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Providing young artists with competitive opportunities is a gift to the community that Arizona Musicfest is happy to provide. We do it annually, again with high professionalism and production values, by presenting our Young Musicians Competition, created to honor two of our founders, Chet and Ann Goldberg. The competition covers two weekends in the spring, the first a preliminary judging round, and then the Finals on the following Sunday.
This year, some of the most promising young musicians in the Valley competed in Arizona Musicfest’s 6th annual Young Musicians Competition. Preliminary rounds were held on March 17th and 18th, 2007. The following Sunday, March 25th, finalists competed for monetary prizes at Desert Foothills Lutheran Church in north Scottsdale. The event was open to the public, free of charge. The Competition was open to students in grades 7 to 12, performing as soloists or as members of an ensemble. Classic Residence at Silverstone provided a generous grant to underwrite the winners’ prizes and other event expenses.
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2007 Finalists
Front row, left to right: Heejin Jeon (piano), Mia Laity (violin), Chaz Salazar (flute)
Middle row, left to right: String Trio: Michaela Kingsley (viola), Usha Kapoor (violin), Rajan Kapoor (cello), Jeannine Braunberger, (representing event sponsor Classic Residence at Silverstone), Karen Nguyen (piano), Ilina Mitra (piano)
Back row, left to right: Rudy Chen (piano), Anes Sung (violin), Grace Do (piano), Elmer Fan (piano)
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Because of the intensity of the competition, every competitor is given a remarkable learning opportunity. By entering the Arizona Musicfest Young Musicians Competition, a student is exposed to the discipline of competition and of playing formally in front of peers and critics. This can become vital in the development of a young musician as it can help him/her deal with the butterflies of live solo or ensemble performances and all the unexpected occurrences that pop up before and during such presentations.
In addition to cash prizes, the Competition also provides winners an important resume item as they move on to higher education endeavors. Many of our former competitors have gone on to study at the famous conservatories and schools of music throughout the country.
Arizona Musicfest Young Musicians Competition 2007
Winners, Runners-up and Honorable Mentions
For 2006 Winners, Runners-up and Honorable Mentions, please click here.
Division One
Solo Instruments, Grades 7 & 8
Winner
Karen Nguyen, Piano
8th grade, Kyrene Aprende Middle School
Runners-Up
Anes Sung, Violin
7th grade, Kyrene Altadena Middle School
Rudy Chen, Piano
8th grade, Altadena Middle School
Honorable Mention
Usha Kapoor, Violin
7th grade, Mesquite Junior High School
Ho-Young Ahn, Clarinet
7th grade, Highland Junior High School
Division Two
Solo Instruments, Grades 9 & 10
Winner
Mia Laity, Violin
9th grade, Home Schooled
Runners-Up
Chaz Salazar, Flute
9th grade, Marcos de Niza High School
Grace Do, Piano
10th grade, Corona del Sol High School
Heejin Jeon, Piano
9th grade, Tempe Preparatory Academy
Honorable Mention
Hanah Vutipadadorn
10th grade, Mesquite High School
Bethany Jeffress
9th grade, Arizona School for the Arts
Gloria Young
10th grade, Hamilton High School
Division Three
Solo Instruments, Grades 11 & 12
Winner
Elmer Fan, Piano
11th grade, Dobson High School
Runners-Up
Ilina Mitra, Piano
11th grade, Corona del Sol High School
Honorable Mention
Jordan Wong
11th grade, Desert Mountain High School
Jeffrey Yeh
12th grade, Desert Mountain High School
Division Four
Ensembles, Grades 7-12
Winners
String Trio:
Usha Kapoor, Violin
7th grade, Mesquite Junior High School
Michaela Kingsley, Viola
9th grade, Home Schooled
Rajan Kapoor, Cello
7th grade, Mesquite Junior High School
Honorable Mention
String Quartet:
Victor Beyens, Violin
10th grade, Chaparral High School
Crystal Sheffield, Violin
11th grade, Chaparral High School
Vince Young, Viola
12th grade, Saguaro High School
Rebecca Hui, Cello
10th grade, Chaparral High School
The Distinguished Judges
In addition to offering a performance opportunity, the Competition also provides a chance for these talented musicians to play before distinguished judges. This year, the Young Musicians Competition had three judges. Dumitru Lazarescu returned for his sixth year as an adjudicator, and two participated for a first time, Barbara Spoelman and Eugene Wade. Read about their careers below.
Dumitru Lazarescu
Mr. Lazarescu is currently Assistant Principal Second Violin of The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. A native of Romania, Mr. Lazarescu graduated from the Academy of Music in Bucharest, Romania, with a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance. He was a member of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra for nine years, where he served as Associate Principal and Principal Second Violin. Mr. Lazarescu defected from Romania in 1980 and joined The Phoenix Symphony shortly thereafter.
Mr. Lazarescu has performed and recorded contemporary music with the Ensemble 21, and collaborated and recorded with other musicians. He is also a featured performer in the popular Downtown Chamber Series. He is active as a teacher of violin and orchestral training/coaching.
During the summer, Mr. Lazarescu attends the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he performs as an orchestral and chamber music player.
One of Mr. Lazarescu’s life highlights was meeting Aram Khatchaturian, the famous Russian composer, who visited Romania in the early 1960s.
