MTNA Student Performance Competition

The MTNA performance competitions offer an opportunity for advanced students. The competitions are offered at the Junior, Senior, Young Artist, and Chamber Music levels, and are open to any student who plays at the level of the required music. The state competitions are considered the primary educational level, with the division and national levels showcasing outstanding performances and honoring significant pedagogical achievement.

More information concerning guidelines and registration is available online at mtna.org

Registration for the 2023 MTNA Student Performance Competition opens in August

Registration deadline: September 13, 2023 at 12:00, Noon Pacific Time.

The Washington State MTNA Student Performance Competition will occur November 10-12, 2023 at Central Washington University. Please contact WSMTA Vice President and Competition Coordinator, Kira Miller.

2022 MTNA Performance Competition Booklet

Competition Registration Information

Karen Hollenback and Kathy Mortensen at CWU during the 2018-19 MTNA Student Performance Competitions

The piano judges for the 2018-19 MTNA Student Performance Competitions at CWU

2022 – 2023 Northwest Division

MTNA Competition Results

Junior

Northwest Junior Performance Piano

Winner Kyle Yeung, student of Sasha Starcevich

Northwest Junior Performance Strings

Winner Jesse Krentz, cello, student of Kevin Krentz

Senior

Northwest Senior Performance Piano

Winner Jonathan Zheng, student of Peter Mack, NCTM

Northwest Senior Piano Duet

Winner Minjae Kim and Hyunjae Kim, students of Allan Park

Northwest Senior Woodwind

Winner Minoo Jang, oboe, student of Mary Lynch Vanderkolk

Northwest Senior String

Winner Eric Schindler, cello, student of Kevin Krentz

Northwest Senior Voice

Winner Olivia Qi, soprano, student of Shan Han

Young Artist

Northwest Young Artist Brass

Alternate Jordan George, tuba, student of Christopher Dickey (WA)

Northwest Young Artist String

Alternate Joel Lee, cello, student of John Michel (WA)

Northwest Young Artist Woodwind

Winner Anthony Kandilaroff, flute, student of Sophia Tegart (WA)

2022 – 2023 WASHINGTON STATE MTNA COMPETITION RESULTS

Junior

Senior

Young Artist

2022 – 2023 WASHINGTON STATE MTNA PERFORMANCE COMPETITION JUDGES

Piano Division

Dr. Fabio Menchetti

A native of Lucca, Italy, Dr. Fabio Menchetti maintains an active international performance career. He is equally passionate about standard and lesser-known repertoire, rediscovering rarely performed works of Italian piano music of the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as late Romantic works whose fortune was affected by social stigma and traditional harmonic language. As an advocate for contemporary music, Dr. Menchetti enjoys bringing new music to life.

Dr. Menchetti has been teaching piano in many diverse settings: from private music academies to Italian junior high schools and to American colleges. He won the CCM Excellence in Teaching Award for the best doctoral Teaching Assistant and, after completing his doctorate, Dr. Menchetti returned to CCM as a visiting instructor of piano and piano pedagogy.

Dr. Menchetti received his Bachelors of Music from Boccherini Conservatory in Lucca, and his Masters of Music and Masters of Music Education from Puccini Conservatory in La Spezia. After moving to the United States, he received his Masters of Arts from Houghton College, and his Doctorate of Musical Arts from College-Conservatory Music, University of Cincinnati.

His primary teachers include Pier Narciso Masi, Enrico Stellini, Pietro De Maria, Andrea Lucchesini, William John Newbrough, and Michael Chertock.

Jeffrey Gilliam

Since joining the faculty at Western Washington University in 1992, pianist Jeffrey Gilliam has performed throughout the Pacific Northwest as solo recitalist, as well as numerous concert tours across the U.S. and Canada, and in distinguished European, Asian, and South American festivals.

Originally from Akron, Ohio, Professor Gillam studied at the Eastman School of Music and at the University of Michigan.

At Western Washington University, Jeffrey Gilliam teaches piano and directs the piano accompanying program. In addition he is Artistic Director of The Sanford-Hill Piano Series. In recent years he has taught as a guest professor at The University of Pretoria, South Africa (1998-99), and at Silpakorn Fine Arts University in Bangkok, Thailand (1999). In 2005, he received his second Fulbright, a Senior Specialist Award for performance and teaching in Thailand.

Dr. Lark Powers

In demand as a solo and collaborative artist as well as an adjudicator and presenter, Dr. Lark Powers has performed at such venues as Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the 92nd Street Y in New York City and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Internationally she has been heard in Europe, Mexico and Canada, including performances at the International Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music in Almería, Spain, the Simón Bolívar Amphitheater in Mexico City, and the Bibliothèque de Dinan, in Brittany, France.

Lark was born in California and grew up studying the piano and the violin. She received a DMA in piano performance from the University of Colorado Boulder and holds three Master’s degrees—in piano, harpsichord and theory pedagogy—and a graduate performance diploma in piano, all from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her undergraduate studies took place at the University of the Pacific, where she was the recipient of a prestigious Presser Award and earned her degree summa cum laude. Following her studies at UOP, Lark lived in France for three years where she attended the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris “Hector Berlioz” and received a Premier prix in piano.

Strings Division

Rachel Nesvig

Rachel has built a career around her love of music, performance, teaching, and Scandinavian tradition. She earned her BA in Music and Norwegian from St. Olaf College in 2007, followed by a master’s degree in Violin Performance and K-12 Teaching Certificate from Central Washington University in 2011. Rachel completed additional studies in classical violin at the Music Conservatory of the University of Stavanger.

