Welcome from Executive Director, Stephen McCurry
Welcome to Pasadena and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. This is the inaugural year of the PCM Chamber Music Competition. The accomplishments and artistry achieved by our own chamber music students inspired us to embark on this adventure. We are deeply grateful to Jerry and Terri Kohl for embracing our vision for starting a national, pre-collegiate, chamber music competition on the West Coast. It is their extraordinary generosity that ensured the competition’s successful launch. Andrew Cook, Artistic Director of the competition, has served as the chair of the PCM Chamber Music Department for the past five years. His passion for chamber music is contagious, inspiring students, their families, and the PCM community alike. I am grateful for all he brings to developing a first rate chamber music program which now finds expression in this competition. The mission of the competition is to challenge students to strive for excellence in the performance of chamber music and to educate and inspire audiences, and the community, through student achievement in the art of chamber music. To the performers, we are excited by the caliber of your performances heard in the video round. We hope your experience at PCM will be rewarding and will bring out your best. I hope too, that you have some sense that your hard work and accomplishments are inspiring to many. So to you all, bravo and play on! To the PCM Staff, thank you for taking on this ambitious new project. The PCM community and I are keenly aware of how fortunate we are to benefit from your outstanding work. To our board and donors, the school is a thriving and vital asset in a community renowned for its cultural and educational institutions. This competition represents another milestone in a remarkable journey of institutional growth which has only been possible because of your generosity and support. Thank you. Sincerely,
Stephen McCurry Executive Director, Pasadena Conservatory of Music
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Welcome from Artistic Director, Andrew Cook Greetings, and welcome to the 2017 PCM Chamber Music Competition. It has always been a dream of mine to create a chamber music competition that encourages the passion and hard work of highly committed, young artists. I am proud that, with the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, we have realized this dream and developed a space that both invites chamber music students to compete in a formal environment and fosters their growth by enabling them to discuss the nuances of their performances with a world-renowned panel of judges, and partake in a master class tailored to the participating ensembles. My hope is that the community, school, and performers are all enriched by the experience and the students gain support and valuable insights that help them on their journey to becoming more complete musicians. Enjoy the music! All my best,
Andrew Cook Artistic Director, PCM Chamber Music Competition
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Competition Staff Andrew Cook, Artistic Director Andrew Cook, cellist, has excited audiences both as a soloist and ensemble artist with his “strong soloistic style and rich immediate sound” throughout the United States and abroad. Mr. Cook received his bachelors degree from the Peabody Conservatory under Stephen Kates and in 1987 went to study with Lynn Harrell as a scholarship student at the University of Southern California. Concert appearances have taken Mr. Cook throughout the United States, Mexico, France, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Central Asia, and Egypt. As a member of the Peabody Honor String Quartet, Mr. Cook performed live broadcasts for National Public Radio and Radio France, a command performance for Princess Grace of Monaco, and a performance at the Palace of Versailles. In 1988, he joined the Valcoeur String Quartet who were artists-in-residence at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In 1990, Mr. Cook represented the U.S. at the Ninth International Tchaikovsky Cello Competition in Moscow. He has been a guest artist with the Ensemble of Santa Fe, the Lark String Quartet, Escher String Quartet, and Girsky Quartet, and has also been a guest artist with the Cerventino International Festival, Musica Da Camerata Festival, Grand Teton Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, San Miguel de Allende, and Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. Mr. Cook is very active in the Los Angeles music scene and has been a regular guest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, joining them on two recent European tours. He has also worked with the Pasadena Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Cook was a founding member of the Vista Trio which has performed worldwide and has released two recordings on the Vision Records label. He has released his own solo compact disc of beautiful short concert pieces for cello and piano entitled “After a Dream”. He has served on the faculties of Goucher College, University of Arizona, and California State University Northridge. He is the cofounder and director of the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival and Gold Coast Concert Artist. He is currently professor of cello at Pepperdine University and Artist-Teacher at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, and maintains an active private studio. Mr. Cook is also active in the recording, television and motion picture studios working on music scores for John Williams, Randy Newman, James Horner, Marvin Hamlisch, Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, and others. He is in great demand not only as a performer but also as a teacher, lecturer and educator.
