Golden Triangle Music Forum students recently garnered honors at the Mississippi Music Teachers Association Piano Competition. They were students of Katie Wallace-Johnson (private piano studio), Rebekah Moore and Rosangela Sebba (Mississippi State University Community Music School), all members of the Golden Triangle Music Forum, a group of local, professional teachers who are dedicated to their students’ music success and development. The GTMF is a local affiliate of Mississippi Music Teachers Association and Music Teachers National Association first established in 1986 by piano teachers Harold Thompson and Ricki Pruitt.
The annual competition happens on the first weekend of November, though due to COVID-19, this year the competition was held online. Out of 24 applicants only 13 were placed, seven of them from Starkville. They competed with students from around the state, divided into four different categories: Elementary A-grade 3 and below, Elementary B-grades 4-6, Junior-grades 7-9, and Senior-grades 10-12.
Students and teachers chose their audition concerto during the summer and worked on one movement. The 2020 Concerto Competition had Kevin Chance as the online judge, assistant professor of Piano at University of Alabama.
Competition winners
Elementary A: 1st Place, Effia Wu (teacher Wallace-Johnson); 1st Alternate, Max Bian (Moore); 2nd Alternate, Justin Chung (Wallace-Johnson)
Elementary B: 1st Place, Katie Chung (Wallace-Johnson); 2nd Alternate, Anya Rai (Sebba); Participant, Srinika Bora (Moore)
Junior: 1st Alternate, Agatha Taquino (Sebba); 2nd Alternate, Mary Holland Nichols (Moore).
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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