Friday, May 27, 2022 | Student Awards and Honors

On May 14 2022 Springfield Music Club held a Sonata/Sonatina Festival. And on May 22 2022 Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association did the same! In these events, students performed two contrasting movements from a sonata or sonatina. The following students received the top rating: Alexa Garcia • Aruni Veluri • Varun Veluri • Hannah Wang.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022 | News

The Studio will be closed for Memorial Day Break all weekend from Friday May 27 through and including Monday May 30. The Studio re-opens on our usual school-year schedule Tuesday May 31. 

Sunday, May 1, 2022 | Student Awards and Honors

Each year, the National Federation of Music Clubs hosts a Spring Festival. Nationwide, this event reaches approximately 100,000 students! Locally, this event is sponsored and run by Springfield Music Club. Students prepare two contrasting pieces and perform them from memory for a small audience. Students receive constructive written feedback on their performance and a rating. The following students earned the top rating of Superior. 

Sebastian Annett ♪ Juliet Barrett ♪ Sarah Hellman ♪ Noa Herzog Owen Horgan ♪ Liam Horgan ♪ Helena Horowitz ♪ Stephen McElvain ♪ Keshavan Nair ♪ Lindsay Nguyen ♪ Gizem Onerci ♪ Seth Peleg ♪ Ryan Qi ♪ Eliana Rougle ♪ Pelin Sarac ♪ Lucia Severino ♪ Anne Severino ♪ Karthik Thyagarajan ♪ Elena Valdez-Torres ♪ Aruni Veluri ♪ Ethan Williams ♪ Alex Xu

SOLO AND CONCERTO: Varun Veluri 

Monday, April 18, 2022 | Student Awards and Honors

On April 9, 2022, we gathered at the Woman's Club of Arlington for our annual Honors Recital. We also enjoyed a special faculty performance of Beethoven's Sonata Op. 27 No. 1 by Winton Tin Vi La. Learn more about our Honors Recital via pianowitz.com/for-our-students. Congratulations and thank you to the following students who were invited and chose to join us:

Alexa Garica ♪ Aiden Lu ♪ Keshavan Nair ♪ Gizem Onerci Ai-Lan Pho ♪ Hong-Duc Pho ♪ Katie Rasmussen ♪ Eliana Rougle ♪ Pelin Sarac ♪ Lucia Severino ♪ Anastasia Vasillopolous ♪ Aruni Veluri ♪ Hannah Wang ♪ James Yao

Monday, April 4, 2022 | Student Awards and Honors

On Saturday April 2 we were lucky to have Jocelyn Swigger of Gettysburg College join us in our Studio as the guest artist for our first in-person master class in over two years. Congratulations to the students who joined us by performing in this challenging yet rewarding environment:

Noa Herzog (Wild Honeysuckle Rag, Meir) ♪ Pelin Sarac (Wayside Inn from Waldenszenen, Schumann) ♪ Noah Tennenbaum (Basso Ostinato, Shchedrin) ♪ Varun Veluri (Sonata Op. 13 “Pathetique”, Beethoven) ♪ Hannah Wang (Sonatina in C Major Op. 36 No. 3, Clementi) ♪ James Yao (Little Preludes in E Major and F Major, J.S. Bach)

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 | News

The Studio will be closed for Spring Break from Monday April 11 through and including Sunday April 17 2022.

Thursday, March 24, 2022 | Student Awards and Honors

Bach/Baroque Festival, an annual event hosted by Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association (NVMTA.org) was held February 26 at Cherrydale United Methodist Church. We are proud of our students selected for the top rating of "Superior": Alexa Garcia ♪ Sakura Sasaki ♪ Elena Valdez-Torres ♪ Aruni Veluri ♪ Hannah Wang ♪ Alex Xu ♪ James Yao. In addition to their Superior rating, Hannah and Alex were invited to perform in the Honors Recital on Sunday February 27. Hannah played the Sinfonia in b minor BWV 801 and Alex played the Prelude & Fugue in c minor from WTC 1. 

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | Student Awards and Honors

Congratulations to Zara Ogut who earned 2nd Place in for her performance in the NMVTA Concerto Festival, held March 5 at the Woman's Club of Arlington. 

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | Student Awards and Honors

Since March of 2020, there has been an explosion of video events for students, but Golden Key has operated in a video-audition format for many years. In winter 2022, we congratulate: Aruni Veluri, Abby Wang, Hannah Wang (Gold Medal) ♪ Katrina Nelson (Silver Medal) ♪ Pelin Sarac (Bronze Medal)

Thursday, December 23, 2021 | Student Awards and Honors

Congratulations to the following students who earned the top rating of Superior at 2021 Fall Festival, an event sponsored by Virginia Music Teachers Association. In this event, students prepared two pieces: one in contemporary style, and one in historic style. This year's event was held by video.

