On Saturday February 8, 2025, young pianists from Santa Fe and Los Alamos competed in the 2025 Sonata Contest, an annual event jointly hosted by the Santa Fe Music Teachers Association (SFMTA) and the Los Alamos Music Teachers Association (LAMTA). The two esteemed judges for this year’s competition were Terri Reck of Albuquerque and Dr. Jacquelyn Helin of Santa Fe.

The first-place winners of each level will be guest artists at the first LAMTA Musicale recital of 2025, showcase their winning performances on Sunday February 23, 2025, at 2pm in Fuller Lodge.

The Sonata Contest is open to all pre-college piano students studying with members of SFMTA and LAMTA, and pianists studying with non-members can compete for an extra fee. The LAMTA  and SFMTA are local chapters of the Professional Music Teachers of New Mexico (PMTNM), which is a state chapter of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
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The first-place winners of the 2025 Sonata Contest, left to right from the top row: ​Graydon Waters, Elizabeth Wang, Glyn Lo, second row: David Robel, Riley Fensin, Cynthia Fu, third row: Gavin Hu, Alice Chen, and Anna Backhaus. 

Results of the 2025 Sonata Contest

​Level 1: Keith Snell - Classic Sonatina in C major
1st place: Graydon Waters (Teacher: Dr. Patricia Wood)
2nd place: Aylia Stull (Teacher: Wendy Ge)
3rd place: Gabriel Marin (Teacher: Wendy Ge)

​Level 2: William Gillock - Sonatina in Classic Style, C major, 1st mvmt (Allegro Moderato)
1st place: Elizabeth Wang (Teacher: Wendy Ge)
2nd place: Grace Waters (Teacher: Dr. Patricia Wood)
3rd place (tie): Evelyn Fobes (Teacher: Dr. Haewon Yang)
3rd place  (tie): Sabah Wolff (Teacher: Dr. Haewon Yang)

Level 3: Albert Biehl - Sonatina in A Minor op 94 no 4, 1st mvmt (Allegro Moderato)
1st place: Glyn Lo (Teacher: Wendy Ge)
2nd place: Adam Turner (Teacher: Janna Warren)
3rd place: Jia Guo (Teacher: Wendy Ge)

Level 4:  Fritz Spindler Sonatina op. 157 n. 4 2nd mvmt (Presto)
1st place: David Robel (Teacher: Dr. Haewon Yang)
2nd place: Benjamin Minko (Teacher: Janna Warren)
3rd place: Alice Sun (Teacher: Aejin Chang)
Honorable Mention: Lucy  Smith (Teacher: Dr. Patricia Wood)

Level 5: Erik Satie - Sonatine Bureaucratique, 1st mvmt (Allegro)
1st place: Riley Fensin (Teacher: Dr. Haewon Yang)
2nd place: Kenneth De Graeve (Teacher: Janna Warren)

Level 6: W. A. Mozart – Piano Sonata K. 545, 3rd mvmt (Allegretto)
1st place: Cynthia Fu (Teacher: Wendy Ge)
2nd place: Aniuta Dziuba (Teacher: Janna Warren)
3rd place: Alician Chen (Teacher: Dr. Patricia Wood)

Level 7: Dmitri Kabalevsky - Sonatine in C major, Op. 13 no. 1, 1st mvmt (Allegro assai e lusingando)
1st place: Gavin Hu (Teacher: Dr. Patricia Wood)
2nd place: Eric Xu (Teacher: Aejin Chang)

Level 8: F. J. Haydn – Sonata in G major, Hob XVI 39, 1st mvmt (Allegro con brio)
1st place: Alice Chen (Teacher: Dr. Patricia Wood)
2nd place: Lucia Roth (Teacher: Janna Warren)

Level 9: L. V. Beethoven – Piano Sonata op. 13, "Pathetique", 3rd mvmt (Rondo. Allegro)
1st place:  Anna Backhaus (Teacher: Janna Warren)
2nd place: Quinn Blakeslee (Teacher: Janna Warren)
3rd place: Griffin McCabe (Teacher: Janna Warren)
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Click to see this article on the Los Alamos Daily Post

Six young musicians from Los Alamos and Santa Fe were awarded top prizes at two state-level competitions hosted by the Professional Music Teachers of New Mexico (PMTNM) on Saturday November 9. These competitions are an annual event and were held this year at Keller Hall, in the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque campus.

