Fiddler Goes Global

Fiddling phenom Antonio Pontarelli represented the United States at the fifth Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival in March. “Music is a universal language which brings everyone together no matter the circumstance,” Pontarelli says. The rock- and jazz-inspired Pontarelli was in his element with other featured performers, including legendary bluesman B.B. King and pop star Jason Mraz, among others. But the festival, which was created in the wake of the 2004 tsunami that tore through the region, also puts the spotlight on local musicians. “I have enjoyed performing overseas, but the Java Jazz Festival has an impressive energy and talent unlike any other place in the world,” Pontarelli says. “It’s exhilarating.”

Teens Spread the Love

Teens from coast to coast are sharing their love of music and helping out less fortunate aspiring players. Violist Griffin Gaffney, 17, helped the Friendly House Community Center in Portland, Oregon, acquire ten violins and set up free after-school lessons for elementary school students. Gaffney organized a benefit concert with fellow student players and raised $2,200 to buy discounted violins from the David Kerr Violin Shop. Gaffney now teaches a beginning group class once a week at the center and will be organizing a group recital over the summer.

In Washington, DC, teen students from the Levine School of Music and the Washington Conservatory of Music got together to play a benefit recital for the Washington Scholarship Fund, which funds education for young, disadvantaged musicians. The recital featured works by Chopin, Schubert, and Mozart.

Kansas String Kings

The BAC Trio—named for teen violinists Blaine Dunlop and Curtis Eudaly and guitarist August Dunlop—was crowned champion of the Fort Hays State University’s Western Kansas String Academy Alternative Strings Battle of the Bands, sponsored by the Yamaha Corporation of America. As the victors, the trio received $250 and opened a concert for the fiddle spectacular Barrage at the university. “A lot of the people there were just awesome to talk to,” Blaine Dunlop, 16, says. “Just listening to Barrage is learning within itself because it’s a really cool sound and a lot goes into it.”

Taking inspiration from a Darol Anger chop-technique workshop at a Mark O’Connor string camp, Blaine Dunlop plays an octave fiddle, Eudaly plays a five-string fiddle, and they give the group a sort of Celtic-rock vibe. “I use an octave fiddle for more depth,” Dunlop says. “It opens up a whole new world with the five-string fiddle.”

Studying with the Stars

Nine young musicians received the opportunity to participate in the fifth Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School in May, including Angela Wee, 12, of Woodbury, New York; Marié Rossano, 15, of Bellevue, Washington; Su Hyun Park, 17, of Wyckoff, New Jersey; Stephen Kim, 13, of Cupertino, California; Marie-Christine Klettner, 16, of Salzburg, Austria; and Meredith Riley, 18, of Ithaca, New York. The violinists enjoyed five days of lectures, recitals, master classes, onstage coaching, and pedagogy sessions focused on the methods and philosophy of Dorothy DeLay, a legendary Juilliard teacher. All faculty members and recitalists from the program had been involved in DeLay’s teaching studio, including celebrated artists and teachers such as Itzhak Perlman, Brian Lewis, Paul Kantor, Chee-Yun, David Kim, Joel Smirnoff, and Joan Kwuon.

In Brief

Sixty musicians competed in the 25th Annual Young Texas Artists Music Competition for cash prizes, performance opportunities, and the honor of taking home the Texan flag that flew over the capitol on this year’s Texas Independence Day. Violinist Natalie Lin won first place in the Strings Division and won the Audience Choice Award for her performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major. Cellist Meredith McCook won second place.

Violinists Ruth Cho, Lucas Gayda, and Caitlin Gowdy, and cellist Michelle Ruttimann were among 15 young artists between ages ten and 18 to win 2009 Marin Music Chest scholarships. Based in Northern California, the Marin Music Chest awards the scholarships to musicians of high caliber in the San Francisco Bay Area.