Austin and Anna with Joe at the Rising Stars Competition in Janaury.

As the winner of the prestigious regional “Rising Stars Concerto Competition” of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra in January, Austin Frohmader performed last Saturday night to a near-full house of eleven hundred concert goers at the Theatre of Viterbo University, La Crosse Wisconsin.  He received a wildly enthusiastic standing ovation from the audience.  This marvelous opportunity to perform on a subscription concert of the La Crosse Symphony was part of his Anna Beth Culver Award, which also included a $2,000 monetary award.  We look forward with great anticipation for a DVD of the performance from the La Crosse Symphony.  Hopefully, we will be able to share it with everyone right here on our web-site.  There is no rest for Austin as he left the next day for Bloomington, Indiana to interview for scholarship at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.  It is one of the most prestigious music schools in the land, and the world’s largest.  Next week, he is off to Houston where he will audition for Nancy Weems at the University of Houston (where Kenny Broberg and Joshua Tan are currently full-scholarship students), and at Rice University.  Just as he returns the final weekend of the month, he will leap head-long into a taxing week of a dress rehearsal and six performances with our world-renowned Minnesota Orchestra (more on that shortly!).

As we reported earlier, Anna Waldron was awarded Third Prize in the “Rising Stars” as she rendered deeply warm and captivating performances in both the Prelims and Finals.  The audience’s response to Anna’s playing was – in return – equally warm and deeply appreciative.

Noah Chojnacki had a wonderful month as he followed up his Honorable Mention in the “Rising Stars” with reaching the finals of the Young Peoples’ Symphony Concert Association (YPSCA) of the Minnesota Orchestra.  Noah presented a gorgeous performance of MacDowell’s Second Concerto at Orchestra Hall.  His performance was wonderfully organic, had great forward flow, and contained exquisite artistic detail.  His tone was powerful, colorful, yet unfettered, as he filled the vastness of Orchestra Hall with sound.

Our huge month of January continued with a good showing in the Mozart Concerto Competition as Christina Waldron and Nita Qiu both received Honorable Mention.

Lucas Jones rounded out our events with a great performance at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  Lucas represented our State of Minnesota in the National Regional Competition of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) – one of the largest and most prestigious competitions in the nation.  Although Lucas did not come away with any of the top awards – this time!! – he represented our state with class and highest artistic values.

We turn now to the big spring events of the Thursday Musical and Schubert Club Competitions in March, and our much anticipated Spring Celebration Recitals at Sundin Music Hall in April.  The brochures for our Young Artist World Piano Festival should be arriving this week and we will begin to make plans for the pinnacle event of our artistic year!

Yours in Music!!

Joe & Jo Anne

The classes will be held at the NEW Schmitt Music location in Edina- Southdale Square (on 66th & Xerxes). The start times for the classes are posted below:

• Young Performers/ Junior Young Artists @ 12:15pm
• Young Artist Class 1 @ 1:30pm
• Young Artist Class 2 @ 3:15pm

We understand that not everyone could make the drive out to La Crosse, Wi to listen to Austin play this weekend, so we decided to bring his performance to your home computer! Below, please enjoy Austin’s winning performance from the competition last month.

Our next performance classes will be on Sunday, January, 15, 2012. The performance orders have been posted and may be downloaded from the Calendar page.  Please check carefully on the performance order sheets to see which class your child will be performing with.

The classes will be held at Schmitt Music at the Galleria in Edina. The start times for the classes are posted below:

• Young Performers/ Junior Young Artists @ 12pm
• Young Artist Class 1 @ 1pm
• Young Artist Class 2 @ 3pm

The classes will be held at St. Paul Conservatory of Music in downtown St. Paul. The start times for the classes are posted below:

• Young Performers/ Junior Young Artists @ 2:30pm
• Young Artist Class 1 @ 3:45pm
• Young Artist Class 2 @ 5:15pm

Austin with Christopher O'Riley Master Class, photo: Schmitt Music Edina

Austin Frohmader has continued his torrential flood of accomplishments.  As most of you know, Austin is a very gifted composer as well as pianist.  He is intensely pursuing his dream of entering music school in the fall as a Composition Major, with a heavy concentration in piano as his chosen instrument (of course!).  Two startling events have occurred in support of his composition.

