Reviews of CHS Students at the Mozart Concerto Competition

The Noble and the Beautiful

Six of the youngest members of our Young Artist Class performed this past Saturday in the Mozart Concerto Competition of the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum. This is a nice “entry level” competition for very young and very gifted students to perform a movement or movements of a Mozart Concerto.  Although the competition is open for students K through 12, we generally send only our youngest players who are deeply involved with Mozart at this stage of their development.  Our teen-agers (as they must) are generally involved with the great, gigantic concertos of the Romantic Period.

All six of our players brought a nobility and beauty to this event that brought tears to our eyes.  They lifted the sublime nature of Mozart much above the event itself.  They performed with a poise and maturity way beyond their years.

Noah Chojnacki, thirteen, (whom we lovingly call Chopinacki) played with his customary integrity of the highest order.  Noah played with an exquisite attention to detail, and an impressive organic sweep.

Daniel Qu, twelve, demonstrated literally phenomenal growth in his technical prowess – especially in the third movement of Mozart’s B-flat Concerto, K. 450.  It is considered to be one of the most difficult and thorny of all the concertos.  In a letter to his father of May 24, 1784, Mozart wrote: “I cannot come to a decision between those two concerto(s) in B-b and D (K. 451).  I consider them both to be concertos and concertos that are bound to make the performer sweat.  From the point of view of difficulty, the Bb concerto beats the one in D”.  (Maurice Hinson)  Daniel worked exceedingly hard on this piece, but if Daniel did any sweating, he did not show it.  He made it seem easy.  This is a great artistic achievement – to not allow the technical difficulties of what one is doing to interfere or deflect from the emotional and artistic content of the work at hand.  Noah and Daniel are now ready to tackle one of the major Romantic concertos.

Matthew Qu, a ten-year-old fourth grader, and Michael Tang, eleven, and in the sixth grade, are very good “piano buddies” and both played brilliantly on Saturday.  They shared a wonderful experience together at our Piano Camp in July of 2009.  As young musicians, they both “speak” with very individual and soulful voices yet they share many highly desirable traits.  They both have brilliant intellectual and emotional command of the works at hand.  They are both developing virtuoso techniques and they play with hair-raising fire and energy.  They have phenomenal memory and have already learned a great deal of literature.  They play with boundless courage and energy.  Jo Anne and I know Michael and Matthew will continue to inspire and encourage each other as they continue to develop their formidable musical and artistic gifts.

Stephanie Ye, our nine-year-old fourth grader, performed her personal best in a piece that is immensely more complicated, lengthy, and sophisticated than the work she performed last year.  Stephanie is experiencing tremendous growth and development.  We had a scary period right before our dress rehearsal for this event.  Stephanie and I mismanaged her practice time as we got involved in new literature.  It is always difficult to juggle the study and preparation of multiple works.  She was not well-prepared for the dress rehearsal.  An alarm went off!  Stephanie had just one more lesson (the next day!) before the competition.  It was Martin Luther King Day, and she “took the bull by the horns” and literally practiced all day.  She came in to her lesson prepared and playing the piece better than before.  This is the definition of “True Grit”.

Our youngest player to perform on Saturday was Nita Qiu, our eight-year-old third grader.  Even at this tender age, Nita shows every sign of becoming an artist of the first rank.  She played her concerto with an amazing depth of understanding and feeling.  And she is developing a major technique to back it up.  She played so beautifully, I had a very hard time concentrating on the orchestra part!  I wanted to just stop and listen.  Her performance was a compelling and captivating experience.

So, one may ask, “If everyone played so great, why didn’t someone win something this time?”  This is a fair question.  But this is the nature of piano competitions.  Decisions are extremely subjective, often fickle, incomprehensible, and sometimes, downright crazy.  But I will have more to say on competitions later.  What I do remember, is the great pianist Jerome Lowenthal telling me – when I was a teen-ager – that the only competition of any importance, is the one with oneself.  In this sense, all of our kids were First Prize Winners.

Yours in Music

Joe & Jo Anne   

Austin and Lucas among Top 3 at Rising Stars Concerto Competition

We have more good news in this crazy-busy month of competitions!

Just this past weekend, Austin Frohmader and Lucas Jones traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin to participate in the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra’s “Rising Stars” Concerto Competition.  It is a very fine regional competition of three states (Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) for young artists fourteen to eighteen.  In addition to cash awards, the First Prize Winner is awarded two performances with the orchestra, as well as a week of rehearsals, radio/television interviews, etc.  One of our illustrious alumni, Adam Birdsall, won this competition a number of years ago. 

Austin and Lucas were two of the three finalists with Austin taking Second Place, with the Third Place Award going to Lucas.  Both young men played beautifully and are in a great “groove”.  Jo Anne and I are very proud of their work, poised performances, and leadership.  The road trip was very excruciating as the snow created a very dangerous driving environ – especially for the Frohmaders.  Normally a two and one-half hour trip, it took the Frohmaders five hours to get to La Crosse, witnessing the results of numerous serious accidents.  But (as we all know) when we travel – all bets are off.  So – hats off to Austin – who got up the next morning after arriving extremely late the night before and “delivered the goods”.  Of course, this is a very valuable experience.  This is what happens in real life as a traveling pianist!!

Yours in Music!

Joe & Jo Anne

Austin & Lucas – Finalists in the YPSCA of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Concerto Competition

A report from the front lines . . .

We are very happy to announce that Austin Frohmader and Lucas Jones were selected – by preliminary audition – to perform in the finals of the Young People’s Symphony Concert Association of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Concerto Competition. Our young men will be performing from the stage of Orchestra Hall, downtown Minneapolis, on Saturday, January 29, 2011, at 1:00 pm.  This is a very prestigious event as our Minnesota Orchestra is considered by many to be the greatest American orchestra, and certainly, one of the finest in the world.  There are generally about a dozen students (grades seven through twelve) selected for the finals.  There is much scholarship money at stake as well as the grand prize of performing with the orchestra next year, as soloist, at Family Concerts.  The finals are especially “prickly” in that the finals consist of all instruments (not just piano).

The YPSCA Finals are generally a very low-key event.  It is about two hours in length, but one may stay as briefly – or as long – as one would like. Only the first tier is open for families and friends of the performers.  However, Jo Anne and I encourage anyone who would like to experience the finals for themselves – and to support Austin’s and Lucas’ great effort and preparation to please feel welcome to attend.  I have encouraged some of our “up and coming stars” to come just see what it is like.  I know that Nita greatly enjoyed it last year when Kenny performed in the finals.  It is free and open to the public.  Jo Anne and I will be there in the audience (in and out) – but will not be performing with the boys.

All the best to Austin and Lucas in the pursuit of their art!!

Yours in Music –

Joe and Jo Anne

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Dear Students, Parents, and Friends of CHS -

Jo Anne and I want to take a moment to express our deep appreciation for all the cards, letters, and gifts we received over the holidays.  We are acutely aware that we so blessed with the opportunity of working with the finest pre-college pianistic talent around, representing the finest families on the planet.

We trust that all of you had a wonderful holiday season.  Jo Anne and I got some much needed R & R and we are ready to roll!!  We are so excited by the impressive development of our current Roster of Students – which represents the youngest studio we have ever had.  We look forward to our studio maintaining its position as a leader of the top pianistic talent in the State of Minnesota.  We have a very exciting season ahead of us: many competitions, auditions, recitals – all culminating in our Young Artist World Piano Festival in July.

We so look forward to seeing everyone this week.  We miss all of our students very much!!

All the best for a happy and sublime year in music!!

Joe and Jo Anne