Past Competitions

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

Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition for Young Harpists 2021

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

 

Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition for Young Harpists 2019

Presented by the Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp Society

Congratulations to all our participants in the Yvonne LaMothe Schwager 2019 Competition!  Here are the results, listed by level. 

The winner’s recital will be held on Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 5pm at Crowden Music Centre, 1475 Rose Street, Berkeley.
Come hear the wonderful winners of the Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition perform!

We are looking for volunteers for the Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Winners’ Recital on June 2nd in Berkeley.  If you can make it, please email Sarah Goss at harp@sarahgoss.com.

Preliminary
Gold:  Charlotte Trinh
Silver:  Iris Farid
Bronze:  Elizabeth O’Shea
Harpiana Special Prize:  Charlotte Trinh
Musicworks Special Prize:  Iris Farid
Salzedo Special Prize: (not contested)

Level 1
Gold: Hannah Chen
Silver: Melody Chien
Bronze: Juniper Yoshihara
Harpiana Special Prize: Melody Chien
Musicworks Special Prize: Alexandra Kiryakina
Salzedo Special Prize: Hannah Chen

Level 2:
Gold:  Kartika Santoso
Silver:  Carter Williams
Bronze:  David Lin
Harpiana Special Prize: David Lin
Musicworks Special Prize:  Aden Barbuta
Salzedo Special Prize:  Phoebe Lin

Level 3:
Gold:  Danielle Nam
Silver:  Hannah Ewell
Bronze:  Sahyii Lozano
Harpiana Special Prize: Hannah Ewell
Musicworks Special Prize:  Sahyii Lozano
Salzedo Special Prize: (not contested)

Level 4:
Gold:
Silver:  Melody Stein
Bronze:
Harpiana Special Prize:  (not contested)
Musicworks Special Prize:  (not contested)
Salzedo Special Prize:  Melody Stein

A tremendous thank you to our wonderful judges who worked so hard all day.
A huge thank you to our generous prize sponsors: Dominique Piana, Linda Wood Rollo, and Karen Gottlieb.
A heartfelt thank you to all of the volunteers that helped make the competition possible.
We couldn’t have done it without you!

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2017 Yvonne La Mother Schwager Harp Competition
On Sunday, May 21, 2017, 37 harpists between the ages of 6 and 18, converged upon the Peninsula Jewish Community Center (PJCC) in Foster City, California, with harps and benches in tow to compete in the biennial Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition for Young Harpists.  An esteemed panel of judges, Celia Chan-Valero, Karen Gottlieb, and Madeline Jarzembek, listened thoughtfully, provided positive feedback and identified awards for these high-achieving young people.

The winners by division and their teachers are:

Award Level	Winner	Teacher
Preliminary Division-up to and including age 9
Gold	Charlotte Trinh	Dominique Piana
Silver-tie	Emilie Campbell	Jacqueline Venter
Silver-tie	Anton Taffin	Lynn Taffin
Harpiana Prize	Emilie Campbell	Jacqueline Venter
MusicWorks Prize	Charlotte Trinh	Dominique Piana
Level 1-up to and including age 12
Gold	Sophia Shan	Linda Rollo
Silver	Aden Eva Barbuta	Jacquelyn Venter
Bronze	David Lin	Dan Levitan
Harpiana Prize	David Lin	Dan Levitan
MusicWorks Prize	Aden Eva Barbuta	Jacquelyn Venter
Level 2-up to and including age 15
Gold	Danielle Nam	Linda Rollo & Sonya Yu
Silver	Judy Liu	Linda Wood Rollo
Bronze-tie	Hannah Ewell	Kristal Schwartz Barlaan
Bronze-tie	Kartika Santoso	Sonya Yu
Harpiana Prize	Margaret (Meg) Larsen	Dominique Piana
MusicWorks Prize	Judy Liu	Linda Wood Rollo
MusicWorks Prize-Honorable Mention	Hannah Ewell	Kristal Schwartz Barlaan
Level 3-up to and including age 18
Gold	Tiffany Wong	Linda Wood Rollo
Silver	Elizabeth Vo – Phamhi	Doug Rioth
Bronze	Karissa Yau	Sonya Yu
Harpiana Prize	Shannon Zheng	Dominique Piana
MusicWorks Prize	Tiffany Wong	Linda Wood Rollo

Congratulations to all who participated!

