Music competition organizer Garrie Rhodes (center) with judges Ed Siegel (second from left) and Jake Jamieson (far right) with contestants Devin Oswald (far left) Isabella McCormick (center left) and William Bonitz Newman (center right)
The first round of the District 5340 Music Competition was the program for the February 21, 2019 meeting. Our thanks to Garrie Rhodes for again organizing our competition, which featured three very talented young musicians. The contest is open to high school aged students in the region and the entrants are evaluated on the difficulty of the piece, their command of their instrument, interpretation and stage presence. Our own Ed Siegel and Jake Jamieson, who has a BA and MA in Ethnomusicology from UCLA (both have also performed at the Hollywood Bowl), served as judges.
Devin Oswald, a freshman at Cathedral Catholic High School, started the competition by playing a movement from Haydn’s Concerto G Major for violin. La Jolla Country Day senior William Bonitz Newman returned for the second year and played the 1st Concertino for alto saxophone by Georges Guilhaud. Isabella McCormick, a freshman at Cathedral Catholic High School finished the competition with Impromptu for harp by Reinhold Glère. Isabella’s performance was judged the winner and we awarded a $300 prize. She will move on to the Regional Contest in March to compete for a spot in the final round to be held in April.
Isabella said that she started playing the harp when she was six years old, and began working on her winning piece just last month.
We thank all the contestants for taking the time to play for us (and also their parents, Devin Oswald, Gisele Bonitz, and Patty and Kevin McCormick for joining us) and wish Isabella all success in the next round of the competition.
Visit our Facebook page to see (and like!) video clips of the performances.