Front: Allyson Goodman, second place winner; Sharon Walker, president of SOLA; Shine Kang, co-chair of the MGL Scholarship Competition, and Dr. Wendy Matthews, judge. Back: Claudia Chudacoff, judge; Rosa Fuller, co-chair of the MGL Scholarship Competition; Dr. Jonathan Kolm, judge, and Javier Iglesias Martin, third place winner.
Alexandria — Min Ji Lee won first prize playing one of the most challenging piano concertos in the standard classical repertoire — Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor.
Lee participated with 11 other aspiring young musicians at the annual Mary Graham Lasley Scholarship Competition which was held on Sunday, March 25, at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
The Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria co-sponsors the event annually with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra to encourage college-level students from Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. to pursue classical music education in schools throughout the United States.
SOLA is an all-volunteer organization, raising funds in support of the ASO and providing funding for the competition. First place winner was awarded $2,000, second place $1,500 and third place $1,000. Over $95,000 has been awarded to students since the competition’s inception 36 years ago.
Maestro Kim Allen Kluge, Music of the ASO presented the awards to:
First Place: Nineteen-year-old Min Ji Lee, a South Korean native, presently attends Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. She performed the first movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30, which is known for its technical and musical demands on the performer.
When Lee learned she had won first prize she said, “I felt extremely excited about winning and grateful that I can enjoy playing symphonic music.” She has won other competitions, including first place in the 2000 Korean Eum-Youn Piano Competition and the 2004 National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine Competition.
Second Place: Violist Allyson Goodman, performed the first movement of BÈla BartÛk‘s Viola Concerto. Allyson is a native Alexandrian and attends Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Third Place:Cellist Javier Martin played the first movement of Schumann’s Cello concerto in A Minor, Op. 129. Mr. Martinis originally from Spain and currently attends Peabody Conservatory.
Honorable Mention: Cellist Frances Borowsky, who won Honorable Mention for the second year in a row, performed Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33.
The following were judges: Dr. Wendy Matthews, assistant dean at Northern Virginia Community College's Alexandria Campus; Dr. Jonathan Kolm, assistant professor of music at Northern Virginia Community College's Alexandria campus, and, Claudia Chudacoff, concertmaster of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra.
The students were not the only ones who were grateful for the challenging event. Rosa Fullerton who co-chaired this year’s Mary Graham Lasley Competition with Shine Kang said, “I feel very fortunate to be part of a program that assists young, talented musicians to continue their musical education and to achieve their future career goals.”