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20 Bringing Music to Children! www. steinwayriverside. org Special Thanks To These Foundations Auen Foundation Riverside Community Foundation Regional Access Project Foundation Anderson’s Children Foundation Palm Springs Friends of the Philharmonic La Sierra University Festival Host Palm Springs School District Foundation The Philibosian Foundation Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation Grace Helen Spearman Foundation Thank You For Joining Us! The Steinway Society of Riverside County has worked rigorously since our 2002 inception to fill the artistic gap left as funding for music education continued to disappear. We provide free, interactive music education classes, live performance programs, and competitions for 30,000 local school-age children throughout the entire county. And we want to do more because here’s what we’ve learned: • Junior and High school music students show higher grade- point averages than non musicians. • On college entrance exams, students with music studies scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math testing than those with no arts participation. • Music integrated into 7th and 8th grade resulted in better academic performance and social behaviors. We are encouraged by these wonderful kids who are so eager to learn. Every year we interact with over 30,000 children as we enhance their lives through music education. We hope you will join us in this endeavor of love and hope for our future. Thank you for your presence and support today. Ruth Moir CEO and Founder Annual Piano Festival Competition The Steinway Society’s Annual Festival Competition has been awarding talented young piano students and providing them an opportunity to perform and work with master teachers since 2005. Applicants must be residents of Riverside or San Bernardino Counties or be studying with a teacher who is a resident of those counties. The teacher must be a member of The Stein- way Society, and the student must have studied with the cur- rent teacher for a minimum of six months prior to the festi- val. Participants are divided into two groups: • Junior Level – through grade 8, MTAC Certificate of Merit Level 5 and above • Senior Level – Grades 9-12 (age limit 18.) There are two Master Teachers who are the judges for each level. Participants play in a Master Class with each judge and in one recital in front of both judges together. Award winners are selected on the basis of their performance in both the class and the recital venues. The students’ teachers are encouraged to attend the Master Classes and the Recital. Five participants from each level are selected by consensus of the two judges for the respective level, and all decisions are final. Award winners receive a $500 Study Award and are invited to perform in the Festival Winners Recital at the Rancho Mirage Library. James McCormick, VP- Scholarship Festival Competition Chair JAMES MCCORMICK has been the chair- person and director of the Steinway Society Festival Competition since its inception in 2005. Winner of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago Solo Auditions, James made his debut at Chicago Orchestra Hall with Samuel Barber’s piano concerto. Performances throughout the Midwest included appearances with the Milwau- kee Symphony Chamber Ensemble and with the Green Bay Symphony where he premiered Gordon Parmentier’s Mirrors: A Concertino for Piano and Orchestra. Mr. McCormick obtained undergraduate and Master’s degrees in piano performance from Northern Illinois University. As a post graduate student at USC, he was assistant to James Bonn and John Perry and was the first pianist there to receive both the Leo Podolsky Performance Prize and the June Davison Pedagogy Award. Formerly on the faculty at Cal State University Long Beach, he currently has private studios in Los Angeles and Palm Springs. His monthly performance classes have been well-attended by Los Angeles area teachers and pianists for the past 25 years. His prize-winning students are heard frequently in recitals and competitions. Many have gone on to successful music careers. Three grand prize winners of the McCallum Theatre’s ‘Open all’ Talent Project have been students of James McCormick. SENIOR WINNERS Isabella Cao, 15 began her love for piano on a sixth birthday trip to Las Vegas where she was touched by the beauty of music and never wanted to move away from that piano. Studying under teacher Agatha Hou, she won a number of competitions and festivals. She was the winner in the 13th biennial Los Angeles International Liszt Competition and in both 2015 and 2016 Los Angeles Musicians International Competition. At the age of eight, Isabella wrote her first music composition A Beau- tiful Morning a story about a little bird starting its first flight in the rain. Isabella is now dreaming of her future in music. Matthew Gurning, 15 is a sophomore at Rancho Cucamonga High School. Inspired by his classmates, he started learning piano at