Cindy McDermott, Competition Manager Cindy McDermott has spent the last 23 years as a home school educator. In addition to successfully educating her own children from birth through university level, she developed curricula for other homeschoolers based on their individual needs and circumstances. Her educational philosophy is rooted in Montessori Education (for which she holds a diploma from St. Nicholas Montessori in London, England), the Suzuki Method and critical thinking based on the Classical Education trivium—grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Her children’s passion for music led her to become immersed in the classical music scene, from early childhood music lessons to national and international solo and chamber music competitions. Cindy is currently the General Manager for Junior Chamber Music (JCM)—a dynamic chamber music program for children in Southern California. She holds an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from Irvine Valley College.
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Jury Panel Tamara Chernyak, violin Tamara Chernyak, originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, started playing the violin at the age of five. She studied with Michael Viman and graduated with honors from the Rimsky-Korsakov College, Conservatory and post-graduate programs with degrees in both performance and pedagogy. While studying, she became a member of the Mihaylovski opera and ballet theater, and in 1972 she joined the Leningrad Philharmonic. One of the first women from Russia to become part of a major U.S. symphony orchestra, Ms. Chernyak joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1976 and played 38 years in the Music Center, Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall stages. She has appeared as a soloist several times including performances of Bartok’s Violin Concerto with Zubin Mehta and concertos by Vivaldi conducted by Christopher Hogwood and Carlo Maria Giulini. In her orchestral career, Ms. Chernyak has worked with world-renowned conductors and soloists including Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lorin Maazel, Joshua Bell, Lang Lang, Itzhak Perlman, Emmanuel Ax, Sarah Chang, Midori, Evgeny Kissin, Leila Josefowicz, Gil Shaham, Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, John Williams, and Gustavo Dudamel, among others. She has played in the Salzburg Festival, Austria; Stravinsky Festival, Paris; Shostakovich Festival, Los Angeles; and Mahler Festival, Caracas and performed on the most famous stages in the world, including La Scala, Kennedy Center, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Concertgebouw, and Carnegie Hall. Ms. Chernyak has been recognized as one of the most dedicated and respected teachers in Southern California in both her private teaching practice and as a regular member of Gold Coast and International Beverly Hills festivals. She has served on the faculty of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and currently is professor of violin at Pepperdine University. Rowena Hammill, cello Originally from Australia, cellist Rowena Hammill graduated with a Master’s Degree from Indiana University where she was teaching assistant to Janos Starker. She has held professorships at the University of Northern Iowa and California State University Northridge and was Associate Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Presently, she divides her time between her positions as Associate Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and Artistic Director of Vashon Chamber Music in Washington State. In Los Angeles, Ms. Hammill has performed with the Gold Coast Concert Artists, Pittance Chamber Music, and for the Guild Series. In the Seattle area, she curates and performs concerts for Club Shostakovich, and with the Girsky Quartet presents the Vashon Beethoven Quartet Project, performing all the quartets of Beethoven over three years, 2015-2018. In 2016, she directed the inaugural Vashon Island Cello Camp, a summer camp for students ages 14 and older. Vashon Chamber Music is now in its eighth season, bringing chamber music concerts to the residents of beautiful Vashon Island in Puget Sound as well as outreach concerts in schools and senior centers all over the Seattle area.
