NEPTA News and Events

May 2022

Dear NEPTA colleagues,

As we approach the end of our season, and my first year as President, I want to tell you all what an honor it is to serve this fantastic organization. Of course, I cannot do it alone. You, the NEPTA membership, are a fantastic group of people. There are so many of you who help in many ways. My heartfelt thanks to all of you!

We've made some changes this year (big and small). We just had our first Sunday Student Masterclass, with Konstantin Soukhovetski. On May 15, we will have our first Sunday Awards Recital at 3:00pm. We hope you can come to support these outstanding young pianists!

We will have our annual meeting (zoom) on Monday, May 16th, at 10:30am, at which time we will elect our new officers and directors to the board. Hope to see you there!

Warmest wishes,

Sivan Etedgee

President

Competition Results

Mildred Freiberg Middle School Competition

April 10, 2022

Congratulations to students and teachers! Thank you to Shizue Sano and Jia Shi, the competition chairs, as well as M. Steinert & Sons for generously providing us with a beautiful space in their new Newton location.

The competition was adjudicated by Jonathan Bass, Mathilde Handelsman, and Sayuri Miyamoto.

1st Prize: Vartan Arakelian, student of Lilit Karapatian-Shougarian
2nd Prize: Eunha Basu, student of Niva Fried
3rd Prize: Ian Lin, student of Tanya Schwartzman
Honorable Mention: Alexander Liu, student of Helena Vesterman
Honorable Mention: Milo Miller, student of Eleanor Perrone

Ruth Davidson Competition

April 24, 2022

The competition was adjudicated by Soomi Lee, Heng-Jin Park, and

Boaz Sharon.

First Place: Benjamin Wolfson, student of Natalia Harlap
Second Place: Emily Zhou, student of Niva Fried
Third Place: Alexis Chen, student of Dr. Nilly Shilo
A. Ramón Rivera Contemporary Music Award: Benjamin Wolfson, student of Natalia Harlap
Margaret C. Bachelder Romantic Music Award: Emily Zhou, student of Niva Fried

Alice Hamlet Competition

April 24, 2022

The competition was adjudicated by Soomi Lee, Heng-Jin Park, and

Boaz Sharon.

First Place: David Liebowitz, student of Natalia Harlap
Second Place: Justin Wang, student of Helena Vesterman
Third Place: Benjamin Shaar, student of Dr. Nilly Shilo
A. Ramón Rivera Contemporary Music Award: Mariana Joyce, student of Elena Drabkin

Upcoming Events

Awards Recital: May 15, 3:00pm

First Parish of Watertown

We hope you will join us on May 15th at 3:00pm, live and in-person at the First Parish of Watertown. These young performers are extraordinary! Please come and show your support to the teachers and their students. The event will be livestreamed for those who are unable to attend in person. Program and further details are forthcoming.

Annual Meeting: May 16, 10:30am

(Zoom)

Please join us on Zoom for our final meeting of the year. We will thank our departing board members and elect a new slate of officers and directors for the upcoming term. A sincere thank you to our departing board members, Diane Anderson, Nilly Shilo, Vivian Handis. Thank you as well to Yun Lee for your fantastic work as Vice President. Your contributions to our Board of Directors will be missed!

Nominations:

For Vice President, for the term 2022-2023: Vivian Fang

Board terms 2022-2025: Rebecca Helm, Nina Grimaldi, Jonathan Yasuda

Board term 2022-2023: the nominee is Joshua Del Dotto.

NEPTA Zoom Piano Marathon to Benefit

Ukrainian Children

On May 7, Diana Tetzlaff and Faina Kofman will host a fundraising marathon on Zoom to benefit Ukrainian children. Donations are being made to UNICEF. As of this writing, the recital has raised approximately $5,000 and 110 Students have registered to perform! Thank you to Faina and Diana, and thank you to everyone who registered students in this incredible show of support. Please consider supporting the students by watching the recital and making a donation.

Donations may be made to UNICEF USA.

https://www.unicefusa.org/war-ukraine

Join Zoom Meeting

(9:45-1:30 / 3:00-6:45)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82338452703?pwd=TksvKzZYUjlFZXNKb0lleGNoTDkyUT09

Meeting ID: 823 3845 2703

Passcode: 885365

Music for Hope Recital

The Music for Hope pilot teaching program reached its one year anniversary this past February. NEPTA teachers have been working hard to share the joy of music with the inner city kids of Boston through the Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI.) The program was grateful to receive a $5,000 grant from the Ella Lyman Cabot Trust in January, and we look forward to growing by adding more teachers. Donations may be made on the NEPTA website. Thank you for supporting these children in need!

If you are interested in teaching in the program (paid or volunteer) please reach out to Diana Tetzlaff at: musicforhope@nepta.com

Many special thanks to our current teachers in the program:

From top left to bottom right:

Diana Tetzlaff, Music for Hope Director

Sylvia Furash

Ranko Konishi-Houston

Natacha Rist

Irina Gelman

Rebecca Helm

Please join us at our upcoming recital via Zoom

Sunday, May 8th at 4:00 p.m.

https://zoom.us/j/94064595755?pwd=Sk5jMXdaRVpxUFpWZXprOHlDbXJTUT09

Password: ifsi

Susan B. Demb Grant

Congratulations to Robin Cho! Robin has been awarded the 2022 Susan B. Demb grant in the amount of $500. Robin plans to attend the Dalcroze Summer Institute program at the Longy School of Bard College, and will use her grant towards the cost of that program.