DOROTHY RICHARD STARLING FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS

The nationally recognized Starling Foundation, whose mission is to support leading American violin teachers and their studios, has chosen to add the studio of Jan Mark Sloman, longtime DMTA member and supporter, to its list of recipients. Their commitment to Mr. Sloman's studio at the famed Meadowmount School of Music includes both scholarship and private lesson assistance.

The Meadowmount School of Music 2016 Award Recipients

Phoenix Avalon, 15, is in his second decade of violin obsession. Phoenix performed with the national radio show From the Top (2015), soloed with the New Mexico Philharmonic (2015), the Boulder Symphony (2015, 2014, 2013), and Performance Santa Fe (2014) The Boulder Symphony and the NM Philharmonic have invited Phoenix back as a soloist in 2016. Phoenix is a 4-time recipient of the Performance Santa Fe Davis Award, as well as a 4 year recipient of Starling Foundation grants for study at Meadowmount. In 2015 Phoenix was the strings winner of the Jackie McGehee Young Artist Competition, received second place in the Music Teachers National Association National Competition in Junior Performance and was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship. This past fall, Phoenix began study at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Jaime Laredo and continues his studies with Jan Sloman. He plays with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and is coached in chamber music by the Cavani Quartet. Phoenix has played in master classes for Joseph Silverstein, Chad Hoopes, Kathryn Lucktenberg, Daniel Han, Kimberly Fischer, Richard Rood, Martha Caplin and for the Szymanowski, Atrium, Brentano, Harrison, Jasper and Cavani String Quartets. Active in the Santa Fe community, Phoenix was honored to mentor the St. Michael's High School Orchestra, in addition to playing for numerous fundraisers. Phoenix is playing on an Amati Bros. violin, c. 1617, generously loaned by Kenneth Warren and Son Ltd. of Chicago. In addition to violin, Phoenix studies composition with Dr. Andrew Thomas of Juilliard and piano with Sandra Shapiro at CIM. He enjoys philosophical debate, history and snowboarding. Mr. Avalon is a student of Jan Mark Sloman at Meadowmount.

18-year-old Paolo Dara has been a prizewinner of many local and national competitions including the Skip Gates Concerto Competition, the Vamos Violin Competition, the Michigan Youth Arts Competition, MTNA Competition, and the Walgreens National Concerto Competition, and the Lansing Symphony Youth Competition. As soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony, Kent Philharmonic, and the Lansing Symphony Orchestra. MTNA Competition, and the Walgreens National Concerto Competition. In 2013 and 2014 Paolo served as concertmaster of the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony. In 2015 he was selected to participate in the New York String Orchestra, which gave two performances at Carnegie Hall. He attended the Meadowmount School of Music in the summers of 2013, 2014, and 2015 on full scholarship to study with Jan Mark Sloman, and Kathryn Lucktenberg. He has studied chamber music with the Faculty at Meadowmount, Members of the Cavani quartet, Cleveland quartet, and Guarneri Quartet. He has had the privilege of performing chamber music with artists such as Joseph Silverstein as well. Paolo is currently a freshman at the Cleveland Institute of Music and studies with Jaime Laredo, and Jan Mark Sloman. Formerly, he studied with Irena Kocharova and Gregory Maytan. At Meadowmount, Paolo studies with Jan Mark Sloman.

Isabelle Durrenberger, 17, began studying violin at the age of 7. Currently a freshman pursuing her Bachelor's degree, she began her studies with Mr. Jaime Laredo and Ms. Joan Kwuon at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a preparatory student in the fall of 2012. She has spent her past three summers at the Meadowmount School of Music as a full scholarship recipient. She has served as associate concertmaster in the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra, and in 2015 participated in the New York String Orchesetra Seminar which performed at Carnegie She has also studied chamber music at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Chamber Music Connection, and has performed as soloist with various orchestras including the Columbus Symphony, New Albany Symphony, Naples Orchestra and Chorus, and the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Durrenberger was featured on the NPR radio show, From The Top in January of 2014 as a soloist and chamber musician. Ms. Durrenberger has participated in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and won silver medal at the 2015 Saint Paul String Quartet Competition as a member of the Verita Quartet.
She has participated in masterclasses with the Emerson Quartet, Cypress Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, Escher Quartet, Calidore Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Jupiter Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Cavani Quartet, Jupiter Quartet, David Kim, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Robert Chen, Jung-Min Amy Lee, Jan Mark Sloman, David Finckel and Wu Han, Joseph Silverstein, Anne Epperson, Steven Tanenbaum, and Peter Salaff. At Meadowmount, Isabelle studies with Jan Mark Sloman.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Yehun “Danny” Jin started to play the violin at the age of three. He made his debut with the Seoul Royal Symphony as a soloist at the age of nine. Studying in Korea, Yehun finished the preliminary school of music at the Korean National University of Arts in 2009 and finished the Korean National School for the gifted in arts in 2011. He later entered the Curtis Institute of Music where he is currently studying with Ida Kavafian. Yehun Jin performed with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011, the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010, and the KBS chamber Orchestra in 2009. Being interested in chamber music, Yehun performed in the national museum in Daegu city and performed as a chamber musician for the state visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2011.Yehun also performed as a outstanding player at the International Great Mountains Music Festival and school in 2009.  Yehun is a prize winner of several competitions: the grand prize at the Kyunggi province music competition, 1st prize at the Yewon competition, 1st prize at the Siheung competition, 1st prize at the SungJung competition, 1st prize at the Ewha and Kyunghyang competition, the 5th prize at the 2012 Menhin competition, and the grand prize at the National Young Artist Competition of Charleston symphony orchestra competition in 2015. At Meadowmount, Yehun studies with Jan Mark Sloman.

