Rob Granger, Director of Vocational Service for Arcadia Rotary Club was the MC for the Dan Stover Music Contest last Friday.
Seth Murphy, Arcadia High School Band Director, attended with the students since Tom Forbes, the Orchestra Director was out of town with the Freshman Orchestra.
The contest followed the standard rules: They drew lots to determine the order in which they would perform.
Each contestant was announced by number and the name of the piece they would be playing . Each piece had to be between four and eight minutes long.
The performances were wonderful and each contestant received a very heartfelt round of applause from a truly appreciative audience. After all the contestants had performed Rob excused the Judges to tally the scores and choose a winner.
Guest judges were Jack Lantz whose Big Band we have had at speical events over the years and David Knight our pianist. Rotarian judges were Dr. Tom Miles and Tom Crosby. Tom Crosby announced the winner and runners-up.
The winner was Jeff Huang, Violin – Violin Concerto No. 1 by Bruch
Second Place was Kelsey Lee, Piano- Toccata by Khachaturian
Third Place was Sophia Liu, Piano – All of Me by Jon Schmidt
Fourth Place was Jane Wang, Cello – C Major Prelude by JS Bach
All contestants received a certificate and a check. The winner Jeff Huang got $250 and the other participants got $100 each. Jeff advances to the Regional Competition and if he wins there, will compete in the finals at the District Conference in May. The Dan Stover Contest at the District Conference is usually sold out with contestants competing with unimaginable skills. Most go on to educational programs like Julliard and other esteemed conservatories.