Inland Valley Symphony - Tales of Magic and Music

Congratulation to Alex Few being announced one of the three winners in the Inland Valley Youth Symphony auditions. We are looking forward to her performance and wish her all the best. What an excitement performing with an orchestra! As if that was not enough! Additionally Alex will be performing on Sunday morning May 17th in the Southern California Junior Bach Regional competition in Orange County.
Here is her Thursday May 14 and Sunday May 17 program:

INLAND VALLEY SYMPHONY presents: Tales of Magic and Music Young People's Concert featuring the winners of the 2009 Young Artist Competition Dr. Jeanine Trent - Music Director May 14th (Thursday) 7:30 pm Old Town Temecula Community Theater 42051 Main St., Temecula, CA 92590 (866) 653-8696 May 17th (Sunday) 3:30 pm Vista Murrieta High School Theater 28251 Clinton Keith Rd., Murrieta, CA 92563

Program Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major featuring Josiah Tolopilo Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 Haydn: Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Major, featuring Alex Few Prokofiev: Peter & The Wolf - Michael Stairs, Narrator Hardiman: Music From The Lord Of The Dance Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, featuring Andy Leu TICKETS: $18 Adults, $15 Seniors, $15 Students (18 & Under), $3 Children (12 & Under) Tickets may be purchased online at: www.TemeculaTheater.org - for May 14th Box Office Phone: (866) 653-8696 www.InlandValleySymphony.org - for May 17th For more info call: (760) 318-0460 or (951) 677-9465

Young Pianist Competition

I am happy to announce, that April 5, 2009 in the MTAC Young Pianist Competition Alex Few received 2nd place in HS-I; Cynthia Phan received an Honorable Mention in E-II and Sai Sivapalan received an Honorable Mention in JH.
Congratulations to all winners.

MTAC Certificate of Merit (TM)

Congratulations to everyone who participated and tested in the Certificate of Merit (TM). I am very happy to announce, that everyone from our Studio, passed their exams. All the hard work, extra theory hours and additional practice, paid off.

Please, congratulate:

Bret Paddock, Level 8 Branch Honors

Theresa Pailma, Level 6 Branch Honors

Corrina Conway, Level 6 Branch Honors

Justin Markowitz, Level 7 and Graduating Senior and Branch Honors

Ranen Unger Hicks, Level 1

Mitchell Johnson,Level 6 Branch Honors

Shalini Nair,Level 8 Branch Honors

Alex Few,Level Adv Branch Honors

Cindy Liang Path B, Level 6

Chloe Lovato, Level 4

Cynthia Nguyen Phan,Level 6, Convention

Kathleen Nguyen Phan,Level 2

Sierra Rupnow,Level 4

Andrew Vu, Level 5,Branch Honors

Nessa Vu, Level 2

Victoria Vu, Level 3

Jothy Yogarajah,Level 6 Branch Honors

Antonio Pontarelli, Level 8 Branch Honors

Sai Sivapalan,Level 9 Branch Honors

Kelly Rausch, Path B Level Prep

Maxine Imura, Level 6, Branch Honors

Shanti Ryle, Level Adv Branch Honors

Sharmini Premananthan, Level 7 Branch Honors

Niranjana Premananthan, Level 1

Vinayak Pillai, Level 6

Vishakh Pillai, Level 3

Song Nguyen, Level 2

Jessica Behar, Level 2

Kenna Behar, Path B Level Prep

Brittany Durgiah, Level 3

Cambria Justine Lauritsen, Level 4

Junior Bach Festival

We are happy to announce that Alex Few was declared a winner, performing the a minor Prelude and Fuge WTC II BWV 889. Sharmini Premananthan and Corrina Conway received Honorable Mentions.

Lake Elsinore Rotary Music Competition

Bret Paddock decided to enter the Lake Elsinore Rotary Music Competition in the last minute with the 1st movement of the Beethoven Sonata Op 31 No 2 and the Scott Joplin Maple Leaf Rag. He is certainly happy that he did, winning 1st place in the piano category ($250.00), and 2nd in the instrumental category ($150.00). Congratulations Bret, way to go. Eva

Inland Empire Piano Festival

February 8th came and went in a glance. Our Studio was represented with Ranen Unger-Hicks, Category 1A and first place; Sharmini Premananthan, Category III-B and 3rd place; Alex Few Category IV-B and Honorable Mention and Corrina Conway, Category V-A and Honorable Mention.
Cogratulations to all performers and participants. Your performances were well received and appreciated.

Justin Markowitz pianist, composer

“Eva Martin’s teachings have helped me a lot from the time I first started taking lessons with her five years ago. She has helped me get as far as I am today. I learned so much about the history of the piano, how to do theory correctly, how to play scales correctly, how to play arpeggios correctly, and even how to memorize songs. The reason I say “correctly” when referring to scales, arpeggios, and theory is because there are wrong ways in which to do and play them. Eva has coached me from playing scales and arpeggios very fast and sloppy to playing scales at a steady pace and immaculate. Eva has taught me that the basics are the most important thing when it comes to playing piano. When learning how to memorize a song, Eva guided me to practice one section at a time. Before I knew it, I was memorizing ten songs in a very short time.
During a class one day, Eva taught me about the history behind the piano and its players. (Such as Bach, Beethoven, and other famous composers)"... "The next week I decided I would write a song in b minor. To make it sound like it was written a long time ago, I decided to make it a waltz. This actually helped inspire me to write the song “Life Cycle”. Eva is the best teacher I have had because she pushes me to do even more than I thought I could do and she devotes so much time to her students each day.” - Justin Markowitz

Justins' proud dad is sharing these links with us:
Hi All,
I wanted to follow up with you on Justin's performance...a smash hit if I do say so myself. The kid's a born performer. If you'd like to see some pix feel free to go to:
http://www.pbase.com/alanm/justins_world_of_wonders
You can also go to YouTube to view and listen to both songs: (THANKS to brother Alan!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FH249zhv5w&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE4oeJ1RmmA Here's to many more performances from Justin...bravo! Cheers,Todd

As always, I wish Justin the very best and the greatest time exploring music and his fabulous gift and the sincerest thank you to his parents for getting him this far. Eva