Kiarra Saito-Beckman, 17, is a violinist from Bend, Oregon. She is a rising sophomore at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studies with the world-renowned pedagogue Jaime Laredo and former associate concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Jan Mark Sloman. Kiarra has won numerous awards and competitions. In May of 2016 she was a semi-finalist in the Stulberg International String Competition. She placed first in the 2015 National Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Senior Strings Competition. In 2014, Kiarra was named the PepsiCo National Young Artist of the Year as the first-prize winner of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra’s National Young Artist Competition. Also in 2014, Kiarra placed second in the ENKOR International Violin and Piano Competition, as well as second in the Young Artist National Competition held by the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra. She competed as a finalist in the 2014 MTNA National Solo Competition in Chicago, Illinois as the winner of the MTNA Northwest Regional Competition and Oregon State Competition.
Kiarra has appeared as a guest soloist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (South Carolina), the Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) Symphony Orchestra, and an orchestra composed of members of the Oregon Symphony and the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra. She has twice been featured as a guest soloist with the Central Oregon Symphony. Upcoming engagements include performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Arlington, and Garland Symphony in October of 2016.
In the fall of 2014, Kiarra was invited to Washington DC to perform Franz Waxman's “Carmen” Fantasy on the National Public Radio program, From the Top, which features the country's finest young classical musicians. She has also been a featured performer on Oregon Public Broadcasting radio program, State of Wonder, as well as the Portland, Oregon-based station, All Classical, and most recently, TedxBend.
Kiarra is a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, and a seven-time recipient of the Young Artist Scholarship provided by the Sunriver Music Festival. She has attended the Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York for the past five summers and the National Arts Centre Young Artist Program in Ottawa, Canada in the summer of 2016. She has performed in solo master classes with Cho-Liang Lin, Joseph Silverstein, Jennifer Koh and Tong Wei-Dong, as well as in chamber music master classes with Lawrence Dutton, Eric Larsen, Patricia McCarty, and Steven Rochen. At Meadowmount, Kiarra studies with Jan Mark Sloman.

FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF STRING EDUCATION

The Meadowmount viola studio of Patricia McCarty has been awarded a grant from the Foundation for the Advancement of String Education, Inc., a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the promotion and development of string education through financial support, teacher training and promoting the philosophy of Dr. George Bornoff.

http://www.fase.org/index.php/about/dr-george-bornoff

The 2016 FASE Award Recipients: 

Jacob Davis is a junior at the University of Utah. He started playing the violin at age ten in Salt lake City, UT. He's had the pleasure of working with Linda Ghidossi-Deluca, Basil Vendreyes, Dr. Solomyia Ivahkiv, Dr. Claudine Bigelow, among others. He has recently been seen in masterclass with violists such as Atar Arad, Roger Chase, Milan Milisavljević, among others. Jacob is currently studying with Roberta Zalkind at the University of Utah and formerly with Jason Bonham and Taras Krysa. He currently holds the viola chair in the Mount Olympus Co Honors String Quartet  In 2012, Jacob finished first in the youth concerto competition with the Southwest Symphony and performed Mozart's 3rd Violin Concerto. Jacob was selected to be a guest artist with the Henderson Symphony in the Las Vegas area in April of 2013, where he played the Walton Viola Concerto.   In July of 2013, Jacob toured as a violist with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States under the direction of Valery Gergiev. He was the only person from the Utah/Nevada area that was chosen for this title. In 2015 he participated in the National Orchestral Institute and Festival. At Meadowmount Jacob studies with Patricia McCarty.