The first competition held that day was the Honors Auditions, which are a two-tiered competition held by PMTNM. Each of New Mexico’s six districts hold their own district competitions, and the first-place winners are invited to compete at the state level competition. The Los Alamos Music Teachers Association (LAMTA) hosted this year’s District Honors Auditions and are proud to announce that five NE-I students took home the top prizes at the State Honors Auditions.

Our first-place winners are Gavin Hu of Santa Fe (teacher Dr. Patricia Wood) in the Level One piano competition (ages 9 and under), Seojin Choi of Los Alamos (teacher Dr. Haewon Yang) in the Level Three piano competition (ages 12-13), Sequoya Ke of Los Alamos (teacher Dr. Allison Rich) in the Level Three string competition (ages 12-13), Bryan Lee of Los Alamos (teacher Aejin Chang) in the Level Four piano competition (ages 14-15), and Angel Meng of Los Alamos (teacher Liana Austin) in the Level Four string competition (ages 14-15).

Also to congratulate are our other District NE-I contestants, who all won 2nd place in their respective categories: Elizabeth Qichen Wang in Level One piano, Elizabeth Hsu in Level Two piano, Lyla Lo in Level Three piano, and Matthea Fung in Level Five piano.

The second competition held in Keller Hall that day was the MTNA competitions, which is a three-tiered competition held by the Music Teachers National Association (the parent organization of PMTNM). The winners of the New Mexico competition will go on to compete as the state representative at the Southwest Division competition in December 2024, and the winner of the Southwest Division competition will compete as the division representative at the national competition in Chicago in March 2025.

Hannah Li of Los Alamos was chosen to be the state representative at the MTNA Junior Performance piano competition (ages 11-14), and currently studies with Aejin Chang. We wish Li the best of luck in the next rounds!

Additionally, three other Los Alamos students were awarded noteworthy prizes in the MTNA competitions. Louise Bienvenu won Honorable Mention in the MTNA Elementary Composition Competition (ages 5-10), and in the MTNA Senior Performance Piano competition (ages 15-18), Adrian Koo won 2nd place and was declared the State Alternate, while Tate Plohr was awarded Honorable Mention.

There was a definitively strong Los Alamos presence at this year’s state-level competitions. LAMTA is proud of all of our district students who put in hours of dedication at their instruments, and thankful for the teachers and parents who support our budding musicians.
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Although the Honors Auditions and MTNA Competitions are held for member teachers of PMTNM and MTNA, non-member teachers may enter students for an extra fee. We invite all instruments and voice types to apply for these competitions, which are held annually every fall for precollege and college students. For more information, please visit losalamosmusicteachers.org. 

The annual LAMTA Halloween recital was held on Saturday October 26th, at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos. The Unitarian Church Sanctuary was completely packed with friends and family coming together to listen to our 39 young pianists and 2 violinists.

This was the biggest Halloween recital to date that we have had, which also included the 1st place winners of the District NE-I Honors Auditions as guest artists. 

The performers were: Moon Anh Ha Dang, Graydon Waters, Gloria Zhang, Sofia Padilla, Grace Waters, Aylia Stull, Lance Rim, Andreas Lee, James Lei, Jiyul  Choi, Astrid Fobes, Alice Sun, Evelyn Fobes, Alicia Chen, Jiadong Guo, Grace Lin, Benjamin Minko, Alice Chen, Isaac Chu, Sydney Chen, Glyn Lo, Lucy Smith, Isaac Miller, Jane Smith, Jia Guo, Aniuta Dziuba, Justin Lei, Gabriel Marin, Willow Beeman, Cindy Fu, Chelsea Nguyen, Viplav Kranthijanya, and Henry Gans. The 1st place winners of the District NE-I Honors Auditions that performed were: Gavin Hu, Elizabeth Qichen Wang, Elizabeth Hsu, Alice Chen, Lyla Lo, Seojin Choi, Bryan Lee, and Angel Meng.