First of all, Austin was selected – through the submission of scores – to The Schubert Club Composer Mentorship Program. He is one of just four young composers in the upper mid-west selected for this prestigious program.  He will be mentoring with Composer-in-Residence, Edie Hill.  This program will include studies in Theory, Instrumentation, Orchestration, and Roundtables on the artist’s life as a composer in the modern world.  In the spring, at the conclusion of the Mentorship Program, Austin’s work for Brass Quintet will be performed by the Copper Street Brass at Landmark Center.  Secondly, Austin was the First Place winner of the State Division of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) National Composition Competition, He will represent the State of Minnesota at the West-Central Division Competition in January, University of Colorado, Boulder, in the Senior Division (15-18).  Amazingly, Austin also received Honorable Mention in the same MTNA National Competition in Piano, State Division!  The event was held at St. Olaf College on October 29th.  In addition, he was selected for the Master Class of world-renowned pianist, Christopher O’Riley, October 21^st, at the Burnsville Center for the Performing Arts, (see photo). To round out his amazing fall, he gave a powerfully expressive performance of Prokofiev’s Third Sonata, as guest artist, on Thursday Musical’s Morning Concert Series, November 3rd, Antonello Hall, MacPhail Center for the Arts.

In addition to Austin’s Honorable Mention at the MTNA Young Artist Competition, Lucas Jones was named Alternate to the state winner in the same competition.  He will be called upon to represent the Senior Division in Piano (15-18), in Colorado, should the winner be unable to fulfill his award.  In the Junior Division (11-14), Michael Tang and Noah Chojnacki each received Honorable Mention.  It is very significant that our four young men – Austin, Lucas, Michael, and Noah – were half of the eight players to audition in the MTNA Young Artist Competition.  The numbers are extremely limited because of the huge repertoire demands of this competition.  All four of our boys presented the twenty-five to thirty minute solo programs and, in addition, had prepared a twelve to sixteen minute concerto movement(s) for the St. Paul Piano Teachers (SPPTA) Concerto Competition the following week.  All four young men performed their entire thirty-five to forty-five minute programs on our Fall Festival Recitals, October 23^rd. We are very proud of their impressive work ethic.

Lucas Jones, Michael Tang, Daniel Qu, and Noah Qiu were named finalists in the St. Paul Piano Teachers (SPPTA) Concerto Competition (November 5^th).  They were four of the seven finalists chosen, and our studio contributed nine of the twenty-one contestants in the event.  Our other performers were Noah Chojnacki, Matthew Qu, Nita Qiu, Stephanie Ye, and Ellie Krienke. Jo Anne and I are very gratified to say – and without equivocation – that all nine of our young artists played their very best.

In other news . . . Mandy Chang, Stephanie Li, Niels Wu, Mulan Zhu, and Richard Chang have been elevated to the Young Artist Class.  We expect wonderful contributions from them in the near future to our top class!

Our young artists have a very brief period, before the holidays, to get going on huge amounts of new literature.  January will be another wild month of PCs and competitions – both in and out of town.

Yours in Music –

Joe & Jo Anne

There will NOT be a formal recital this quarter for the Young Performers and Junior Young Artists classes (hooray for jeans and gym shoes!). The performance orders for the classes and recitals are also available for download from the Calendar page. Please carefully check the performance order sheets to see with which class and time your child will be performing.

October 16, 2011 :: Performance Class for Young Artists Only – Schmitt Music in Edina

• Class 1 – 11am
• Class 2 – 1pm
• Class 3 – 3pm

October 23, 2011 :: PC and Recital – St. Paul Conservatory of Music

• Performance Class – Young Performers/Junior Young Artists – 1pm
• Recital – Young Artist 1 – 2:15pm
• Recital – Young Artist 2 – 4:00pm
• Recital – Young Artist 3 – 5:45pm

We also want to mention that all of our students and parents are always invited to sit in at any of our performance classes and recitals to hear other students from different classes play. We especially encourage our Young Performers and Junior Young Artists (and parents) to attend our Young Artists recitals and performance classes. It is quite inspirational for our younger students to see the level of playing they may aspire to by listening to our Young Artists perform.

St. Paul Conservatory of Music – New Location

One more reminder that the St. Paul Conservatory of Music have moved across the street from their old location. They are now in the East Exchange Building (across from McNally Smith College) at 26 East Exchange St., Suite 500, St. Paul, MN.

St. Paul Conservatory of Music – New Location

The classes will be held at Schmitt Music at the Galleria in Edina. The start times for the September 25th classes are posted below:

• Young Performers/ Junior Young Artists @ 11:00am
• Young Artist Class 1 @ 12:15pm
• Young Artist Class 2 @ 2:15pm

All told, Jo Anne and I (with the incredible help and support of our parents) brought nineteen of our musical souls from our studio, out of a total enrollment of sixty-two festival attendees. This is a record attendance for our studio, and we brought home a record twenty-two awards. All of the awards were won during two full days of auditions at the beginning of the Festival.

