Alexander, Grant, Landon, and Daniel perform at the AMERICA 250! Exhibit

April 14 at the historic Schmidt House, Alexander, Grant, Landon, and Daniel (along with their teachers), performed for the “America 250!” Exhibit, put on by the Daughters of the American Revolution. This was a special invitation for OMTA members and students. Students performed classical, ragtime, jazz, blues, solo and duet music to an appreciative audience! Representatives in full period costumes were happy to give tours and information about the time period around the American Revolution. Everyone played so well and enjoyed some popping-candy infused chocolate afterwards!

What a beautiful day to perform at the historic Schmidt House, built in 1904 for the founders of the Olympia Brewing Company. The students got to pose with representatives in full authentic costumes.

Grant performed “River City Blues” by Martha Pier, Burgmuller’s “L’adieu”, and “Fur Elise” on this 5’7” parlor Steinway Grand. What a great view out the window!

Alexander played Joplin’s Cascades Rag, “Haydn' Sonata in G”, and Bach Invention #4 - these fun tunes all may have been performed at this home back when the original owners lived here!

Landon played some Beatles and Bach’s Musette in D, followed by duets with Daniel - Pink Panther and Diabelli’s Scherzo!

OMTA Honor Recitals 2024

Congrats to Anoova and Chloe for performing as winners of the OMTA Honor Recital! Our two alternates were Landon and Alexander. Honorable Mention goes to Gyu-Rim and Simone!

The Honor Recitals took place at Westwood Baptist, a 1:45 and 2:30 program, with amazing performances!

Chloe and Anoova - winners of the OMTA Honors Competition AND the WSMTA State Honor Recital Competition! Chloe performed Chopin’s 3rd Sonata, 4th movement; Anoova performed Scriabin’s Deux Poemes, Op. 32. Congratulations!


MAP, WSMTA, Composition Contest Updates!

MAP Week is finished, and everyone worked hard to prepare and did a great job! I applaud all the students (and student-teachers) for their hours of focus and practice👏. You should all be so proud of yourselves. Thank you also to the parents who are always there for encouragement and support! Dr. Menchetti and Dr. Manalac had helpful suggestions and comments for students, and also many compliments for the beautiful playing.

The Visiting Artists selected a few of our students for honors. Congratulations!

OMTA Honors Recital Winners: Chloe (Chopin Sonata) and Anoova (Scriabin Deux Poèmes)!

OMTA Honors Recital Alternates: Landon and Alexander!

Honorable Mention: Gyu-Rim and Simone!

The OMTA Honors Recital will be this Sunday at Westwood Baptist Church @ 1:45 and 2:30pm. It is free and open to the public, so if you are able, please come and hear these talented young pianists, as it is always a fabulous performance! FYI, Chloe and Anoova will perform at the 1:45 recital.

WSMTA Honors Recital Competition Results: Chloe and Anoova are the two prize winners from our chapter 🎉! Winners go on to the State Conference to perform there (last year, Alexander was the representative from our chapter)!

Composition Contest: we entered our Piano Pal compositions into a Composition Contest, and the results are in!

1st place: Alexander "Panda Rag"

2nd place: Gyu-Rim "Autumn Rainfall"

3rd place: Chloe "Un-Original Rag"

Honorable Mention: Grant "Sailing"

Congratulations!

Grant performed Chopin’s Polonaise in G# Minor, a showy and technical piece composed by Chopin as a young teenager!

Alexander is a huge Scott Joplin fan - he performed The Cascades Rag!

Piectzonka’s Tarantella was performed energetically by Gyu-Rim’s fast fingers!

Competitors of the first group - Congrats to. the winner, Chloe!

Competitors of the second group - congrats to our other chapter winner, Anoova!

Dr. Gabriel Mañalac works with Linnea. Dr. Fabio Menchetti was our other wonderful VA.

Music Artistry Program 2024

Our annual Music Artistry Program (MAP)!

Place: St. Martins University, Fine Arts Bldg

Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Time: 1:30 to 5:30pm

Visiting Artists: Dr. Fabio Menchetti from WSU (and Dr. Gabriel Manalac from Whatcom)

Schedule for Tuesday, March 5, 2024:

1:35 Alexander
2:15 Gyu-Rim
2:45 Landon
3:15 Simone

3:25 Anoova
4:00 Sky
4:35 Justin
5:05 O.C.

