Competition Winner Annie Jacobs-Perkins in the New Yorker

In the recent article entitled “Cello Nation: The Piatigorsky Festival, in Los Angeles” by Alex Ross, Annie Jacobs-Perkins, cello received mention.  Ms. Jacobs-Perkins, along with her ensemble Trio Brillante were the 2016 Frances Walton Competition Ensemble Winners

“…That same day, Laurence Lesser, a Piatigorsky pupil who serves as the cello sage at the New England Conservatory, advised Annie Jacobs-Perkins, another Kirshbaum protégée, on Martinů’s Second Sonata. Jacobs-Perkins delivered the desolate Largo with hypnotic lyricism, causing listeners to forget where they were for a moment. Lesser made a technical suggestion, asking her to bow more evenly across the first falling phrase. He also pushed her to give the entire opening melody an archlike shape, so that it sang toward a climax, then subsided. Some people in the audience may have wondered why Lesser was tinkering with an already gorgeous rendition, but he offered a credo: “When someone plays as beautifully as you do, it’s easy for me to be fussy, because no matter how far we are there’s always more.”…”

 

Frances Walton Winners to perform free in Seattle and the Eastside

Some of our favorite award winners of 2016 will return for free concert performances in the Seattle and eastside in September.

Concerts will feature Anne Suda, cello Dana Jackson, bassoon and Nicholas Dold, piano.  In addition to these live public performances, competition winners will go into the schools providing interactive close up experiences for school aged children in September of 2016.  Schedule and information about the performers is below.  Concerts are FREE and open to the public.

Sunday, September 11th, 3:00 PM
Church of the Redeemer
6211 NE 182nd St., Kenmore, WA 98028

Wednesday, September 14th, 7:00 PM
Pine Lake Covenant Church
Co-sponsored by Sammamish Arts Commission
1715 228th Ave SE Sammamish, WA 98075

Thursday, September 15th, 7:00 PM
Immanuel Lutheran
1215 Thomas Street Seattle, WA 98109

Anne Suda cello
Anne Suda, cello

Accomplished cellist Anne Suda has performed many concertos, most recently with One Found Sound in SF and with the Venice Symphony led by Maestro Imre Palló. Anne tours a memorized production of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire and her trio was in residence at Banff, Aldeburgh Music, Old First Concerts, won the Berkeley Piano Club Competition, and toured France. Anne has given numerous outreach performances. This summer Anne performs at Yale’s Norfolk Festival. Pursuing her DMA at UCLA with Antonio Lysy, she studied previously at SF Conservatory, Sydney Conservatorium, and Vanderbilt, double majoring in English. Anne began cello at four with her mother Carolyn Suda. www.annesuda.com

Dana Jackson bassoon
Dana Jackson, bassoon

Dana Jackson, a native of Seattle, Washington, is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra in Seattle, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. She is a freelancer up and down the West Coast and performs regularly with the Seattle Symphony. Ms. Jackson holds a BA from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, a MM from Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music, a PSC from the Colburn School. Dana received the Honorable Mention prize in the Gillet-Fox bassoon competition at the International Double Reed Society convention. She is also an artistic director for the Archipelago Collective, a San Juan Island chamber music festival.

Both will be working with collaborative pianist  Nicholas Dold, an Indiana University pianist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Nicholas Dold, piano
Nicholas Dold, piano

Pianist Nicholas Dold has an active career performing across the United States as a soloist and collaborative pianist. He has been featured in venues such as the Musical Flights Series of the Orchestral Institute Napa Valley, the Duxbury Music Festival, Steinway of Phoenix, and Indiana Public Radio – WFHB. A specialist in instrumental collaboration, Nicholas currently serves on the piano accompanying staff of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has held prior positions with the Crowden Music School, the South Bay String Academy, the Indiana University Precollege Strings, and the Indiana University Piano Academy. He received his graduate and undergraduate degrees at IU, where his principal teachers included Reiko Shigeoka-Neriki and Yael Weiss.

 

2016 Frances Walton Competition Winners

Soloists

Anne Suda cello
Anne Suda, cello
Michael Zarling piano
Michael Zarling, piano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dana Jackson bassoon
Dana Jackson, bassoon
Lesley Baird, mezzo soprano
Lesley Baird, mezzo-soprano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alternate winners:
Yoon Be Kim, violin
Benton Gordon, flute

small ensemble

Trio brillante
TRIO BRILLANTE Vijay Venkatesh, piano Micah Wright, clarinet Annie Jacobs-Perkins, cello

Alternate Winner:
Friction String Quartet

2016 Competition Finalists

FRANCES WALTON COMPETITION Finals
FREE and open to the public!

Saturday, June 4, 2016
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. – live finals
7:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. – winners concert

Bethany Lutheran Church
7400 Woodlawn Avenue N.E.
Seattle, WA 98115

Frances Walton Finals 2015
2015 Competition winners: bottom l-r: Jinshil Yi (collaborative piano for Sophie), Sophie Baird-Daniel, Frances Walton, Erik Steighner, Cameron O’Connor, Micah Wright (alt. inner)top l-r: Jovanni-Rey de Pedro, Sroen Hamm, Matt Birmingham, David Hoogkamer, David Decker, Jae Eun “Jenny” Shin (alt. winner)

2016 Finals Competition Schedule (Each artist will perform for 20 minutes)

9:00 a.m.     Yoon Be Kim, violin, Northridge CA
9:25 a.m.     Tonya Burton, viola, Camas WA
9:50 a.m.     Yesol (Sol) Im, violin, Edmonds WA
10:15 a.m.   Lauren Hall, viola, Seattle WA
10:45 a.m.              Break
10:50 a.m.   Aimée Dockum, cello, Fresno CA
11:15 a.m.   Anne Suda, cello, Los Angeles CA
11:40 a.m.   Benton Gordon, flute, Seattle WA
12:05 p.m.   Micah Wright, clarinet, West Des Moines IA (L.A., CA)
12:30 p.m.   Dana Jackson, bassoon, Seattle WA
12:55 p.m.    Ching-Yeuh ‘Andrew’ Chen, piano, Seattle, WA
1:20 p.m.      Lunch Break
2:00 p.m.     Eric Tran, piano, Piedmont CA
2:25 p.m.     Michael Zarling, piano, Helena MT
2:50 p.m.     Tess Altiveros, soprano, Seattle WA
3:15 p.m.     Lesley Baird, mezzo soprano, New Rochelle NY (L.A., CA)
3:40 p.m.              Break
3:50 p.m.     Trio Brillante, clarinet/cello/piano, Los Angeles CA
4:15 p.m.     Thalea String Quartet: violin/violin/viola/cello, San Francisco CA
4:40 p.m.     Friction String Quartet: violin/violin/viola/cello, San Francisco, CA

2016 winners’ concert

7:00 p.m. – Each of the four final solo winners and the ensemble winner will be featured.