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CONCERTO COMPETITION: Saturday, December 7th, 2024
Winner’s Concert with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra
Concerto Competition Winner’s Performance
February 16th, 2025
3:00 pm
Benson Great Hall
Bethel University
3900 Bethel Dr,
St Paul, MN 55112
The SPPTA Concerto Competition is open to any age student up through high school who would like to perform an accompanied concerto movement and receive a critique from two judges. From the preliminary round participants, six finalists are selected to perform again in the evening for the Finals Round, where the two daytime judges are joined by a third. Cash prizes are awarded for those musicians placing 3rd, 2nd, and 1st, with the 1st-place winner also earning the opportunity to perform their same concerto movement in concert with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra.
Congratulations to the 21 musicians who performed at this year's SPPTA Concerto Competition; it was a wonderful day filled with amazing music!
Thank you, Dr. April Kim, Dr. Benjamin Downs, and Dr. Jacob Fitzpatrick, for your judging time, expertise, and thoughtful comments. Here are the six finalists and the concerto movements they performed, as well as the photos and bios of those who placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Please take a moment to read about these interesting and talented individuals. We hope to see many of you at Tingyun Wang's performance with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra at 3pm on Sunday, February 16th, 2025, at Bethel University's Benson Great Hall.
1st Place:
Tingyun Wang, student of Denis Evstuhin
Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1, Op. 23
1st movement
2nd Place:
William Feng, student of Richard Tostenson
Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3
1st movement
3rd Place:
TJ Stang, student of Paul Wirth
Chopin’s Concerto No. 2, Op. 21
3rd movement
Finalist:
Adam Ngo, student of Jose Uriarte
Saint-Saën’s Concerto No. 2 in G Minor
1st movement
Finalist:
Danica Scofield, student of Megan Wallace
Beethoven’s Concerto No. 3
1st movement
Finalist:
Gaia Daniels, student of Paul Wirth
Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No.2, Op. 18
3rd movement
Tingyun Wang
Born and raised in the Twin Cities, MN, the tenth grader Tingting Wang was surrounded by music since birth through accompanying her older sibling to Yamaha piano group lessons. At the age of three, she was adamant about taking lessons as well. She then moved on to private lessons when she was five years old.
In Spring of 2022, Tingting joined Rubinstein Music Academy to study with Dr. Denis Evstuhin, an internationally-acclaimed pianist. Dr. Evstuhin enlightened and elevated Tingting’s technical and artistic skills, completely transforming her playing. He also introduced her to a wider range of piano repertoire, including concertos.
Tingting had her orchestral debut with the Dakota Valley Symphony performing Saint-Saëns’s piano concerto No. 2 in G minor first movement in Spring 2024. She is honored to be the winner of the most recent Saint Paul Piano Teachers Association (SPPTA) concerto competition and looks forward to collaborating with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky piano concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor first movement on February 16, 2025.
Since starting with Dr. Evstuhin, Tingting has received honorable mention at the Rising Stars Concerto Competition in La Crosse, WI. In 2023, she was awarded second place at the Minnesota Music Teachers Association Junior Young Artist contest. For two consecutive years, she has won third place at the Piano Solo Festival contest at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul.
Inspired by the full and beautiful sounds of orchestral music, Tingting also enjoys playing cello in the chamber orchestra at school. Additionally, she engages in Science Olympiad and Econ Start-up club. For two consecutive years, her Science Olympiad team has won the state championship title and represented the state of Minnesota to compete at the national level. In the community, she dances and performs in various events with her dance academy. At home, she enjoys a variety of activities, such as baking, gardening, crocheting, and playing table tennis.
William Feng is a 15-year-old tenth grader at Wayzata High School, living in Plymouth, Minnesota. William has studied piano at Macphail Center for Music for the past ten years and is currently studying with Richard Tostenson. He has also studied composition for six years with Sarah Miller. Making his concerto debut in 2022 and solo recital debut in 2023, William has won prizes in many competitions, including the Margaret Ankeny Award at the Minnesota Orchestra’s Young People’s Concerto Competition, Third Place at the La Crosse Rising Stars Concerto Competition, Second Place at the Thursday Musical Competition, First Place at the MMTA Young Artist competition, and First Place at the MMTF Mozart Piano Concerto Competition. He has attended masterclasses with Reiko Imrie, Susan Billmeyer, Evren Ozel, and Inna Faliks. William is also an avid composer and has written pieces for the Minnesota Sinfonia, Ivalas String Quartet, Riverside Winds, and Minnesota Percussion Trio.
Thomas Jacob (TJ) Stang is an eighteen-year-old pianist from St. Wendel, MN. He has been formally studying his instrument since Kindergarten after showing merit, mostly studying under the guidance of Dr. Paul Wirth. Through Minnesota’s PSEO program coupled with being homeschool, TJ has had the opportunity to study at Saint Cloud State University full-time working toward a Bachelor of Piano Performance. While there, he’s taken lessons with Dr. Shannon Sadler and Dr. Sara Langmead in parallel with Dr. Wirth. TJ also gigs regularly in the central Minnesota area performing solo repertoire, and is a member of Community Country Church’s worship team. He enjoys musical production and technology, skiing, and building various things from a variety of materials in the garage.
Awards from the Scholarship Fund:
1st Place - $250 and Concert Soloist
2nd Place - $150
3rd Place - $100
Registrations will be accepted between September 1st and October 15th, 2023. The registration fee is $50 per student for SPPTA Members, $75 per student for non-members, and is waived for MusicLink students when the teacher’s MusicLink ID is noted on the registration form.