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Jury Panel Edith Orloff, piano A versatile performer, pianist Edith Orloff is acclaimed as recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist whose music-making is praised at home and abroad for interpretive vitality and perceptive musicianship. Her concerts have taken her across the United States as well as to Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Italy, Canada, and the Czech Republic. “Her passagework purled, delicacy or crunch emerged to order from her rapid playing, chords had a cushion of authority, articulation illuminated melody.” (Los Angeles Times). In 1998, her German debut was received as “elegant, a pleasure to hear.” She is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Pacific Trio, with violinist, Roger Wilkie and cellist, John Walz, which regularly tours the U.S. and Europe and is featured on numerous international radio broadcasts. In November of 2014, Pacific Trio made its Russian debut in St. Petersburg with a performance at the “Silver Lyre” Festival. The trio is also ensemble-in-residence at Idyllwild Arts summer festival, where Ms. Orloff has taught piano and chamber music since 1976. Pacific Trio’s most recent recordings include a CD of trios by Bloch, Korngold, and Zemlinsky, and the album “American Composers,” featuring works of Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin, and Muczynski. She has been guest artist with such prestigious groups as the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, Ensemble Con Brio of Bruchsal, Germany, and the Czech String Trio. Promoting new music, she has launched series featuring works of contemporary composers. Ms. Orloff is a regular performer on prominent series in the Los Angeles area, also in duo recital with each trio colleague. She continues a long-standing musical collaboration with her husband, clarinetist David Peck, with whom she recorded the CD “Modern Works for Clarinet and Piano.” She has also recorded for Yarlung, Marsyas, and Capriccio. Her newlyreleased CD, “Personal Touch,” recorded in Germany for the Encora label, is an album of varied works for solo piano by old masters and contemporary composers. The album has garnered high praise in recent reviews by American Record Guide and the German publication PianoNews. Ms. Orloff holds two degrees from California Institute of the Arts, where she studied piano with Earle Voorhies and chamber music with Cesare Pascarella. Other influential teachers were Reginald Stewart, Jerome Lowenthal, Rosina Lhevinne, Daniel Pollack, Hellmut Hidegheti, and Roberto Eyzaguirre. In addition to her long-time summer faculty position at Idyllwild Arts, Edith Orloff also teaches privately and in master classes.
Competition Schedule
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Saturday, March 25, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Semi-Final Round
Final Round & Master Class
Olin and Ann Barrett Recital Hall Pasadena Conservatory of Music Each group performs a Beethoven selection and a selection of their choice. Repertoire for each group begins on the next page. No tickets required. 11 a.m. 11:20 a.m. 11:40 a.m. 12 noon
Trio Regala Canto Quartet Encore Trio Onyx Quartet
Break 1 p.m. 1:20 p.m. 1:40 p.m. 2 p.m.
La Dolce Trio Fuoco String Quartet Anstamur Trio Pristine Trio
Schedule subject to change
Olin and Ann Barrett Recital Hall Pasadena Conservatory of Music Beethoven selections are not performed in the Final Round. Tickets required. 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Master Class for all Non-Finalists in Barrett Hall (no tickets required)
1 p.m. 1:25 p.m. 1:50 p.m.
Finalist 1 Finalist 2 Finalist 3
2:30 p.m.
Jury Deliberation
3 p.m. 3:30 p.m.
Award Ceremony Reception for all Groups
Repertoire Requirements
Three movements must be prepared, including one Beethoven work and two works of contrasting styles and periods (i.e. Romantic and Contemporary periods). Semi-Final Round One movement from any Beethoven Piano Trio/String Quartet. One movement from any Romantic or Contemporary Piano Trio/String Quartet. Final Round One movement from the Romantic period and one movement from the Contemporary period (must be the same repertoire as previous rounds).
Awards Gold $5,000 Silver $3,500 Bronze $2,000 Andrew Cook Beethoven prize $500 All non-finalists: Master class with the jury panel
Semi-Final Round
Saturday, March 25 | Olin and Ann Barrett Recital Hall
Each ensemble has submitted a program at least twenty minutes in length and will perform a Beethoven selection and a selection of their choice. Repertoire selections will not be announced. Please hold applause and refrain from entering or exiting the recital hall until the conclusion of each group’s performance.
