Young Pianist Competition of New JerseyPage 1
Newsletter
Fall 2009
Dear Members:
This is the 20th edition of our annual newsletter. This letter comes out twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall, and features news about our upcoming events, Competition Winners, Alumni, and Teachers. We hope that this will be helpful and keep you up-to-date with our events.
If you have any news that you would like us to put in our next issue, please mail it to Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey, P.O. Box 3, Martinsville, NJ 08836, send a fax to 908-704-1694, or e-mail to . All materials must be submitted in typed format. Please submit your materials by February 1, 2009 for our next issue.
Please check our website for the 2009-2010 dates and events, applications, and competition rule updates.
Board of Directors
DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR
October 24, 2009 / Workshop Recital, Raritan Valley Community College. Materials must be submitted by October 14November 15, 2009 / Fundraising Concert, 1286 Washington Valley Road, Bridgewater, NJ 08807. Featuring Anastasia Khitruk Violin and Sergei Babayan, Piano
January 11, 2010 / Application & Tape Deadline for Concerto, Ensemble, and Chamber Music Divisions
January 16, 2010 /
Late Application & Tape Deadline for Concerto, Ensemble, and Chamber Music Divisions
January 30, 2010 / Concerto, Ensemble, and Chamber Music Divisions Semi Final Round at Steinway Hall, NYCT.B.A. / Concerto, Ensemble, and Chamber Music Divisions Final Round at Steinway Hall
March 6, 2010 / Concert: Plainfield Symphony Orchestra featuring the 2009 Gold Prize Winners of the Concerto Divisions, Doris Lee performing Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 and Sean Lee performing Prokofieff Piano Concerto No. 1
March 20, 2010 / Workshop Recital, Raritan Valley Community College. Materials must be submitted by March 10
April 1, 2010 / Membership Renewal
April 5, 2010 / Application Deadline for Solo, Young Artist Divisions
April 17, 2010 / Workshop Recital, Raritan Valley Community College. Materials must be submitted by April 7
April 19, 2010 / Application & Video Tape Deadline (Preliminary Round) for Cyclical Work Division
May 1, 2010 / Preliminary Roundfor Young Artist Division
May 2, 2010 / Preliminary Roundfor Solo Division
May 15, 2010 / Final Roundfor Young Artist & Cyclical Work Divisions
May 16, 2010 / Final Round for Solo Division
June 5, 2010 / Solo & Young Artists Winners’ Recital at Weill Recital Hall
ADMINISTRATION
Lana Ivanov
Executive Director
J. Anthony StrongChairman of the Board
Yelena Ivanov
Artistic Director / DIVISION CHAIRS
Eugenia Betman
Concerto Divisions
Larissa Blitz
Chamber Music
Yelena MamonovaSolo Division
Sondra TammamEnsemble Division
J. Anthony Strong
Young Artist Division
Cyclical Work Division / OTHER ACTIVITIES
Yelena Ivanov
Workshop Recital Chair
Anna Vaidman
Treasurer
Irene Gersh
Director of PublicityDevelopment
George Lykogiannis
Musica in Laguna AdministrationCONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE 2009 SOLO & YOUNG ARTIST & CYCLICAL WORK DIVISIONS
Students / Division / Award / TeacherAnastasia Falasca / Young Artist / Gold Prize / Veda Zuponcic
Monica Chon / Solo / Gold Prize / Yelena Ivanov
Stella Chen / Young Artist / Silver Prize / Joy Kiszely
Justin Wong / Solo / Silver Prize / *
Kevin Lee / Cyclical Work / Silver Prize / Yelena Ivanov
Doris Lee / Young Artist / Bronze Prize / Yelena Ivanov
Edward Leung / Solo / Bronze Prize / *
John Carpenter / Solo / Bronze Prize / *
Brianna Tang / Young Artist / Honorable Mention / Yelena Ivanov
Brendan Tang / Young Artist / Honorable Mention / Yelena Ivanov
Amanda Chow / Solo / Honorable Mention / Lana Ivanov
Alexandra He / Solo / Honorable Mention / Lena Solaiman
Vincent La / Solo / Honorable Mention / Yelena Mamonova
Annling Wang / Solo / Honorable Mention / Svitlana Fiorito
YPCNJ’s Board of Directors says “Thank you” to all of the other participating teachers and students who performed in our Winner's Recital held on June 14, 2009 at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall.
