Hudson Valley Music Club 2018 Student Awards Concert

Announces 2018 Student Awards Winners

The Hudson Valley Music Club holds an annual competition for talented Westchester County high school students. The winners are invited to display their talents at a concert in April. This year’s concert will be held on Monday, April 23, at 1:00 PM at the Dobbs Ferry Woman’s Club, 54 Clinton Avenue, Dobbs Ferry. Admission is $18.00.

For further information, please call 914-725-1203

The winners of this year’s competition are:

Winners: (in alphabetical order)

1) Karen Lee, cello Scarsdale H.S. Grade 9

2) Piano quartet:
Atticus Margulis-Ohnuma, violin Edgemont H.S. Grade 9
Maya Bharara, viola Scarsdale H.S. Grade 11
Miranda Margulis-Ohnuma, cello Edgemont H.S. Grade 11
Isaac Blackburn, piano Pelham Memorial H.S. Grade 9

3) Jason Kang, violin Horace Greeley H.S. Grade 9

4) Deborah Zhang, cello Scarsdale H.S. Grade 11

Francesca Church Award
Karen Lee, cello Scarsdale H.S. Grade 9

Honorable Mentions
Zachary Barnet, cello The Masters School Grade 10
Joshua Kupka, viola, Briarcliff H.S. Grade 11

Jason Kang, 15, is currently a freshman at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua. He first started playing the violin under Peggy Klinger at age 9.  In 2017, he joined Hoff-Barthelson Music School and continued his studies with her. He participates in the Hoff-Barthelson Festival Orchestra conducted by Jun Nakabashi. He has been concertmaster of the Westchester Junior Strings of the Greater Westchester Youth Orchestras Association and has performed with the orchestra at David Geffen Hall. The Hudson Valley Music Club Student Awards Competition is his first competition in his violin studies. He played in many chamber ensembles in the Buffalo University Summer Strings Workshop and Music at Port Milford.

Karen Lee is a freshmen at Scarsdale High School.  She currently studies with Lila Ainsworth and plays cello in the Hoff-Barthelson Festival Orchestra. Karen has been playing the cello since she was 8, studying with Leslie Marckx at the time. She has won honorable mention at the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside in Washington and Seattle Young Artists Music Festival Association. Karen also has been principal cellist in the Sinfonietta of Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has played in master classes with Alison Wells and Jonathon Koh and has studied with Robert Jesselson and Alison Wells at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival Summer Camp.

Deborah Zhang is a junior at Scarsdale High School and has been playing cello for eight years. Since third grade, she has been studying cello privately with Ms. Lila Ainsworth. She is currently the principal cellist of the Hoff-Barthelson Festival Orchestra. She was also the principal cellist of both the Westchester Area-All-State Symphony in 2017 and the Westchester All-County Symphony in 2015. Additionally, she is a part of a chamber group at Scarsdale High School and was selected to perform for the 35th Annual Young Musicians Concert for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center this year. She is also a part of the Music Education Club at her school, which teaches music to children at the Edward Williams Elementary School. She has also attended many summer music festivals, including the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, New York State Summer School of the Arts, Interlochen Summer Arts, and Greenwood.

Atticus Margulis-Ohnuma, violin, Maya Bharara, viola, Miranda Margulis-Ohnuma, cello and Isaac Blackburn, piano are students at Hoff-Barthelson Music School and have been playing together as MeloPhen since January of 2016. Atticus is a freshman at Edgemont High School, Maya is a junior at Scarsdale High School, Miranda is a junior at Edgemont High School and Isaac is a freshman at Pelham Memorial High School.  The group has been coached by Fred Zlotkin, Naomi Graf, and Tomoko Uchino. We are honored to have been selected to play in the Hudson Valley Music Club Student Awards Concert. Thank you to our families, teachers, and especially Tomoko for corralling our ideas and making it work!