordinators: Gail Mellert, Jan Bunker
Manning the Check In Tables: Mihyang Hong Keel, Jin Yoo, Kimmy Wang, Dr. Janet Favreau, Akiko Dohi, Anli Tong
Providing Food and Bringing Lunch: Naien Xu, David Wu, Helen Suyama, Mie Shirai
Concert Reception: Dr. Hyun Jung Han, Lucy Dee, Caroline Kingston, Hyeja Chong Ganahl, Gail Mellert
Teacher’s Prize Award Tabulation: Ed Deveny, Deborah Aitken, Jan Bunker
Passing out Programs and ballots: Akiko Dohi, Lim Angela Choi, David Wu