Congratulations to all the students who participated in the 2026 Sonata/Sonatina Festival. We appreciate all of the teachers who had their students participate. Thank you to RB Community Presbyterian Church for hosting us and for our judges Cho-Hyun Park, Dan Cao, and Andres Jaramillo. Below are the award winners for each division.
Division I: 1st place – James Coll; 2nd place (tie) – Kyle Liu, Iris Chou, Yo Nishizaki; 3rd place (tie) – Sophie Yu, Emi Takahashi, Maxwell Wang; Honorable Mention – Tianze Ethan Sun, Aivan Lee, Sai Nishizaki, Nathan Wang, Hana Yee
Division II: 1st place – Janelle Chen; 2nd place (tie) – Jasmine Bourdlaies, Vanessa Hong; 3rd place (tie) – Grace Zhou, Kyle Huang, Melissa Weisickle; Honorable Mention – Siwoo Park, Ian Liu
Division III: 1st place – Katerina Koslover; 2nd place (tie) – Rise Nishizaki, Siyul Park; 3rd place (tie) – Gregory M. Covalt, Jordan Bourdlaies; Honorable Mention – Andrew Gao, Nish Noriega
Division IV: 1st place – Amanda Tseng; 2nd place – Kathy Xu; 3rd place (tie) – Hannah Carrasco, Alicia Jiang; Honorable Mention – Chen Deng, Sahil Nath
Division V: 1st place – Alan Wang; 2nd place (tie) – Kayla Hoang, Shriya Saligrama; 3rd place – Yuna Nakamura
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DATE: Saturday, May 16, 2026, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Recital format by age group)
Where: Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church, 17010 Pomerado Rd, San Diego, CA 92128
Fee: $35 The teacher registers and pays online at NSDMTAC.com.
Chair: Olivia Donald, olivia.donald2011@gmail.com
Festival Rules and Guidelines
- This competition is open to pianists of teachers and contributory members of NSDMTAC. All participants must have a signed copy of the MTAC Parent Consent Form 2025 on file before the registration deadline.
- Student limit: 8 students per teacher
- Students will compete in a recital format based upon their age as of May 16, 2026. Proof of age is required. The age divisions and time limits are as follows:
a. Division I (age 9 and under) – 3 minutes
b. Division II (age 10-11) – 4 minutes
c. Division III (age 12-13) – 5 minutes
d. Division IV (age 14-15) – 6 minutes
e. Division V (age 16-18) – 7 minutes - Compositions must be in their original form. No transcriptions, key changes, repeats, or arrangements. D.C. al Fine and D.S. al Fine are okay. No unpublished works. The original score is required to give to the judges. If the piece is a little longer than the time limit, the judges will stop the student when the time limit is up.
- Only one movement is to be played. Memorization is required.
- A First, Second, and Third place and possibly Honorable Mentions will be awarded for each Division at the judges’ discretion and will be posted at the end of the day and on the website. Awards and judges’ comments given to the teachers at a later date.
- Judges’ decisions are final.
- We would love to have any teachers who have students participate volunteer for one recital.