Baroque Festival, 2014

   Snow storm failed to interfere with Baroque Festival/Competition this year. I am thrilled to report that everyone performed beautifully and received "Superior" in addition to collecting points towards medals and trophies. 

Competition winners, Katherine and Nicole, attended a beautiful Honors Concert held in Arlington. Both students received lovely medals.

Group Winners:

Nicole-Intermediate Level

Katherine- Intermediate Level

Raelyn- 15 point trophy

Superior- Helen, Lucy, Eli, Sophia, Jacqui, Nicole, Katherine, Charlotte and Raelyn

February News, 2014

Despite numerous school cancellations and delayed starts, we successfully managed to accomplish all planned events on a calendar.

Record low temperatures didn’t stop us from holding two studio mini-recitals at the "Woodlands".

 It was great to see everyone at our Group Class. We worked sincerely on improving listening skills for theory exam and spent time getting more familiar with the long list of signs and terms for the Theory Mastery Day. Later, everyone performed Baroque Festival pieces for the class. We had fun drawing numbers to determine the order of performances. Some students came up with a clever way of “trading” numbers for more favorable spots!

NVMTA held two Judged Recitals, please see fantastic results:

Raelyn- Honors (January)

 Eli- Honors (January)

 Nicole- Honors(February)

In addition to receiving Honors,  Raelyn was selected to perform at the young Artist Musicale at George Mason University in March.

SMC Honors:

Nicole

Charlotte

VMTA Theory Exam was attended by all, well done! Top scores go to Jacqui, Sophia, Lucy and Eileen (level X).

Happy New Year!

  Happy New Year! Year 2014 promises to be busy for everyone in our studio, just take a look at the calendar in the previous post. December Group class was canceled due to massive power outage in our area; ice storm did noticeable damage to power lines on our street. Three days in a cold house without electricity tested my optimism and endurance of freezing temperatures, it also made my holiday preparation a bit more chaotic.

 Nevertheless, we were able to enjoy Mini-Studio Recital at the “Woodlands”. It was so lovely to see everyone festively dressed for the holidays.

Latest studio news:

NVMTA Judged Recital:

Lucy- Honors

SMC Student Recital:

Raelyn- Honors

Charlotte- Honors

 I hope winter break was long enough to warm up and have some family time. Next, everyone is sharpening pencils and flipping through music dictionary pages as we are getting ready for the annual VMTA Theory Exam.

Important Dates,2014

April 26-SMC Student Recital, JK

April 26 &27- NVMTA Piano Duet Competition

May 10, Saturday- NVMTA Achievements Awards

May 11- Hartman Awards, CU

May 15-Woodlands, SMC Honors

May 18- NVMTA Sonata, GMU

May 22- Woodlands, SMC Honors

June 7- District Auditions

Fall Notes, 2013

             Mini-Recital at the Kirtley residence

First quarter has a check mark on school calendar, we can make a quick update about busy autumn season so far.

Two Studio Mini-Recitals were hosted by the Papenfuss and Kirtley families, thank you so much for opening your house to us! Students had a chance not only to play for each other, but also catch up while enjoying tasty refreshments.

Raelyn before Asian American Competition

Raelyn and Maggie received recognition at Asian American Competition. Both students received Honors and high marks from judges. Raelyn impressed one of the judges and received the maximum points of 30! Congratulations to both students!

FLMF held its first Student Recital at the Reston Community Center. It was wonderful to see that so many students selected this opportunity to get the feel for new programs.

Raelyn, Katherine and Helen after performance at Reston

VMTA Fall Festival took place yesterday, and I must say that everyone did super great!

Superior- Sophia, Nicole, Raelyn, Katherine, Helen and Lucy.

Yvette and Nicole at VMTA Fall Festival

Please check our official website: http://www.silvaspianostudio.com
for upcoming recital and competition dates. 

Summer Kaleidoscope

Welcome back! Time to shift gears after vacations, fun family trips and action-packed summer camps.  Event calendar promises to provide us with many performance opportunities this year. This week, one can use extra time for adjustments, getting used to early alarm clock surprises and perfecting after school activity calendar for upcoming school year.

From Eli's travel to Dubrovnik

In the mean time, a quick glance through summer photos and summary of colorful travel impressions plus performance updates.

In June, Nicole participated in Northern District Auditions. Level 1A had 25 participants this year, Nicole won 3^rd place!

Nicole with her brother and big sister at Kennedy Center, Washington DC

Maggie and Gabby performed at the Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, NY. Both students were finalists of the AFAF Spring Concerts. This will be a trip to remember for Maggie and Gaby as well as their supportive families.

Gaby at Carnegie Hall

Charlotte and Lucy spend early weekday mornings and Saturdays at CSL swim meets. Many hours of dedicated swimming brought well deserved awards; both swimmers made All Stars top ten list for the Colonial Swim League.

Charlotte at All Stars

 Travel destinations this summer included far away places: Taiwan, Japan, China, Italy, Croatia, Spain and Turkey.

 Angus in Taipei

  If you are planning ahead, you may want to look at the upcoming events for fall:

Sunday, 9/29- NVMTA General Recitals, WCA

Sunday 10/13- NVMTA Judged Recitals, WCA

Sunday, 10/13-FLMF Recital, Reston Community Center

Saturday, 10/26- Asian American Piano Competition

Saturday, 11/2- VMTA Fall Festival

Sunday, 11/17- NVMTA Judged Recitals

Saturday, 11/23-SMC Student Recital, JK

 I cannot wait to hear all about your summer, and don't forget to check the battery for the metronome!

Student Achievements, 2012-2013

           Gaby and Maggie after performance at Carnegie Hall, NY

Old Dominion University Harold Protsman Classical Competition

Nicole Papenfuss (2nd grader) - 2nd place  

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, NY


Charlotte, Gaby and Maggie

NVMTA Piano Ensemble Competition

Level I (age 8 and under): 
  Nicole and Sophia - 1st place

Level II (age 9 - 10): 
  Lucy and Cindy - 1st place

Level IIIA (age 11): 
  Angus and Eli - 1st place

Level IIIB (age 12-13): 
  Maggie and Charlotte - 1st place



Northern District Auditions
Level 1A
Nicole-3rd place

SMC Honors

Helen
Katherine
Angus
Lucy
Eli
Maggie
Sophia
Nicole
Charlotte

WMTA Viola Hartman Piano Performance Awards

Sophia - 3rd place

Nicole - 3rd place

Gaby - 3rd place



NVMTA Piano Concerto Festival/Competition

Grades 4-5:
Lucy - 1st place

Eli-3rd place
Grades 6-7:
Charlotte - 1st place

Angus - 2nd place  

NVMTA Bach Baroque Festival
Superior- Helen, Lucy, Gaby, Eli
Superior Plus-Eli, Nicole
15 point award- Katherine, Lucy, Eli


WMTA Speciality Competition
Charlotte - 1st place

NVMTA Judged Recitals



Gaby - Honors

Maggie - HM

Eli - HM



NVMTA Sonata Festival
First Round Winners - Sophia, Nicole, Charlotte, Gaby


Honors - Nicole, Gaby



                   Nicole with her mom, Ms. Michi,  and brother at GMU