Alexa Garica ♪ Caeli McIntosh ♪ Courtney Nguyen ♪ Kaitlin Nguyen ♪ Lindsay Nguyen Ai-lan Pho ♪ Ryan Qi ♪ Eliana Rougle ♪ Pelin Sarac ♪ Karthik Thyagarajan ♪ Elena Valdez-Torres ♪ Anastasia Vasillopolous ♪ Aruni Veluri ♪ Hannah Wang

Sunday, December 19, 2021 | News

The Studio will be closed from Monday December 20 through and including Sunday January 2 for Winter Break. We re-open on our usual school-year schedule starting Monday, January 3, 2022.  

Sunday, December 12, 2021 | News

The Studio will be closed for Winter Mini-Recital on Sunday, December 19. Non-performing students and alumni are invited to attend the recital. Students: check your email for more details. 

Tuesday, November 9, 2021 | News

The Studio will be closed for Thanksgiving Break Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 24 to 27. We are open as usual on Sunday November 28.

Friday, September 3, 2021 | News

The Studio will be closed for Labor Day Weekend, Saturday September 4 through and including Monday September 6. We re-open on our new School Year schedule starting Tuesday, September 7. 

Monday, June 21, 2021 | News

Due to the coronavirus situation, we weren't comfortable hosting our usual Summer Recital indoors...but we also were tired of videos and Zoom! On Saturday, June 12, we held this annual event outdoors in the park behind the Studio building! Over the course of the day, we were joined by 86 student performers! Participating students represented all ages and levels, including adults. While we hope to go back to a traditional indoor recital someday, we were overflowing with joy to see so many students sharing their music live and in-person. 

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 | Student Awards and Honors

Many of our students challenged themselves by participating in the spring session of the RCM Certificate program. In this program, students don't just play one or two pieces, but a comprehensive program of repertoire and practical skills. Learn more at rcmusic.com.

Congratulations to: Sarah Hellman (Level 1 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Noa Herzog (Level 1 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Liam Horgan (Level 1 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Helena Horowitz (Level 3 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Vihaan Mathur (Level 7 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Keshavan Nair (Level 1 Piano) First Class Honors with Distinction ♪ Kaitlin Nguyen (Level 2 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Lindsay Nguyen (Level 4 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Courtney Nguyen (Level 4 Piano) First Class Honors ♪ Nia Rubin (Level 2 Piano) First Class Honors

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 | Student Awards and Honors

Congratulations to Aruni Veluri and James Yao for earning the designation of Honors at Sonata Festival. This annual semi-competitive event is sponsored by Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association. In 2021, students submitted video recordings of two contrasting sonata movements. 

Thursday, May 27, 2021 | News

We will be closed for the Memorial Day Weekend break from Friday May 28 through and including Monday May 31. We re-open on our usual school-year schedule on Tuesday June 1. The old school-year schedule continues through and including Sunday June 20. 

Friday, May 21, 2021 | Student Awards and Honors

Each year in May, Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association sponsors a competition they call Achievement Awards. It's a chance for the region's most high-achieving and dedicated youth students to compete for prizes and to receive expert commentary. This year's event was held using pre-recorded videos due to the coronavirus situation. We were lucky to have several students interested to step up and prepare for this demanding event. Congratulations to Philip Wang, who was selected for Honorable Mention. His program: Prelude and Fugue in c minor, WTC 1 (J.S. Bach); Sonata in D Major Hob. 37 (F.J. Haydn); Jazz Prelude No. 4 (Nikolai Kapustin).

Thursday, May 20, 2021 | Student Awards and Honors

Our second remote master class was held on Sunday May 16. Before 2020, all master classes were conducted in-person. But since it was not possible to meet in person this time, we were not limited to local pianists! We were delighted to welcome a fabulous guest artist who joined us remotely from Wisconsin! Michael Mizrahi of Lawrence University shared his expert perspective and fresh insights with five experienced and prepared students. Congratulations to those who stepped up and performed and learned in this challenging environment! Katrina Nelson (Wilmington Waltz, B. Johnson) ♪ Ai-Lan Pho (Impromptu in E-flat Major, F. Schubert) ♪ Varun Veluri (Prelude No. 3, G. Gershwin) ♪ Hannah Wang (Invention in C Major, J.S. Bach) ♪ Alex Xu (Liebestraum No. 3, F. Liszt)