Schedule for Sunday, March 3:

3:45-4:15. Student Teacher Chloe and Students

4:15: Grant

4:55: Chloe

Schedule for Monday, March 4:

5:20-5:40. Student Teacher Sky and Students

Winter Master Lesson Schedule is posted!

Winter Master Lessons will take place Feb. 10-11, 2024!

I'm excited you can have this opportunity to take a Master Lesson with Dr. Ronaldo Rolim of University of Puget Sound! Here is our schedule, and note that there are 3 different locations:

Saturday, Feb. 10 (at Bowman Studio - 1826 Allegro Drive SE, Olympia)

10:30: Grant (Chopin Polonaise & Handel Chaconne)

11:30: Sky (Chopin Nocturne/Copland?)

Saturday, Feb. 10 (at Allen Studio - 2021 Lakewood Dr SE))

1:00: Landon (Bach & Pachelbel)

1:30: Gyu-Rim (Pietzonka & Scarlatti)

2:15: Anoova (Mozart & Scriabin/Babadjanian?)

3:00: Simone (Chopin Nocturn & Tango)

3:45: Chloe (Chopin Sonata & Beethoven Tempest)

Sunday, Feb. 11 (at Morse Studio - 6443 Tralee Dr NW Olympia WA)

9-9:45: Alexander (Joplin & Bach)

Please confirm with me that this time works for you. Let me know if you have any questions - I think this will be a great and energizing performance experience!

Last Piano Email of 2023!

Congratulations to all of our students who provided holiday, jazz, and classical tunes to our community the past two weekends - everyone played so well and the audiences (Christmas Forest, Barnes & Noble, Stonewell Senior) really enjoyed it! Thank you for being part of the musical culture of Olympia!

"12- DAYS" PRACTICE CHALLENGE

This week is the last week of lessons for 2023 - phew! Lessons will resume on Jan. 8. Please note that our break is longer than usual. SOOOO, we are going to have a "TWELVE DAYS OF WINTER BREAK" practice challenge! I'll be passing out the challenge at lessons this week. Prizes for the top 3 practicers!

MAP REGISTRATION, MASTER LESSONS, AND GUILD!

FYI, I will be registering all students in the annual Music Artistry Program (MAP/Adjudications) in January. Please let me know ASAP if you do NOT want your student to participate, and make sure you have sent in the registration fee (this was in the last billing email.

Secondly, Dr. Ronaldo Rolim will be coming to Olympia for Master Lessons Feb. 10-11! Please let me know right away if you are interested in working with him - he is fantastic! 30, 45, and 60 min. slots are available.

And lastly, National Guild will be in early June, but we will be registering in February, so keep a look out for more information and let me know if you have any questions.

It's been a tremendous 3.5 months since Fall Lessons began. I am so proud of all of the students for their hard work, progress, and dedication. Happiest of Holidays to all of you and your families!

Concerto Competition 2023 - Update!

Six sensational students represented our studio at the 24th Annual OMTA Concerto Competition the weekend before Thanksgiving. Taking place on stage at the beautiful auditorium of Gospel Outreach Church, students performed on a concert Steinway grand piano. The competition was fierce this year, making the decisions by judges Dr. Oksana Ejokina and Dr. Ricardo de la Torre very tough. The judges made it clear that all students participating were outstanding, and they were sorry not to be able to award more performers.

From our studio, all students received very high marks.

Elementary: Landon A (Mier Concerto in Classical Style) - 2ND PRIZE!

Intermediate A: Alexander M (Rollin Concerto Romantique) - 2ND PRIZE!

Intermediate B: Grant W (Miller Concerto in Am - 3rd) - HON. MENTION! Gyu-Rim B (Rahbee “Peasant” Concerto) - HON. MENTION! Simone M. (Miller Concerto - 2nd) - Excellent Performance!

Advanced B: Anoova S (Mendelssohn Gm - 3rd) - 3RD PRIZE!

We applaud all of you for your hard work and your beautiful music - CONGRATULATIONS!

November Updates

It's November and the holiday season is approaching! Students have already been making amazing progress in the last 2 months. We have some exciting events coming up before the end of the calendar year.

GROUP PERFORMANCE CLASS

Friday, November 17 @ 4:45: Group Performance Class - Concerto and Repertoire Recital! This class will be a "recital format" to help us get ready for the Concerto Competition and other performances. Families are welcome to attend, but please RSVP so I can have enough chairs available. November is also the start of our annual Piano Pal project! Students will receive their "secret pal" at the next lesson.