Rachel is an active freelance violinist and teacher in the Seattle area. Currently, she plays with Symphony Tacoma, Seattle Rock Orchestra, NOCCO, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra and several other local ensembles. She regularly subs with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Auburn Symphony. Rachel’s chamber music credits include her work with Puget Sound Strings and Arcobaleno Strings. She also performs internationally, playing classical, pop, and folk music in places like Norway, China, South Korea, and Kenya.

Dr. Jeffrey Bell-Hanson

Jeffrey Bell-Hanson is in his twentieth season as Music Director of the Pacific Lutheran University Symphony Orchestra and Professor of Music. He is a familiar presence in the Pacific Northwest as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator and orchestral educator. Each year he works with school orchestras at all levels throughout the region and beyond, bringing to them the perspective of his long career as a conductor and scholar. He is a past national president of the College Orchestra Directors Association.

Dr. Bell-Hanson has conducted orchestras and wind ensembles throughout the United States and in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, including the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, the Olympia Symphony, the Marquette Symphony Orchestra, the Vratza Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia Bulgarica. His long career on the podium and as a teacher has also included faculty appointments in Kansas, Louisiana and Michigan, where he won recognition for excellence in teaching both from Michigan Technological University and the State of Michigan. He has served as music director of both the Hutchinson Symphony Orchestra in Kansas and, for fourteen years, the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra in Michigan.

Quinn Price

Quinn Price is a violinist currently based Ellensburg, Washington. He received his master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Texas at Austin, where was a student of Brian Lewis, as well as his full-time teaching assistant. Quinn received his Bachelor of Music
from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Stephen Rose and was also the recipient of the school’s Dr. Jerome Gross Prize in Violin. Originally from Ellensburg, he began his musical studies at the age of 8. He continued his pre-collegiate studies in Seattle with University of
Washington professor Ron Patterson.

Quinn is excited to return to the Pacific Northwest after spending the 2021-2022 season with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in Virginia as acting section violin. He currently serves as principal second violin of Northwest Sinfonietta in Tacoma and assistant principal second violin of the Yakima symphony.

Brass & Woodwinds Division

Dr. Edwin C. Powell

Edwin C. Powell is the Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University where he is responsible for the University Wind Ensemble, Conducting and Music Education Methods courses. In 2015 he was the recipient of a Pacific Lutheran University Faculty Excellence Award. Dr. Powell earned degrees from the University of the Pacific, the Cincinnati College – Conservatory of Music and The University of North Texas where he completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting studying with Eugene Migliaro Corporon.

Dr. Powell maintains an active schedule as a clinician and adjudicator worldwide conducting groups from San Francisco, California to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He enjoys producing recordings, is a contributing author for the immensely popular textbook series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, by GIA Publications, and is published in the NBA Journal, Voice Magazine and the Journal of Band Research.

Vocal Division

Joy Dorsch

Mezzo-soprano Joy Dorsch is a native of Bellingham, WA. She is a past winner of Bellingham Ladies Music Club scholarship and the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside art song competition. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from WWU in 2000 and has since been a soloist with the Bellingham Chamber Players, Whatcom Symphony, Grays Harbor Symphony, and Grays Harbor Civic Choir, as well as at churches throughout the area. Joy is also active as a session singer, with clients including CBS, Microsoft Studios and No Matter Studios. In 2016 she co-founded the Grays Harbor Opera Workshop educational opera program with her husband Ian, and their program is now in its sixth season, presenting two fully staged operas a year. Joy is currently president of the Grays Harbor Music Teachers Association, and an active NATS member. She maintains a private voice studio and teaches at Grays Harbor College.

2021 – 2022 Northwest Division

MTNA Competition Results

MTNA Junior

Northwest Junior Performance Piano

Winner Daniel Beal Barbara Miller

Northwest Junior Performance Strings

Winner Tokuji Miyasaka Violin Simon James

Northwest Junior Performance Woodwind

Alternate Max Zhang Flute Sarah Bassingthwaighte

MTNA Senior

Northwest Senior Performance String

Alternate. Zoe Lonsinger Violin Simon James

Northwest Senior Performance Voice

Winner Elena Skirgaudas Soprano Laura Shepherd

Northwest Senior Performance Woodwind

Winner Johnathan Lee Saxophone Fred Winkler

Northwest Senior Piano Duet

Winner Sarah Girges & Avah Girges Barbara Miller

MTNA Young Artist

Northwest Young Artist Performance Brass

Alternate Turner Gray Tuba Christopher Dickey

Northwest Young Artist Performance Piano

Winner Christopher Richardson Jeffrey Kahane

Northwest Young Artist Performance String

Alternate Emma Bruce Violin Carrie Michel

Northwest Young Artist Performance Woodwind

Winner Stasia Kulsa Flute Sophia Tegart

2021 – 2022 WASHINGTON STATE MTNA COMPETITION RESULTS

MTNA Junior

MTNA Senior

MTNA Young Artist

MTNA Junior

MTNA Senior

MTNA Young Artist

2020 – 2021 WASHINGTON STATE MTNA COMPETITION RESULTS

Download 2020 Program Booklet

MTNA Junior

MTNA Senior

MTNA Young Artist

2019 Competition Results

2019 CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE COMPETITIONS

For competition guidelines, click here.

- The MTNA Chamber Music Competitions was a two-tier competition: a Preliminary Round, by video submission only (Click Here for Details) and a Final Round, live at the National Conference. Ensembles competed without regard to the state or division in which they live or take lessons.
- Later application deadline: Wednesday, December 4, 2019.
- The age of ensemble members must be 18–29 as of January 1, 2020.
- The ensemble submitted a GROUP photo and a GROUP bio (75-word maximum) at the time of the application.
MTNA active membership dues must be paid before submission of the application. A $150 nonmember teacher fee will be assessed if entrant’s teacher has not paid active membership dues for the 2019–2020 membership year.
Primary communication is via email. The application must have accurate email addresses for entrants, teacher/coach.