Connie Jiang (student of Ieva Carucci);Sean Yu, Seth Blumer (students of Svitlana Fiorito); Jacqueline Chen (student of Ursula Ingolfsson);James Lin, Helen Shen, Stephanie Sun (students of Lana Ivanov);Kevin Buczkowski, Claudia Hu, Pauline Qin (students of Yelena Ivanov);Tina Li, Erica Liu, Alex Nie, Cathy Nie, Laura Shu(students of Yelena Mamonova); Julie Kim, Diane Lee, Annette Yoo (students of Kay Rhee); Jiarui Wang (student of Lena Solaiman); Rose Yin (student of Liyin Torng); Rong Hong Wei (student of Peter Vinograde); Andrew Hong (student of James Vaughan); Shavonne Teng (student of Marion Zarzeczna); Jonathan Wei (student of Paul Zeigler); Gabrielle Hsu, Amanda Liu (students of Veda Zuponcic);Jung Yeon Lee*, Evan Wu*
* - Teacher not a member
WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS
Harrison / Li / Dix Hills, NYFrank / Long / Princeton Junction, NJ
Joseph / Min / Tenafly, NJ
Ioannis / Potamousis / Hartsdale, NY
Annling / Wang / Stamford, CT
Evan / Wu / Kendall Park, NJ
Vivian / Xu / Palisades Park, NJ
Yihao / Yang / Short Hills, NJ
Anxin (Aileen) / Zhu / Short Hills, NJ
COMPETITION NEWS
Brochures & Website: YPCNJ will no longer print season brochures or send out applications in mass mailings. All of the competition’s information, applications, etc. are available on our Website ( which stays very current. Please consult the website for any questions that you might have. If you still have unanswered questions regarding our events, please E-mail us, which can be done by using the Contact Us link on our website. All of your concerns will be answered promptly. This is the most efficient way to contact our organization and receive information in a timely fashion.
MEMBER NEWS
Svetlana Fiorito’s Studio: 8 year old Chelsea Guo was named 1st Prize Winner at the 24th Annual Washington International Young Artist Competition in D.C.
In June of 2009, Yelena Ivanov received the Teacher Recognition award presented by the US Department of Education. She traveled to Washington D.C. and took part in the celebration of the 2009 Scholar Program. Her student Allen Yueh was the only piano student chosen among the US scholars and was a recipient of the $10,000.00 scholarship.
Veda Zuponcic had an active year as teacher, performer and administrator. As Artistic Director of the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora , Minnesota, the festival presented 20 concerts in 18 days, including chamber music, orchestral concerts and opera; this year’s production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel was presented three times to sold out houses. Together with the Northern Lights Chamber Players, she performed Schubert’s Trout Quintet in Aurora and Duluth. Her students Gabrielle Hsu and Cassandra Sollitto won the NLMF Concerto Competition and performed with orchestra. Her Rowan University student Alexei Ivanchenko won 2nd place in the national MTNA Young Artists Competition held in Atlanta in March. He also won the Washington D.C. International Young Pianists Competition in June. Together with two members of the Northern Lights Chamber Players, he will represent NJ in the MTNA Chamber Music Competition, performing the Babajanian Piano Trio. Miss Zuponcic’s student Alexei Ulitin will represent NJ in the Eastern Division of the MTNA Young Artists Competition. In January, Miss Zuponcic will perform the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of South Jersey. She is organizing a Schumann/Chopin Festival for Spring 2010 at Rowan University and will perform an all Schumann recital, including the Schumann Quintet. She is proud to announce that Rowan University has become an All-Steinway School, and together with her colleague Lydia Boguslavsky, selected new D’s, B’s and A’s at the Steinway factory in August. Since the year 2005, the school has acquired 18 new Steinway grands for practice and performance, as well as more than 35 Boston grands and uprights for practice.