The Halloween recital invites performers to wear a costume if they wish while performing. Check out some of the costumes that we saw that day! 
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The Halloween recital is open to any music student who studies with a LAMTA teacher. We are so excited about this annual tradition, and hope that you will join us next year! ​

1st place: (tie) Gavin Hu (student of Dr. Patricia Wood)
1st place: (tie) Elizabeth Qichen Wang (student of Wendy Ge)
2nd place: (tie) Alicia Chen (student of Dr. Patricia Wood)
2nd place: (tie) Serenity Tao (student of Aejin Chang)

1st place: Elizabeth  Hsu (student of Kim Bakkum)
2nd place: (tie, state alternate) Justin Lei (student of Dr. Patricia Wood)
2nd place: (tie) Eric Xu (student of Aejin Chang)
​3rd place: Alice Chen (student of Dr. Patricia Wood)

1st place: (tie) Lyla Lo (student of Aejin Chang)
1st place: (tie) Seojin Choi (student of Dr. Haewon Yang)
2nd place: Julia Robel (student of Dr. Haewon Yang)

1st place: Bryan Lee (student of Aejin Chang)
3rd place: (tie) John Fung (student of Wendy Ge)
3rd place: (tie) Natan Svyatsky (student of Tatyana Baylieva)

1st place: Matthea Fung (student of Wendy Ge)
2nd place: Evan Strohmeyer (student of Dr. Patricia Wood)
​3rd place: Henry Gans (student of Dr. Patricia Wood)

Level 2 - 1st place: Alice Chen, violin (student of Liana Austin)
Level 3 - 1st place: Sequoya Ke, cello (student of Allison Rich)
Level 4 - 1st place: Angel Meng, violin (student of Liana Austin)

The Santa Fe Music Teachers Association and LAMTA joined together to invite two guest clinicians to New Mexico. Hailing from Indiana, Dr. Kyunghoon Kim and Dr. Elizabeth Yao are both established pianists and a husband-wife piano duo, while on the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, IN. 

Dr. Patricia Wood opened her doors to host this event, and students were able to play on the beautiful grand piano in her home.

Dr. Yao and Dr. Kim started the event by performing a piano duo piece called Arirang/Jasmine Flower, which was arranged for piano 4-hands by Dr. Kim. 

We had 8 student ensembles play for our clinicians, ranging from Yankee Doodle to Mendelssohn! Students as young as 8 to high school students showed off their collaborative skills as they played piano duos (and one trio) for our clinicians. 

The artistry and comments from our guests were well-received and enjoyed by students and teachers alike. The first duo event was a great success! We hope that we can have it again in the future.

The first of two Spring Musicale recitals that the LAMTA was held on Sunday February 25th, at Fuller Lodge. It included 14 of our young local talents, from four different studios of Los Alamos teachers. 

The LAMTA Musicale is held twice every year in the spring, and it is for the students with the highest level of preparation. All students performing at the musicale have memorized their pieces, and worked hard to polish it to the best of their abilities.

Although we have had all pianists this time, all instruments are invited to perform. All student performers need to be studying with a LAMTA teacher to be able to join.

Congratulations to all participants from the first Musicale Recital. We hope to see you at the next Musicale, on Sunday April 28th at Fuller Lodge again!

The Santa Fe Music Teachers Association held their annual Sonata Contest on February 10th, 2024. The contest saw students participate in all ten levels this year, and there was lots of excellent music heard despite the heavy snow storm!

The first place winners of each category were invited to play in the TGIF concert series held at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe on February 16th, 2024. The FPCSF have a beautiful Steinway D that the students played on, and the concert is well-attended weekly by local audiences.

The Sonata Contest is held annually, with set repertoire for each level. The contest is open to all students of teachers in either the Santa Fe or Los Alamos Music Teachers Association. 

For more information on the contest, please visit  https://santafemta.org/sonata_contest/.

Congratulations to all winners!

2024 Sonata Contest Winners
* denotes LAMTA teacher

Level 1: Jane Smisor Bastien: “A First Sonatina,” 3rd mvt. Gigue, from First Sonatinas

1st place tie: Willow Beeman, student of Dr. Patricia Wood*
1st place tie: Jiadong Guo, student of Wendy Ge*
2nd place: Elizabeth Wang, student of Wendy Ge*
3rd place tie: Eliseo Hernandez, student of Bryan Hutchinson
3rd place tie: Delilah Elledge, student of Bryan Hutchinson

Level 2: Frank Lynes: Sonatina in C Major, op. 39 no. 1, 1st mvt. Allegro

1st place: Glyn Lo, student of Wendy Ge*
2nd place tie: Adam Turner, student of Janna Warren*
2nd place tie: Jia Guo, student of Wendy Ge*
3rd place: Lucy Smith, student of Dr. Patricia Wood*