One week later, on Sunday, May 28, 2017, the winners, their families and an audience of harp enthusiasts celebrated the achievements of the young harpists and heard beautiful music when the Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp Society presented the winners of the biennial Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Harp Competition in recital at the San Damiano Retreat Center in Danville.

This concert, “Romancing the Harp” was featured as part of the International Harp Festival sponsored by Diablo Valley Arts Academy at San Damiano Retreat, in Danville, CA 94526.

Participants performed compositions by harp pedagogues Susann McDonald and Linda Wood Rollo, harpists-composers Andrès, Godefroid, Grandjany, Hasselmans, Pratt, Renié and Salzedo, as well as composers such as Albeniz, Dussek, Liszt, Purcell and others.

Guest artist Madeline Jarzembak crowned the recital with two brilliant virtuoso works, Die Moldau by Smetana, as arranged for harp by Hans Trneček, and Carlos Salzedo’s Variations sur un thème dans le style ancien. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Madeline is Principal Harp of the Santa Cruz Symphony, and studies currently at the San Francisco Conservatory with Doug Rioth of the San Francisco Symphony.

To download a copy of the recital program, click here.

Many thanks go out to the teachers who worked so hard with their students to help them prepare for the competition.

Also THANK YOU to our team of volunteers:  Aruna Bhasker, Constance Koo, Daphanie Lin, Janice Ortega, Krista Strader, Melinda Chinn, Sarah Goss, Silvia Pratt, Sonya Yu, and Suki Russack.  This competition could not happen without you!

And finally, gratitude goes to the Competition Committee:  Dominique Piana, Artistic Director and Chairperson, Alice Yothers and Susie Spiwak.

2015 Yvonne La Mother Schwager Harp Competition
The third bi-annual Yvonne La Mothe Schwager Harp Competition took place Sunday, May 24, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Twenty-two harp students, from seven different teachers, performed beautiful and challenging repertoire in order to hone their performance skills and receive valuable feedback from a panel of judges, comprised of top harp professionals in California. Cash prizes and an opportunity to perform in the winners recital on Sunday, June 7, were awarded to the following students:

Preliminary level
Gold: Charis Woo, student of of Doug Rioth and Jessica Siegel
Silver: Hannah Chen, student of Jessica Siegel
Bronze: Hailey Tan, student of Kristal Barlaan Schwartz
Special MusicWorks-Harp Editions Prize: Charis Woo

Level 1
Gold: Naomi Sun, student of Linda Wood Rollo
Silver: Hannah Ewell, student of Kristal Barlaan Schwartz
Bronze: Phoebe Lin, student of Sonya Yu
Special MusicWorks-Harp Editions Prize: Naomi Sun
Special Harpiana Prize: Hannah Ewell

Level 2 and Level 3
Gold: Tiffany Wong, student of Linda Wood Rollo
Silver: Danielle Nam, student of Sonya Yu
Bronze: Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi, student of Doug Rioth
Special MusicWorks-Harp Editions Prize: Tiffany Wong
Special Harpiana Prize: Shannon Zheng, student of Dominique Piana

Gold (level 3): Jenny Vo-Phamhi, student of Doug Rioth

The judges were Alexandra Perdew, Claudia Valsi, and Celia Chan Valerio.

The Winners’ Recital will be held Sunday, June 7, at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton to hear these students perform and support their harp endeavors. Download the 2015 Harp competition winners recital flyer for details .

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The 2013 YVONNE LaMOTHE SCHWAGER COMPETITION FOR YOUNG HARPISTS

ORGANIZED AND PRODUCED BY THE BAY AREA CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN HARP SOCIETY

The competition was held May 26 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, from 12 noon to approximately 8 pm. The Winners’ Recital was held at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton on June 2, 2013, at 2 pm. The area of eligibility covers the entire “Western Region”, (that is, Northern California and Nevada, zip codes 93600 to 96199).

Click here for a copy of the recital program.