Location: Bloomington Schmitt Music Auditorium – 7800 Picture Dr., Bloomington, MN 55439
Competition Preliminaries: Saturday, December 7th, 2024 from approximately 10:30 am-5:00pm
Competition Finals: Saturday, December 7th, 2024 from 6:30pm-8:30pm, with doors opening at 6:15pm.
Winner’s Concert with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra
Concerto Competition Winner’s Performance
February 16th, 2025
3:00 pm
Benson Great Hall
Bethel University
3900 Bethel Dr,
St Paul, MN 55112
If you would like to financially support this unique opportunity, contributions and Memorials can be made to the Honors and Awards Fund. All gifts are tax deductible. You may donate using the DONATE NOW button below.
Concerto Competition Rules and Regulations:
1. Registration limits The SPPTA Concerto Competition accommodates up to twenty-four students. Any registrations received beyond this amount will be placed in a lottery to establish alternates in the case of cancellations. Teachers with more than one student in the lottery will have the opportunity to rank them. Registration forms must be postmarked by October 15th to be accepted.
2. Fee. $50 per student for SPPTA members; $75 per student for non-members. Checks must be written by the teacher and payable to SPPTA. This fee is waived for MusicLink students when the teacher’s MusicLink ID is noted on the registration form. Refunds are given only if students are unable to participate due to program capacity.
3. Eligibility. This competition is open to any student through grade 12. The teacher must complete and sign the registration form and take care of all the details. If a student has transferred teachers within the last 6 months, please note the previous teacher’s name, so we can honor both teaching contributions While a student who has won the competition may continue to participate in subsequent years to receive the judges’ critiques, he/she cannot be awarded 1st place again.
4. Repertoire. Teachers may choose any concerto. A full movement must be prepared. Please note that each time a student participates in the competition, a different movement or concerto must be performed. Concerto selections cannot be changed after the registration deadline. Some concerto suggestions are provided online at the SPPTA website: https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/a1f45167-e11d-4dc7-acef-67fc75514fda/downloads/1clhjbv3a_691901.pdf?ver=1629774276978
5. Time Limits. A student’s performance time at the preliminary auditions may not exceed ten (10) minutes and should be one (1) movement, except as noted on the suggested concerto list. The teacher should make and clearly mark all appropriate cuts in the tutti to allow the student to play as much of the movement as possible, allowing time for the entire cadenza to be heard. Finalists may
expand their playing time to no more than twelve (12) minutes including tutti. Each student must play the same movement for the final auditions as was played for the preliminaries.
6. Finalists’ Concert. At the judges’ discretion, a maximum of six (6) students will be chosen to play in the final auditions. A winner may or may not be chosen.
7. First-Place Winner. The first-place winner must be available to rehearse and perform with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra. Once a student has won, he/she will not be awarded 1st place again in subsequent years, even if he/she was unable to perform with the orchestra when selected.
8. Accompanist. A student must provide his/her own accompanist.
9. Music for Judge. Each student must provide clean, non-photocopied music for the judge. Printed public domain pieces are acceptable. Make sure pencil marks are erased, and measures are neatly numbered. Mark all cuts clearly (sticky notes, paper clips, etc.) to ensure the judges can easily follow the performance.
10. Cadenzas. Cadenzas may be photocopied with all measures numbered.
11. Contestant Minimum. In case of low registration numbers, the program may not be offered.
12. Audition Format. All auditions must be done in person, on the date of the competition. No other form of performance submission will be accepted unless the event is forced to be virtual, in which case all auditions will be submitted by YouTube video, four days or more before the competition.
13. Open to the Public. Both preliminary and final auditions are open to the public, and all participants are encouraged to attend the finalists’ evening auditions.
14. Videotaping. From a location that allows the judges to clearly see the pianists, a parent may videotape their own child’s preliminary round performance, but not the performance of any other participant. (revised Oct. 2022)
15. Communication with the Judges. If a student has transferred teachers within the last 6 months, please note the previous teacher’s name, so we can honor both teaching contributions. If you have any questions or concerns about the event, please speak with the concerto competition coordinator. No one is allowed to discuss performance details with the judges, and the decision of the judges is final.
16. Memorization. While memorization is not required to participate in the preliminary round and receive the judges' critiques, only those individuals performing their concerto memorized will be considered as possible finalists.
17. Disqualification. Please review these guidelines well, and discuss them with your students, as infractions of these rules will result in disqualification.
Register and pay online at:
https://www.cognitoforms.com/SaintPaulPianoTeachers/_2024SPPTAConcertoCompetitionRegistrationForm
or via mail Registrations accepted September 1st – October 15th, 2023.
Mail registration forms to:
Beverly Olson,
Attn: Concerto Competition
1017 Glen Paul Court,
Shoreview, MN 55126
Beverly can be reached at Bev@BenchandBow.com and (651) 341-0353 if you have questions.
Concerto Competition 2024-2025 Winners
DONATE
If you would like to financially support this unique opportunity, contributions and Memorials can be made to the Honors and Awards Fund.
All gifts are tax deductible. .
Honors and Awards fund
Contributions and Memorials can be made to the Honors and Awards Fund to help us provide Concerto Competition to piano students. All gifts are tax deductible. Your generous gift is appreciated.