11 a.m. | Trio Regala
Coaches: Edward Francis, Lindsay Deutsch, Andrew Cook Junior Chamber Music Joshua Kave, 12, violin Sarah Kave, 12, cello Saveliy Sotnikov, 13, piano
Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3 I. Allegro con brio
Beethoven
Piano Trio in E Minor, Op. 90, No. 4 (Dumky) I. Lento maestoso
Dvorak
CafĂŠ Music II. Andante moderato
Schoenfield
11:20 a.m. | Canto Quartet Coach: Andrew Cook Pasadena Conservatory of Music Yuri Lim, 18, violin Phalaen Chang, 16, violin Albert Zhou, 15, viola Logan Hodgson, 17, cello
String Quartet in A Major, Op 18, No. 5 I. Allegro
Beethoven
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 44, No. 1 I. Molto allegro vivace
Mendelssohn
String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 92 I. Allegro sostenuto
Prokofiev
Watch live at compete.pasadenaconservatory.org
11:40 a.m. | Encore Trio
Coaches: Ning An, Laszlo Mezo Junior Chamber Music Hannah Kim, 13, violin Sedong Hwang, 15, cello Jocelyn Chen, 16, piano
Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 I. Allegro vivace e con brio Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 15 I. Moderato assai - più animato Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67 II. Allegro con brio
Beethoven Smetana Shostakovich
12 p.m. | Onyx Quartet Coach: Jacob Braun The Colburn School Kevin Tsao, 17, violin Tony Kukavica, 17, violin Ethan Moffitt, 16, viola Shirley Kim, 17, cello
Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1 Beethoven I. Allegro con brio Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 Debussy I. Animé et très décidé Three Pieces for String Quartet Stravinsky
Semi-Final Round
Saturday, March 25 | Olin and Ann Barrett Recital Hall
Each ensemble has submitted a program at least twenty minutes in length and will perform a Beethoven selection and a selection of their choice. Repertoire selections will not be announced. Please hold applause and refrain from entering or exiting the recital hall until the conclusion of each group’s performance.
1 p.m. | La Dolce Trio
Coaches: Susan Svrček, Andrew Cook Pasadena Conservatory of Music Bronte Vlashi, 15, violin Julia Lee, 13, cello Ashley Cheng, 16, piano
Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3 Beethoven II. Andante cantabile con variazioni Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 49 I. Molto allegro ed agitato
Mendelssohn
Berceuse Khachaturian
1:20 p.m. | Fuoco String Quartet Coaches: Aimée Kreston, Andrew Cook Pasadena Conservatory of Music Natalie Boberg, 16, violin Amy Sze, 15, violin Andy Park, 15, viola Claire Park, 16, cello
String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4 I. Allegro, ma non tanto
Beethoven
String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 13 I. Adagio–Allegro vivace
Mendelssohn
String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110 Shostakovich I. Largo II. Allegro molto
Watch live at compete.pasadenaconservatory.org
1:40 p.m. | Anstamur Trio
Coach: Fung Ho Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Jeongwon An, 18, violin Nicholas CastaĂąo, 17, cello Arvin-Ur Gantumur, 19, piano
Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3 IV. Presto Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major I. Allegro con brio Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor IV. Allegretto
Beethoven Brahms Shostakovich
2 p.m. | Pristine Trio
Coach: Constance Moore The Juilliard School Pre-College Qing Yu Chen, 16, violin Max Bobby, 16, cello Youlan Ji, 17, piano
Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3 IV. Finale. Prestissimo Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major I. Andante con moto Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor IV. Allegretto
Beethoven Schubert Shostakovich
Founded in 1983, the Pasadena Conservatory of Music (PCM) is an independent, nonprofit, nationally-accredited community school whose mission is to educate, advocate, inspire, and share through music study and performance. PCM offers a comprehensive curriculum that encompasses old and new music for children and adults. More than 1,200 students attend the school annually and more than 3,000 students in schools throughout the Pasadena Unified School District and the community benefit from its extensive outreach programs. board of directors Alison Lifland, Chair Judith Kelly V. Shannon Clyne, Treasurer Peter Knell Karen Stracka, Secretary Thomas Leddy Olin Barrett June Li Brian P. Brooks Roger Mullendore Henry O. Eversole Andrew Rooke Jane Kaczmarek Laurie Sowd Stephen A. Kanter, M.D. executive director Stephen McCurry