Young Pianist Competition of New
Jersey
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2010
Dear Members:
This is the 21st edition of our annual newsletter. This letter comes out twice a year in the
Spring and Fall and features our upcoming events, as well as news about 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
908-393-9460, or e-mail to ypcnjoffice@gmail.com. All materials must be submitted in typed
format. Please submit your materials by October 1, 2010 for our next issue.
Please check our website www.youngpianist.org for the 2010 dates and events.
Board of Directors
DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR
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 Round for Young Artist Division
May 2, 2010 Preliminary Round for Solo Division
May 15, 2010 Final Round for 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
Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey
Newsletter
Winter / Spring 2010
Page 2
ADMINISTRATION
DIVISION CHAIRS
Lana Ivanov
Executive Director
Eugenia Betman
Concerto Divisions
J. Anthony Strong
Chairman of the Board
Larissa Blitz
Chamber Music
Yelena Ivanov
Artistic Director
Yelena Mamonova
Solo Division
George Lykogiannis
Administration
YPCNJ & Festival Musica in Laguna
Sondra Tammam
Ensemble Division
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Yelena Ivanov
Workshop Recital Chair
Anna Vaidman
Treasurer
Irene Gersh
Director of Publicity
Development
J. Anthony Strong
Young Artist Division
Cyclical Work Division
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE 2009 CONCERTO & ENSEMBLE DIVISIONS
STUDENTS
DIVISION
AWARD
TEACHER
William Wei
Entire Concerto Division
Gold Prize
Peter Vinograde
Seth Blumer
Concerto – One Movement
Gold Prize
Svitlana Fiorito
Seth Blumer & Ziyao Guo
Ensemble – Two Piano
Gold Prize
Svitlana Fiorito
Brianna Tang & Brendan Tang
Ensemble – One Piano
Gold Prize
Yelena Ivanov
Lijia Xie, Lynn Yip & Jean Lin
Chamber Music
Gold Prize
Ursula Ingolfsson
Ziyao Guo
Entire Concerto Division
Silver Prize
Svitlana Fiorito
Helen Shen
Concerto – One Movement
Silver Prize
Lana Ivanov
Claudia Hu & Pauline Qin
Ensemble – Two Piano
Silver Prize
Yelena Ivanov
Andre Kobin & Charlie Zhu
Ensemble – One Piano
Silver Prize
Yelena Ivanov
May Wang, Noah Diggs, & Harry Xi
Chamber Music
Silver Prize
Ursula Ingolfsson
Kevin Lee
Concerto – One Movement
Bronze Prize
Yelena Ivanov
Richard Wu & Justin Tran
Ensemble – One Piano
Bronze Prize
Julia Reina
Claudia Hu
Concerto – One Movement
Honorable Mention
Yelena Ivanov
Kyla Achacon & Amber Shen
Ensemble – One Piano
Honorable Mention
Lana Ivanov
Thank you to all of the other participating teachers and students who performed in our Final Round Recital held on
February 19, 2010 at Steinway Hall in New York City.
Other performers included: Alexander Zhang (student of Joy Kiszely), Diya Gandhi (Student of Julia Reina).
Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey
Newsletter
Winter / Spring 2010
Page 3
WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS
Susan
Bakshi
Lansdale, PA
Mia
Bramel
New York, NY
Jasmine
Chen
Bridgewater, NJ
William
Chen
New York, NY
Victoria
Dondysh
Leonia, NJ
Alla
Fabrikant
Voorhees, NJ
Alex
Goldschmidt
Westfield, NJ
Christin
Hong
Belle Mead, NJ
Tomoko
Isshiki
Fort Lee, NJ
Jules
Lee
Norwood, NJ
Shi-Ru
Lin
Teaneck, NJ
Brianna
Liu
Kearny, NJ
Isaac
Oluwakuyide
Union, NJ
Yoonhye
Park
Fort Lee, NJ
Young Ai
Park Do
Ridgefield, NJ
Natalie
Poukas
Keyport, NJ
Michael
Thomopoulos
Fort Lee, PA
Milena
Urban
Collegeville, PA
Dylan
Wu
Manhasset, NY
Jun Qin
Wu
Pego Park, NY
MEMBER NEWS
Svitlana Fiorito Studio News: In September 2009, Svitlana Fiorito accepted the position of Music Director at the
Long Ridge Music School in Stamford, CT. Her student Chelsea Guo (8) became the winner of the 24th Annual
Washington International Young Artist Competition in Washington D.C. Chelsea was featured on WQXR Classical
Music, the New York Times News, and The McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase hosted by Robert Sherman. In
addition, Chelsea was invited as a soloist to perform with the Symphony Orchestra in Beijing this upcoming Summer.
Stephanie Stich, 2009 Presidential Scholar of the Arts at George Washington University competed and won over
$60,000.00 in scholarship for classical piano study at the George Washington University in Washington D.C.
Stephanie received other music scholarship offers but choose GW because it allowed her to study music, media and
public affairs. Amanda Lee and her brother Sean Lee won 1st Prizes in their groups at the “Crescendo” International
Piano Competition. Also on March 6th Sean Lee performed Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1 with Plainfield Symphony
Orchestra, as the 2009 Goldprize winner of YPCNJ. Seth Blumer (10) received 1st Prize at the “American Protégé”
Competition. Seth is now planning a benefit concert to raise money for his school, just prior to his graduation. He will
perform a one-hour solo recital on May 21. In February Seth Blumer, Chelsea Guo, Amanda Lee and Sean Lee
took trip to Montreal, Canada to perform at the famous Historique du Bon Pasteur. Elena Gribelyuk, Verna Yin,
Seth Blumer, Michael Mei and Sean Lee won 25th Annual Winter Competition from Connecticut State Music
Teachers Association. Jackie Xu received Gold Prize and Joyce Lin Silver Prize at the “Golden Key Festival 2010”.
Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey
Newsletter
Winter / Spring 2010
Page 4
In addition to that Chelsea Guo, Seth Blumer and Amanda Lee were recently named winners of the Honor Recital
from Piano Teachers Congress of New York.
Lana Ivanov Studio News: Helen Shen (9) was a winner at the Cecilian Music Club Competition and performed at
Alice Tully Hall in December 2009. In the winter of 2009-10, George Lykogiannis gave several solo recitals in the
New Jersey/New York area, including three educational assemblies at local elementary schools. Other recitals
included two private house concerts and two fundraising events for the Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey and
the Shandelee Music Festival. George Lykogiannis also applied for Graduate Schools this winter, and was accepted
into Indiana University – Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington, IN) with an Associate Instructor position, as well as
the Manhattan School of Music (NYC).
Yelena Ivanov Studio News: Doris Lee appeared as guest artist at the Suburban Music Study Club, was the
NJMTA High School Scholarship Competition winner, Piano Teachers Congress of New York "Best Performance"
winner, and appeared with the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra as the 2009 Gold prizewinner of YPCNJ. Kevin Lee
was the Crescent Concerts "Young Artist Showcase" winner, received the Honorable Mention award from Piano
Teachers Congress of New York, and was the Silver Prizewinner of the Bravura Young Artists Concerto Competition.
Kevin also appeared as a guest pianist for the 40th Annual Plainfield Area Children's Choir Festival. Brianna and
Brendan Tang were recipients of the YWCA’s 13th New York Music Competition, First Place winners at the 2009
Russian Music Festival, and performed at Weill Recital Hall in December, 2009, as well as winners of the 2010
Showcase Concert Competition. Brianna and Brendan Tang will perform again at Weill Recital Hall on April 25th,
2010.
Yelena Mamonova Studio News: Students Laura Shu, Evan Zou, and Lily Wang participated in a recital at Weill
Recital Hall as the First Place winners of the Russian Music Festival. Alex Nie, Cathy Nie, and Tina Li participated
in a recital at Weill Recital Hall as winners of the Crescendo festival.
Veda Zuponcic Studio News Ms. Zuponcic and her class of college and pre-college students had an eventful year.
As director of the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora, Minnesota, she produced, with the support of her
colleagues Chiu-ling Lin, Setsuko Nagata, Viktor Uzur, Igor Petrushevski and Marcos Machado, 18 concerts,
including a fully staged production of Hansel and Gretel. As performer, Miss Zuponcic played the Schubert Trout
Quintet in several cities; in January, she performed the Rachmaninoff 2 nd Piano Concerto with the Philharmonic of
South Jersey, Philip Travaline, conducting. Her student Alexei Ivanchenko, a junior at Rowan University and the
2009 MTNA National 2nd place winner, also won the Liszt Garrison Competition in Baltimore in October 2009; he
recently played the winners recital in Columbia, Maryland. In summer 2009, he won the International Young Artists
Competition in Washington DC in the Young Artists Category. Alexei Ulitin, also her student at Rowan University,
was the Eastern Division winner of the MTNA Competition, advancing to the National Finals in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. He performed two solo recitals at Rowan and two in his native Ukraine this year and accompanied a faculty
voice recital. Her Rowan University student Agustin Muriago will perform a solo recital at the Argentinian Consulate
in New York in April. Her Canadian student, Adam Gravelle, won the Rowan University Concerto Competition,
performing the Ravel G Major Concerto; he also performed two chamber music concerts in North Bay, Ontario in
March. Her 13 year old student Cassandra Sollitto was the NJ/MTNA winner in Fall 2009. Amanda Liu, Demi
Choe, Josh Baw, and Gabrielle Hsu were winners in the NJMTA Young Musicians Competition in the Fall.
Numerous students have won awards in other regional competitions. Miss Zuponcic also gave a lecture for the Main
Line Music Teachers in February on Literature through the Stages: How to move the student systematically from the
second year of study to a goal of early advanced literature.
Reshma Kopparapu (9), a 4th grader at Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, participated in The Golden Key Festival
recently, and has been placed in the Achievement Diploma in 1st Degree Winners category. She has been invited to
perform at the Jacob's Music Hall in Lawrenceville, NJ, in April. She was also a Third prizewinner of the Music
Educators Association of NJ competition, in honor of celebrating Chopin and Schumann's 200 Birthday.
Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey
Newsletter
Winter / Spring 2010
Page 5
JULY 2010 PROGRAM FOR THE FESTIVAL MUSICA IN LAGUNA, CORSI MUSICALI
The dates for the next festival are July 1 – 14, 2010. The available piano programs consist of Workshops and
Concerto Competitions for Junior & Senior divisions. Participants in the Concerto program will have five private
lessons, two of which will be accompanied by the 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 1056
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN: Piano Concerto in D Major, Hob. XVIII:11
Divertimentos
JUNIOR DIVISION: Age 13 – 16 - inclusive:
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Piano Concerto in F Minor, BWV 1056
LUDWIG 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. 37
JOHANNES BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467
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:
Silver Prize:
Bronze Prize:
$500.00 towards tuition
$375.00 towards tuition
$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: MusicainLaguna@gmail.com
www: YoungPianist.org // International Summer Program