On Sunday, May 19, 2019, the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association’s 2018-2019 Concerto Competition prizewinners performed with The Amadeus Orchestra under the Direction of A. Scott Wood at Saint Luke Catholic Church in McLean. The students were chosen from three concerto competition events: NVMTA’s Robert Spencer Piano Concerto Competition, the NVMTA Woodwind Concerto Competition, and the NVMTA String Concerto Competition.
Over 120 students competed in these three competitions. The eight students chosen to perform with the Amadeus Orchestra included Ethan Chien (viola), age 12 from Herndon; Jeremy Foster (violin), age 15 from Washington D.C.; Emma Kim (violin), age 9 from Herndon; Leelee Kopca (clarinet), age 17 from Arlington; Sophia Lin (piano), age 11 from McLean; Christopher Papenfuss (piano), from Fairfax County; Fay Shuai (cello), age 16 from McLean; and Anne Valerie Ter (piano), age 8 from Alexandria.
The concertos for this program were composed by Haydn, Tamitz, Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Sarasate, Elgar, and Rossini. It was a varied and interesting program superbly performed.
Prior to the concert, Director Scott Wood held a pre-concert talk and interviewed a few of the performers in front of the group and played short excerpts of their pieces. A nice reception was hosted after the performance and the audience had the opportunity to talk with the performers.
Congratulations to these students, their teachers, and their families! Thank you to Director Scott Wood and the Amadeus Orchestra for making this wonderful experience possible.
Teachers represented from this program include Shen-Pang Chien, Ronda Cole, Ko Sugiyama, Nancy Genovese, Dr. Marjorie Lee, Dr. James Litzelman, James Lee and Anna Balakerskaia.
written by Rene Johnson, NVMTA President 2017-2019.