Our last group class featured another Piano Challenge - Sloth/Turtle Practice! Students are invited to bring in their sheets for a prize.

CONCERTO COMPETITION:

This competition is free and open to the public. I highly recommend that you attend, as some of Olympia's top young pianists are represented here! The schedule will be posted under “Events”.

Saturday/Sunday: OMTA Concerto Competition (Gospel Outreach Church)

1. Saturday, Nov. 18, 11:30-5pm: Elementary, Lower Intermediate, and Upper Intermediate Divisions

2. Sunday, Nov. 19, 3-6:30pm: Advnaced A (Baroque/Classical) and Advanced B (Romantic/Contemporary) Divisions. The first prize winners of both Advanced A and B will be featured as soloists with the OCO in February!

WINTER RECITALS

Winter Recitals - 2 opportunities to perform in our communities!

1. Sunday, December 3 @ 1pm: Providence Christmas Forest Recital - We have been invited once again to perform at the Christmas Forest. This is a (very) informal performance format to share your Christmas, Classical and Jazz favorites with the community. In addition, all performers receive free admission to view the fabulous Christmas Forest! More information, bidding and purchase can be found here: www. https://www.provforest.org

2. Saturday, Dec. 9 @ Barnes and Noble, 11:30am. Come share your holiday, Classical and Jazz tunes for our Olympia community and do a little Christmas shopping at B&N on this day! A percentage of the proceeds from sales during the day will go to the OMTA student programs/scholarships.

We also want to wish Anoova the very best as she heads to CWU for the Outstanding Artist Piano Competition on Sunday. She will perform a fully memorized program of Mozart, Scriabin, Grieg and Rachmaninoff. This competition features some of the best young pianists in the entire state, and it is a great honor to participate! It was also great to see many of you at the last OSO concert where Chloe performed Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, what a fantastic performance!

That's all for now! This email covered a lot of material, so please let me know if you have any questions!

Master Teachers Share Expertise with Olympia Students

October was a month of several masterclass opportunities! Students from our studio and beyond were able to gain from the insights of visiting master teachers. First, Dr. Stephen Moore came, one of the foremost world experts on Dalcroze Technique. He’s also a former teacher of Ramona! Second, Dr. William Chapman Nyaho stayed in Olympia for 2 days full of lessons. He is a world-class pedagogue, and students really enjoyed how fun he made each piece! Famed Russian pianist from Yale, Boris Berman, gave a master class at UPS, wonderful insights! Lastly, Mackenzie Melemed performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Symphony Tacoma and afterwards gave a masterclass for a small number of students with excellent teaching tips. I’m so happy students were able to take advantage of these amazing teachers!

Chloe and the OSO Triumphantly take on Tchaikovsky!

October 15, 2023: Chloe and the Olympia Symphony Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto to a nearly sold-out crowd of admirers and music and arts lovers. The stunning performance had everyone on their feet with shouts of encores and bravos all around!

The backstory: It has been months of preparation for this moment. When Chloe won the inaugural OSO Young Artist competition in January, it was with the expectation that she would perform the rollicking 7-minute THIRD movement of the Tchaikovsky. However, the monumental FIRST movement had been on her “dream list” of pieces to learn for several years (it’s much harder than the 3rd movement, and over 20 minutes long!), so we put in a request to change it. Then in February, Maestra Alex asked if Chloe would like to perform the entire concerto - wow! Chloe was thrilled to be asked and eagerly agreed to it! It felt like a huge honor to be asked to do this. By early summer, Chloe finished learning the 1st and 2nd movements. She then performed it at as many places and for as many people as we could (more than 10 times) between July and October. We thank all of the wonderful friends, relatives, and teachers who supported Chloe by coming to these pre-concerts - some even came twice!

The week of the performance, there were 2 rehearsals with the orchestra; Chloe also played for two master lessons, had a chamber orchestra clinic 2 days before, a radio interview, and the PSAT the day before - it was a crazy schedule! The day of the concert, there was a full dress rehearsal ending less than 2 hours before show time, with an interview in between!

So many friends, family, and supporters came to the concert for which we are so appreciative! Chloe says it was the BEST day of her life!!! We thank all of the wonderful people who came with support and encouragement along the way!

Lang Lang Comes to Seattle!

For the Silver Anniversary of Benaroya Hall, superstar pianist Lang Lang was the featured guest artist. He is a true artist in every sense of the word! The audience was blown away by his Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 with the stunning Seattle Symphony. He played 2 encores: Moon over the Lake, and Rainbow Connection!