Some of Mr. Lazarescu’s other interests are jazz violin, rock climbing, photography, and camera collecting. He lives in Ahwatukee with his wife, Carol, three cats (Duncan, Tiger and Beethoven), and one dog, Cissi.
Barbara Spoelman
Ms. Spoelman received her Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from Eastern Illinois University, where she studied with Dr. Catherine Smith, a student of the Hungarian pianist and composer Ernst von Dohnanyi, and her Master’s in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Arizona State University. She is currently a doctoral candidate at ASU.
Ms. Spoelman has been a Faculty Associate in the ASU Piano Prep Program and Conservatory for the past 17 years. During this time, she has created original curriculum, and taught both group and private lessons to all levels of piano students, from young beginners through advanced students. A member of the Music Teachers National Association, she has served widely as an adjudicator for the Arizona School for the Arts, the Arizona Study Program, Keyboard Gymnastics, East Valley Music Teachers Association (EVMTA) Competitions, Maricopa Community Colleges, and the Arizona Young Artists Competition. Ms. Spoelman has been featured as a guest clinician throughout the greater Phoenix area since 1989.
Eugene Wade
Mr. Wade was appointed Principal French Horn of the Detroit Symphony in 1972 and retired from that orchestra in 2000. Prior to that, he was a member for five years of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Rochester (NY) Philharmonic for two years, and, for one year following his formal schooling, the New Orleans Philharmonic. For four years between New Orleans and Rochester, he taught instrumental music in the Wichita, Kansas, public schools.
Born in Wellington, Kansas, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Wichita State University, his Master’s from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and earned a Performance Certificate at the Eastman School of Music. He has appeared as a soloist with a number of orchestras, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra. In addition, he performed with the Detroit Symphony Woodwind Quintet.
As a teacher, he has been an adjunct professor at Wichita State University, the University of Minnesota, Carleton College, Mankato State Univesity, Wayne State University, and the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. He has served as a guest clinician for the Great Lakes chapter of the International Horn Society and has twice been a recitalist and lecturer at the annual conference of the International Horn Society.
2008 Competition Information & Rules
(click here to download a .pdf version)
Competition Information
Competition Site
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church (29306 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale)
**Please Note: The Church will not be available for practice during the week.
Schedule
Preliminary Round
Saturday, March 29, 2008, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday, March 30, 2008, 1:15 to 5:00 pm
All contestants will perform in the Preliminaries; audio tapes, video & DVDs are not accepted.
Finals Competition
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The Finals Competition will be open to the public.
Of Special Interest to Contestants
A Certificate of Participation will be presented to every musician who enters the Competition.
Winners will receive monetary prizes awarded by Arizona Musicfest.
Winner & Finalists will be offered other performance opportunities with Arizona Musicfest.
Applications
(click here to download the .pdf application)
Each contestant must submit an application, along with a $7 fee, to Arizona Musicfest. Ensembles will pay one $7 fee for the group.
**Applications will be accepted in the order they are received and must be postmarked by March 1, 2008. Competition is limited to 50 participants.
Competition Rules
Contestants must be in grades 7 through 12 and studying with a private teacher and/or under the private supervision of a school music teacher. The private teacher or school music instructor must initial the contestant’s application.
Competition categories are solo piano, organ and orchestral instruments (Division I-III), and ensembles from three to nine instruments (Division IV).
Music chosen for performance should be standard literature chosen from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic or Contemporary period(s).
*Note: Jazz or ragtime are not considered standard literature and are therefore excluded from the competition.
The judges will choose up to three finalists in each Division to compete in the Finals. Because of the limited number of finalists, contestants may compete on only one instrument in the solo Divisions (I-III) and in one ensemble in Division IV.
The judges will award prizes in those divisions where contestants display artistic qualities of excellence. They may withhold prizes if, in their opinion, no contestant displays the requisite artistry.
Judges will be appointed by the Competition Committee. The judges’ decisions with regard to the choice of finalists and prize winners are final.
Except for ensembles, competition literature must be memorized.
At the Preliminary round only, a clean, printed copy of the piece(s) to be performed must be presented to the judges. All music will be returned to contestants. (No machine copied, please.)
Contestants are expected to provide their own accompanists, if needed. Ensembles should be self-conducting.
Any dispute regarding the Rules will be decided by the Competition Chair.
Prizes & Literature Requirements
Division One - Grades 7 & 8
Winner: $300; Runners-up: $150 each
Solo piano, organ or other orchestral instruments.
One classical selection, approximately four minutes in duration.
Division Two - Grades 9 & 10
Winner: $350; Runners-up: $175 each
Solo piano, organ or other orchestral instruments.
One classical selection, approximately five minutes in duration.
Division Three - Grades 11 & 12
Winner: $400; Runners-up: $200 each
Solo piano, organ or other orchestral instruments.
Two classical selections, each approximately five minutes in length. Contrasting styles are recommended.
Division Four: Ensemble - Grades 7-12
Winner: $450; Runners-up: $250
Instrumental ensembles – trios through nonets.
Two classical selections, each approximately five minutes in duration. Contrasting styles are recommended.
Please call the Arizona Musicfest office if you have any questions: 480.488.0806.
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