Level 3: Muzio Clementi: op. 36 no. 1, 1st movement in C Major, Allegro

1st place tie: Alicia Chen, student of Dr. Patricia Wood*
1st place tie: Benjamin Minko, student of Janna Warren*
2nd place: Samatha Kranthijanya, student of Wendy Ge*

Level  4: Robert Vandall: Sonatina no. 4 in a minor, 1st mvt. Allegro from Vandall Sonatinas: 4 Original Sonatinas

1st place tie: Kenneth De Graeve, student of Janna Warren*
1st place tie: Cynthia Fu, student of Wendy Ge*
2nd place: Gavin Hu, student of Dr. Patricia Wood*

Level 5: W. A. Mozart: Viennese Sonatina no. 1 in C Major 1st mvt. Allegro, K439b

1st place: Justin Lei, student of Dr. Patricia Wood*

Level 6: Domenico Cimarosa: Sonata no. 18 in A Major from Festival Collection Book 6

1st place: Isaac Miller, student of Janna Warren*

Level 7: Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in G major, op. 49 no. 2, 1st mvt. Allegro ma non troppo

1st place tie: Alice Chen, student of Dr. Patricia Wood*
1st place tie: Lucia Roth, student of Janna Warren*
2nd place: Griffin McCabe, student of Ellen Scudder*
3rd place: John Fung, student of Wendy Ge*

Level 8: Franz Joseph Haydn: Sonata no. 42 in G Major, Hob XVI:27, 1st mvt. Allegro con brio

1st place tie: Anna Backhaus, student of Janna Warren*
1st place tie: Quinn Blakeslee, student of Janna Warren*

Level 9: W. A. Mozart: Sonata in G major, K283 1st mvt. Allegro

1st place: Anna Simakov, student of Janna Warren*

Level 10: Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata no. 6, Op. 10, no. 2, F major 1st movement, Allegro

1st place: Inho Ryu, student of Hyunkyung Woo
2nd place: Tate Plohr, student of Janna Warren*

Picture: Jinheon Kim, Elizabeth Hsu, Hannah Li

Link to article in the Los Alamos Daily Post

On November 11th, 2023, our five winners from the District NE-I Honors Competition competed at the State finals in Albuquerque. 

We are happy to announce that three pianists won the top prize in their categories. Elizabeth Hsu (Taos, teacher Kim Bakkum) won Level 1 piano with her performance of Aaron Copland's The Cat and the Mouse. 

Hannah Li (Los Alamos, teacher Aejin Chang) won Level 2 piano with her performance of Frederic Chopin's Grand Valse Brillante. 

Jinheon Kim (Los Alamos, teacher Dr. Haewon Yang) won Level 5 piano with his performance of Frederic Chopin's Etude Op. 25, no. 11, "Winterwind". 

Our other finalists also placed in their respective categories. Julia Lee Robel (Los Alamos, teacher Juanita Madland) was awarded Honorable Mention for her performance of Solfegietto in C minor by C.P.E. Bach. Matthea Fung (Los Alamos, teacher Wendy Ge) was awarded third place for her performance of Fantasie Impromptu by Frederic Chopin. 

To be a competitor for the PMTNM State Honors Competition, each contestant must have received first place in one of New Mexico’s six districts. First place winners from each District Competition advance to the State Competition.

Although the Honors Competition is held for the members of the PMTNM organization, non-member teachers may enter students for an extra fee. All instruments and voice types are encouraged to apply for the Honors Competition, which is held annually every fall for pre college and college students. Please contact Dr. Haewon Yang, District Vice President NE-I for more information. 

We are very proud of our young artists, and look forward to their bright futures! 

On Saturday, October 28th, we had a total of 31 students participating in our annual Fall Masquerade/Hallowe'en Recital! Students came from the studios of Dr. Patricia Wood, Wendy Ge, Janna Warren, Juanita Madland, Dr. Haewon Yang, Aejin Chang, and Kim Bakkum. Students performed on the Steinway & Sons piano at Fuller Lodge.

The winners from our PMTNM NE-I Honors Competition were our guest artists, and they rounded off the program at the end. This was a great performance opportunity for them, as they will compete in the state competition in two weeks on November 11th!

Fuller Lodge was completely packed, and we ended up setting up more chairs to accommodate the music loving audience that joined us. 

Costumes were optional, but we had plenty of students that dressed up and made the event that much more festive and entertaining. Many thanks to Ellen Scudder, who organized this wonderful event.

We hope that you will join us next year as a performer, or as a supporter of our bright young musicians.