Yes, we’re fans! We signed up for a subscription to Seattle Symphony just for Lang Lang. (There’s a great lineup of artists!)

October Concerts!

There are three upcoming concerts this October! Everyone is invited!

First Concert, October 15, 3pm: Chloe and the OSO! As the inaugural winner of the Olympia Symphony Young Artist competition, Chloe will be performing the Tchaikovsky 1st Piano Concerto with them at their October concert. Tickets and more information can be found here: https://www.olympiasymphony.org/23-24-season. Let’s all come out and support our own Chloe!

Second Concert, Oct. 23, 6:15pm: Ramona and Friends will perform chamber music by Bach, Dvorak, de Falla, and Behrens. The theme will be “Storytelling in Music”! This series always sells out and is preceded by a delicious wine and h’ors-d’oeuvre buffet. Ticket infomation is below, and the deadline for purchase is October 9.

Third Concert, October 29 @ 2:30pm: Olympia Chamber Orchestra performs Saint-Saens beloved “Carnival of the Animals”. Ramona & Hannah will perform as duo-pianists in this piece. Tickets and information can be found here! https://www.olympiachamberorchestra.org/performances

French Style

PROGRAM*

Emelie Mayer -- Overture No. 2 in D
Dario Argentesi -- Suite for Low Budget Orchestra
W.A. Mozart -- Symphony No. 31 "Paris"
Camille Saint-Saëns -- The Carnival of the Animals
Hye-Kyeong "Hannah" Cho & Ramona Allen, piano

Happy Fall and Welcome to the 2023-24 School Year!

Dear Piano Families:

Welcome to Fall Lessons! I hope it’s been a great summer, and I can’t wait to hear all about it and get started for the new school year! This email contains info on TWO events.

MASTER LESSONS OCT 13-14

Lessons are just starting up, and we already have a Master Lesson opportunity to sign up for! Dr. William Chapman Nyaho will be here Oct. 13 and 14 to share his expertise. He is back by popular demand and is EXCELLENT! This would be a great opportunity to perform your concerto for a nationally-recognized pedagogue. Friday, Oct. 13 is a No-School day for OSD! Lessons are $85/hour, which is a greatly discounted rate for us. Please let me know if you would like 30, 45, or 60 min. Time slots are available at:

Friday Oct. 13: 2-6pm

Saturday Oct. 14: 9-10:30am

STONEWELL SENIOR CARE PERFORMANCES

Many of you have performed for the lovely senior citizens at Stonewell Senior Home, near my house. We have been providing music for them weekly for the past 2+ years, and they sure do appreciate seeing and hearing you. This is a wonderful low-key performance opportunity, as well as a chance to do some community service through sharing your music. I would encourage everyone to do it at least a few times, especially before recitals, MAP, and competitions. Everyone taking part in Concerto Competition in November should sign up, and you can take a friend, family member or another student with you. Please let me know which weeks you are available.

Day and Time: Friday afternoons, 4-4:30pm

Address: 4931 Stonewell Ln SE, Olympia, 98501

Available Dates:

9/15

9/22

9/29

10/6

10/13

10/20

10/27

11/10

11/17

12/1

12/15

12/22

I’m looking forward to another fantastic year of music-making!

WSMTA Annual Conference Update

WSMTA Conference, Winthrop: June 26-28. A refreshing and educational time for the piano teachers - lots of classes, recitals and meeting old and new colleagues!

Alexander performs at WSMTA Convention, June 28 @ 11am, Sun Mountain Lodge (Winthrop). This recital features winners and alternate of the Honors Competitions around the state. Congratulations!

Alexander nailed his performance of “Laser Light Show” - awesome job - the audience loved it! Here, we are enjoying the beautiful scenery and sunshine after the concert!

Music Literacy Program - Gold Seals

Students who participated in the MLP exam in the spring received beautiful ribbons and certificates from the State. Those scoring above 94% will have their names listed on the state newsletter, and their certificates will have a gold seal (see below).

Landon shows off his gold seal and certificate for MLP - good job!

Our studio participants were Grant, Josie, Landon, Alexander, Charles and Sally.

Masterworks Choral Ensemble Concert w/ Chloe

The final MCE concert of the season featured two winners of the Youth Music Competition…including our own Chloe! Chloe won the Middle School division back in 2019, but her performance was delayed due to the pandemic. She performed Debussy’s Toccata from “Pour le Piano” to wild applause!