Kenny Broberg celebrated his final Festival having attended seven consecutive years. And celebrate he did! Kenny was chosen for the Senior Honors Recital, once again, performing Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata. It is considered by most musicians to be the greatest sonata of the twentieth century by an American composer. One of the most difficult and complex works in the piano literature, Kenny learned this nineteen minute, four movement work, from scratch, in just six weeks! Yes, an amazing feat, but it was the astounding performance of the work that was most mind-blowing. It was the unanimous opinion of our artist-faculty that this was the greatest performance of this work any of us had ever heard – live or recorded – by any artist known to us. Kenny was also selected for the Alessio Bax Master Class, as well as a private special lesson with Pavlina Dokovska. Kenny will be leaving us in the fall as this is the end of his formal study with me. He will be attending the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, having received a “full ride” of a full tuition scholarship, room and board. He will be studying with the internationally respected teacher, Nancy Weems. A personal friend of Jo Anne’s and mine, I have every confidence that she is the one to guide Kenny at this stage of his development. Kenny will be joining another virtuosic student of mine, Josh Tan, also a full scholarship student at UH, who will be in his third year in the fall. Although Kenny is leaving our studio, he and I will always be joined at the heart, mind, and soul. He is my musical heir. He carries my musical DNA. Kenny came to me as a young gifted boy of the age of ten, and is leaving as a fully formed artist of the first rank. Over these past eight years, we have shared a magical journey together. We have shed much blood, sweat, and tears, in the service of our art. We have also experienced exaltation, and the deepest joy and satisfaction one can imagine. One cannot know joy without pain. A relationship such as we have is incredibly rare and one of the greatest one can have on this planet.

Austin Frohmader and Lucas Jones also had an extraordinary Festival. Both young men (along with Kenny) were chosen for the Senior Honors Recital. Kenny, Austin, and Lucas were three of the seven students selected for this prestigious event. Austin and Lucas were also selected (along with Kenny) to perform in the Master Class of our world-renowned Guest Artist, Italian pianist, Alessio Bax. Our three young men constituted the entire Master Class. They were the only students out of the entire Festival selected for this world-class event. Our entire artist-faculty was unanimous in assessing that this was one of the greatest Master Classes any of us had ever witnessed, and was the main reason Bax was asked to return next year. This return engagement is a first for our Festival in its twenty-one year history. Austin also won the right to perform in our other International Guest Artist Master Class with Pavlina Dokovska of the Mannes School in New York City. Austin was also chosen for a Dokovska private lesson, and was a finalist in the Senior Concerto Competition. Lucas was Chosen for the Paul Wirth Master Class as well as a special private lesson with Dokovska.

Nita Qiu, Noah Qiu, Daniel Qu, Matthew Qu, and Michael Tang were all selected for the Junior Honors Recital, and were five of the eight performers presented. Nita was also chosen for the Paul Wirth Master Class. Michael was also selected for a Dokovska special lesson as well as being named a finalist in the Junior Concerto Competition.

Stephanie Ye was honored with a performance in the Wirth Master Class. Along with Nita and Lucas, these three young stars of ours made up the full roster of the Master Class.

Christina Waldron was selected for the Herbert Johnson Master Class. Richard Chang, Lawrence Chen, Niels Wu, Mulan Zhu, Mandy Chang, Noah Chojnacki Stephanie Li, Karena Lin, and Anna Waldron all had a wonderful Festival and played gorgeously in the Final Recitals.

Last, but not least, our beloved Lillie Gardner, gave a sumptuous and scintillating performance of Chopin’s magnificent Barcarolle in the Festival’s Alumni Recital. Lillie will begin her fourth year at New York University’s Steinhardt School for the Performing Arts Professions in Manhattan. Having taught Lillie since the tender age of nine, she still coaches with me in the summers and whenever she is home on break. She has been a valued assistant to me with a number of my young students. As you can see from this report, we had unprecedented success at our incredible Festival. Jo Anne and I look forward with great anticipation to the new season. Our studio is the strongest – across the board – it has ever been!!

Yours in Music – Joe & Jo Anne

• YP/YAP/RB @ 12:00pm
• Young Artist 1 @ 2:00pm
• Young Artist 2 @ 4:00pm
• Young Artist 3 @ 6:30pm

We are looking forward to stellar performances from all of our pianists at the recitals this Sunday!