Mya Greene was born in Chicago, Illinois and began her musical studies at age 10 on clarinet, switching to viola a year later in her public school music program. She currently studies viola with Brian Chen and composition with Ted Hearne at the University of Southern California. 2013-2015, she studied viola with Gina Coletti at the Colburn Music Academy and was an instructor in the Para los Ninos outreach program. She was a semi-finalist in the 2014 Sphinx Competition, and a finalist in the 2014 ASTA State Competition. Mya was a member of NYO-USA in 2013 to 2015 under Valery Gergiev and Charles Dutoit and a member of the 2015 European Music Campus as a Sphinx exchange student. In December 2015, she opened for the Moscow Ballet. Mya Greene plays a 1792 William Forster viola. At Meadowmount, Mya studies with Patricia McCarty.

Aaron Rosengaus is a Bay Area native, and currently lives in San Francisco. He has been a Fellow at the Mendocino and Silicon Valley Music Fesitvals, and has performed as a soloist with San Francisco State University Symphony Orchestra. Aaron studied Viola at the Boston Conservatory under the tutelage of Patricia McCarty, and at San Francisco State University with Paul Yarbrough and Zakarias Grafilo of the Alexander String Quartet. As a member of Elevate Ensemble, Aaron has premiered works by Nicholas Lell Benivides and Danny Clay. A serious pedagogue, Aaron maintains a studio of 30 students in Mountainview California, and his students perform in numerous youth orchestras in the Bay Area, including El Camino YouthSymphony, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, Peninsula Youth Orchestra, and California Youth Symphony. His graduated Students have gone on to study at Boston University, UCLA, UC Davis, and Carnegie Mellon. Aaron plays on a viola by Enrico Orselli, purchased from Heaney Violins. At Meadowmount, Aaron studies with Patricia McCarty and is her teaching assistant.

Bridget Scoles is an nineteen-year-old violist from Moscow, Idaho. She has just completed her freshman year at Central Washington University as a music scholarship recipient as a BA in music under the tutelage of Timothy Betts. Bridget began her early training on the violin with Sheila Kilcoyne and Diane Worthey and then studied for nine years with Ferenc Cseszko at the University of Idaho. For the past two years she has focused her studies on viola with her current teacher, Giselle Hillyer. While in high school Bridget was a member of the Greater Palouse Youth Orchestra, the Moscow High School Orchestra and was chosen to participate in the Idaho All-State and All-Northwest orchestras. Bridget has also participated in Musicfest Northwest, performing on both violin and viola for eight years, winning several medals in competitive classes. In the summer of 2014, Bridget was awarded an Emerson Scholarship to attend Interlochen Center for the Arts, an internationally renowned arts camp. There she was selected for the Advanced String Quartet program, was principal violist of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra and was awarded the Maddy Summer Artist award on viola. At Meadowmount, Bridget studies with Patricia McCarty.

National Federation of Music Clubs

Meadowmount thanks the National Federation of Music Clubs for this yearly scholarship awarded to outstanding Meadowmount students.

Mairéad Flory, 16, started the cello when she was 3 years old. She has studied with Viviane Spanoghe of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, with Amit Peled of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and currently studies with Hans Jørgen Jensen of Northwestern University.
Mairéad has won 1st Prize in the Feuer Memorial String Competition, the Gaithersburg Young Artist Award, the Bland Competition, the Piedmont Symphony Competition, and the Richmond Symphony Competition. She has performed at the Augarten Palais in Vienna, Austria, the Concert Hall, Terrace Theater, and Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Concert Hall of the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, and Griswold and Goodwin Halls in Baltimore. She has soloed with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. She is also a regular performer for the Friday Morning Music Club.
Mairéad is a second year National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellow. She has participated in the Altensteiger Sommermusik Festival, the Kinhaven School of Music, the Heifetz International Music Institute, and is a scholarship student at the Meadowmount School of Music. Mairéad lives in Virginia and is a homeschooled 11th grader. At Meadowmount, Mairéad studies with Hans Jørgen Jensen and Julia Lichten.

The following students received scholarships from sponsoring organizations. We are grateful to these organizations and individuals who support the arts.

Assistance League of Seattle
Madeleine Siniscalchi
Olivia Kugiya

Judith Haskell Brewer Fund at the Community Foundation
Ifetayo Ali

Park Ridge Cultural Arts Council Inc.
Eva Nicholson

Peabody Preparatory
Lillian Naill
Ilan Nail

School of the Arts Foundation
Matthew Barnes

Texas Commission on the Arts
Jonathan Wu

Washington State Music Teachers Association
Madeleine Siniscalchi