Uncategorized

The Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Harp Competition 2023 was held at Crowden Music Center in Berkeley, CA on May 21st. We congratulate all 25 students who made the commitment to prepare for and participate in YLMS 2023. 

We are thrilled to announce the following medalists and special prize winners of the 2023 YLMS Competition for Young Harpists:

Preliminary

Gold: Aryana Lall

Silver: Sunnie Yan

Bronze: Swara Prithvi

MusicWorks Prize: Sunnie Yan

Harpiana Prize: Swara Prithvi

Level 1

Gold: Charlotte Trinh

Silver: Aaditya Amin

Bronze: Loha Jun

MusicWorks Prize: Aaditya Amin

Level 2

Silver (tie): Michelle Huang

Silver (tie): Camille Chu

Bronze: Ileana Gasquy

MusicWorks Prize: Michelle Huang
Harpiana Prize: Ileana Gasquy

Level 3

Gold: Aden Eva Barbuta

Silver: Viviana Alfaro 

Bronze: Rebecca Rudy

Harpiana Prize: Rebecca Rudy

Salzedo Prize: Aryana Lall

A very special thank you to our wonderful judges: Sarah Voynow, Karen Gottlieb, Jessica Siegal, and Janice Ortega

We also congratulate the teachers who supported these students through the competition experience: Sonya Yu, Dominique Piana, Lynn Taffin, Kristal Schwartz, Kristin Lloyd, Linda Rollo, Debbi Ricks, Samantha Mulgrew, Esther Lee, Constance Koo, Jennifer Ellis, and Beverly Wesner-Hoehn

And lastly, thank you to our volunteers who made this all possible: Susie Spiwak, Ryan Conrad, Chloe Tula, Kristin Lloyd, Constance Koo and Jennifer Ellis

We are happy to announce that we plan to have an in-person competition this year.  The competition will be held at the Crowden Music Center in Berkeley, CA on May 21. The application deadline is May 1. Please see here for further details.

Our 2023 Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition Repertoire is live! We have an array of pieces for both lever and pedal harps, plus a new pop prize option where students can create their own arrangements.  A HUGE thank you to the prize donors!  We couldn’t do this without you!

Please email bacahs@gmail.com with any questions. For further details, please see here.

Please join us in welcoming Chloe Tula (@chloetheharpist) as our chapter’s new President! After finishing up a three year fellowship at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL, Chloe moved to the Bay Area in 2020 and already has played with several of our region’s top orchestras. She also recently won the position of Principal Harp with the Omaha Symphony and is splitting her time between here and Nebraska starting this fall. ✈️🌽 You can see her full concert schedule and read more about her at her website, www.chloetula.com. 

We are so excited to have you on board, Chloe!

It’s election season at BACAHS !  A voting link to elect new board members was emailed to BACAHS. Voting is now open until July 15th, 2022.  Didn’t get the link ? Interested in serving on the board ? Please email us.

“Facets of a Diamond”
Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the American Harp Society
June 22-25, 2022
The Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Please see here for more information

Despite the latest challenges of the pandemic, BACAHS looks forward to serving you in 2022. In fact, we want to hear from YOU ! Check your inbox for our 2022 Membership Survey, or please email bachas@gmail.com to obtain the link. Your input will greatly help us decide on programming to accommodate our membership’s needs for 2022.

BACAHS is creating a directory of teachers and a directory of professionals on our website as a service to our community. We envision this will be a valuable resource for those in Bay Area seeking to hire a harpist. Current BACAHS members can be listed free of charge by completing forms contained in the monthly Newsletter or by emailing bacahs [at] gmail.com. Please see below for links to directories, which can also be found under the Resources tab in our menu.

Not a member, but want to join so you can be listed in the directory?  Need to renew? Click here

BACAHS Professional Directory

BACAHS Teacher Directory
 

The Chapter Ambassador Program helps provide scholarships for students (up to age 21 as of 10/1) to attend and represent their chapter at national American Harp Society events.  This year’s Chapter Ambassador program helps students attend the AHS National Conference in Sioux Falls, June 22-25.  

Applicants must be members of both AHS ( https://www.harpsociety.org/membership) and BACAHS (https://bacharp.org/membership/).  

Applicants who are selected to serve as Chapter Ambassadors will receive $500 from BACAHS plus a matching grant from AHS totaling $1000 to attend the conference.  This application is just the first round (being selected by our local chapter).  If you are selected by BACAHS to be our nominee, you will then apply to AHS’s national Chapter Ambassador committee to see if you are selected.  

By applying to serve as a Chapter Ambassador, you are agreeing that, if selected, you will: 1. Represent our chapter by attending the AHS National Conference June 22-25 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 2. Complete and document a local community engagement project, and 3. Submit all required forms to AHS national.

Learn more about the national program here: https://www.harpsociety.org/chapter-ambassador-program.

Applications are due to BACAHS by 9/25 — link to apply was sent in the September Newsletter, please contact bacahs [at] gmail with any questions.

We congratulate the 36 young students who made the commitment and effort to prepare for and participate in the 2021 YLMS Competition. The competition is designed to give local students an opportunity to compete locally and we are so pleased to find that even in this time of COVID/lockdown, the level of participation was on par with previous years.

Without any further ado, we are thrilled to announce the following medalists and special prize winners of the 2021 YLMS Competition for Young Harpists:

Preliminary

Gold $100 – Kaylin Tsai

Silver $75  – Aaditaya Amin

Bronze $50 – Sofia Mohammed

Special Mention – Katelyn Ho

Level 1 

Gold $150 – Charlotte Trinh

Silver $100 – Valarie Wang

Bronze $75 – Chloe Gao

Special Mention – Iris Farid

Level 2 

Gold $200 – Hannah Chen

Silver $150- Viviana Alfaro

Bronze $100 – Jessica Cheung

Special Mention – Melody Chien

Level 3 

Gold $250 – Naomi Sun

Silver $200 – Judy Liu

Bronze $150 – Carter Williams

Special Mention – Kartika Santoso

Special MusicWorks-Harp Editions Prize

Preliminary division: $50 – Kaylin Tsai

Level 1: $50 – Chloe Gao

Level 2: $75 – Bianca Gao

Level 3: $100 – N/A

Special Harpiana Prize

Preliminary division: $50 – Aaditaya Amin

Level 1: $50 – Charlotte Trinh

Level 2: $75 – Jessica Cheung

Level 3: $100 – N/A

Salzedo Prize

$100 – Valarie Wang

Join us in celebrating and listening to our local young harpists in the YLMS Winner’s Recital, as well as a special presentation-performance by guest artist Chloe Tula, a multi-prizewinning, emerging young professional harpist based in the Bay Area. 

2021 YLMS Competition for Young Harpists Winners’ Recital

Sunday, May 23rd
4:00 – 5:30pm

Zoom info will be sent by email to membership / contestants. This event is free and open to the public, please email bacahs [at] gmail.com to get the link. 

A very special thank you to our wonderful judges panel:

Cheryl Ann Fulton

Sarah Goss

Julia Kay Jamieson

Doug Rioth

Chloe Tula

Sarah Voynow

A very special thank you to the teachers who supported their students through the competition experience:

Anna Maria Mendieta

Dan Levitan

Dominique Piana

Douglas Rioth

Esther Lee

Jennifer Ellis

Jessica Siegel

Karen Thielen

Laura Porter

Linda Wood Rollo

Lynn Taffin

Sonya Yu

And, a very special thank you to the YLMS committee who made it all possible!

Jessica Schaeffer, chair

Karen Gottlieb

Susie Spiwak

Ryan Conrad

Henry Spiller