ALUMNI NEWS
Monica Chon (16 years old) received the Honorable Mention Award at the Ithaca Piano Competition.
Doris Lee (17 years old) was accepted as a scholarship student to participate at the Mannes International Keyboard Institute and the Shandelee Music Festival. On October 2nd, she performed at the Shandelee Fall Family Concert in front of 300 middle and high school students at the Monticello High School. She was also a second place winner of the Ithaca Piano Competition.
Kevin Lee (15 years old) was a scholarship student at the Shandelee Music Festival. He was also a winner of the Crescent Concerts Young Artists Audition and will perform at their annual recital on October 24.
Edward Leung was the first prize winner in the 2009 New York Music Competition. He also placed second in the 24th Annual International Young Artist Piano Competition held in Washington D.C.
Brianna Tang (10 years old) was anHonorable Mention winner of the 2009 Young Pianist Honor Recital, Piano Teachers Congress of New York, Second Place (age 9 & 10, category B) at the 12th New York Music Competition, YWCA of Queens & Korean Daily News, performed at Carnegie Hall, won the 2009 NJMTA High Honor Recital, 5th year award and was a winner at the2009 FestivalMusica in Laguna, Italy.
Brendan Tang(8 years old) was the First Place winner (age 7 & 8, category A) at the 12th New York Music Competition, YWCA of Queens & Korean Daily News, performed at Carnegie Hall, was the First Place of the orchestra division and Second Place of the Solo Division at the 2009 Festival Musica in Laguna, Italy, and won the 2009 NJMTA High Honor Recital 3rd year award.
After a successful series of solo concert appearances in fall 2008, Allen Yueh(18 years old) was presented again on April 26 this year by the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation for a solo performance in the Nadia Reisenberg Young Artists Series at Ossining, New York, and he will perform a solo concert on November 8 in New York City. In May, 2008, Allen was named one of the twenty 2009 Presidential Scholars in the Arts - the highest honor bestowed on the nation's graduating high school seniors, by U.S. Department of Education andThe Commissionon Presidential Scholars. He was honored along with other winners in the White House and performed at the prestigious Kennedy Center in June. Allen was accepted to both Juilliard and Harvard University. He is current a freshman at Harvard. In addition toa challenging academic curriculum at Harvard, Allen continues his study of piano performance under the guidance of Professor Robert Levin and Mrs. Yelena Ivanov.
JULY 2010 PROGRAM FOR THE FESTIVAL Musica in Laguna, Corsi Musicali
Next festival dates are July 1 – 14, 2010. The available piano programs consist of Workshops, Concerto Competitions for Junior and Senior divisions. Participants in the Concerto program will have five private lessons, two of which will be accompanied by Orchestra Sinfonica del Festival di Chioggia. Winners of the Concerto Competitions will perform in concert with Orchestra Sinfonica del Festival di Chioggia.
Junior Division: Age 6 – 12 Inclusive:
Johann Sebastian Bach: / Piano Concerto in F Minor, BWV 1056Franz Joseph Haydn: / Piano Concerto in D Major, Hob. XVIII:11
Divertimentos
Junior Division: 13 – 16 - inclusive:
Johann Sebastian Bach: / Piano Concerto in F Minor, BWV 1056Ludwig van Beethoven: / Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: / Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 449
Senior Division: Age 17 and up
Ludwig van Beethoven: / Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37Johannes brahms: / Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: / Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467
Festival Musica in Laguna will also hold an International Piano Solo Competition for Junior & Senior Divisions. Gold winners will receive cash awards and a full tuition scholarship to the 2009 Festival.
For those who are interested in participating in this program and would like to take advantage of airfare group rates, please contact us by January 15, 2010.
Those 2010 prizewinners of the Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey (any division) attending the 2010 Festival “Musica in Laguna” are eligible for the Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey scholarship:
Gold Prize$500.00 towards tuition
Silver Prize$375.00 towards tuition
Bronze Prize$250.00 towards tuition
For further information, please contact:
Festival Musica in Laguna
P.O. Box 3
Martinsville, NJ 08836
Fax: 908-704-1694
E-mail:
www: YoungPianist.org // International Summer Program