eight. He has studied piano with Linda Akre, Yun Ching Chou, Agatha Hou and is currently studying with Dr. Elvin Rodriguez. He completed the Certificate of Merit Advanced (level 10) when he was in sixth grade with the highest rating (5+). Recent honors and awards: 2016 Gold medalist in the Southern California Junior Bach Festival Complete Works Auditions, and First prize in both the 2016 Lansum International Music Festival and the 2016 Southwest-ern Youth Music Festival Open American. He was a scholarship award winner at the Steinway Society in 2015 and 2016. He has performed numerous times at the Steinway Society’s fund-raising events. He also enjoys playing chess and basketball, reading, biking and swimming. Aaron Kwan, 15 is in the tenth grade at Los Osos High School in Ranch Cucamonga, CA. He began music studies at age five and currently studies piano with Agatha Hou. He has received several winner’s awards for MTAC Pomona Valley Branch Festivals; Southwest Youth Music Festival Open Solo, Bach and Concerto; Los Angeles Young Musicians International and John Child Walker competitions. He also has received scholarship awards, Festival awards from the Steinway Society, David Weiss Memorial Award from Young Musicians Foundation, and Ruth Dare Memorial Award from John Child Walker. In his free time, he enjoys, and keeps busy doing math, debate, reading, swimming and tennis. Demi Yifang Rong, 17 years old and from Beijing China. Demi is a Classical Piano Major at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, where she studies with Dr. Janette Louise Yaryon. She began playing piano at the age of 5 and was inspired by her mother’s friend, whom was a wonderful pianist. In China Demi studied at the Central Conservatory of Music for three years. She is particular fond of the music of Robert Schumann as well as pieces in minor keys. Sharon Xueribg Wang is 18 years old and is a 10th grade student at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. She is originally from China and is her ninth year playing the piano. Her first piano teacher was her mother, Jialian Haung. She later went to Singapore where she studied with Lee Pelming, a professor at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. After moving back to China, she studied piano with Professor Sansan Yang and after few years she went on to study at the middle school, Conservatory of China with Yun guo. Now she is studying at the Idyllwild Arts Academy with Dr. Jeanette Louise Yaryan. According to Sharon, Dr. Yaryan “is a very active, kind, open minded teacher, and she pushes me a lot.” Lydia Xu is 17 years old and is – 12th grade student. She currently Studies piano with Dr. Elvin Rodriquez. She started her piano studies at the age of seven with Mrs. Huan Che. Her passed awards include CA State Second place in the CAPMT Honor Competition, second place in the Southern California CAPMT Concerto Competition, first place in the Southwestern Youth Musical Festival, first place in the great Composers International Music Competition, first place at the Riverside and TAC Young Pianists’ Competition, first place solo, first place concerto, and first place do duet at the inland Empire Piano Festival. She has also been pro a prize winner at the MTAC State Concerto Competition in Southern California, Enkor International Music Competition, Lansum International Music Festival, Steinway Music Competition, Rotary Music Competition, and Southern California Junior Bach Festival Complete Works Audition. She made her concerto debut with Coachella Valley Symphony after winning the Steinway Society Concerto Competition. She is president of the California Scholarship Federation and president of UNICEF at her school. Besides piano, but Lydia enjoys running on her high school’s cross country and track team, teaching children’s Sunday school, and researching at UC Riverside. Her research in nanoscience won her a Star Award at the California Science and Engineering Fair. Festival competition winners Aaron Kwan, Isabella Cao, Matthew Gurning, and Lydia Xu. Also Competition Coorndiator Jim McCormick, judge Anna Fedorova, judge Giorgi Latso an Ruth Moirs. JUNIOR WINNERS Lucas Schaefer is 12 years old and in the seventh grade at Dorothy McElhinney Middle School. Lucas started his formal piano studies at the age of five and is currently a student of Yinzi Ku. He has also been a winner in several competitions including first place at the golden classical music awards where he was invited to play at Carnegie Hall. He just recently played his first solo recital at the Fallbrook Public Library. Lucas plays percussion in the Sim phonic band and piano in his school’s jazz band. Recently he was the pianist in the Dorothy McElhinney Theater Production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Lucas is also a math whiz and he enjoys playing the piano at the local restaurant in the weekends. Kathleen Gurning, 13 is in the eight grade at Day Creek Intermediate School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.