2024 Judged Festival

The 2024 Judged Festival was held on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at Salem State University, Salem, MA, with the generous support of Salem State University’s Music Department.

Judged Festival is a friendly piano competition in a recital format where students compete from the required repertoire list.  This year, 46 teachers participated, and 154 students, ages 6 to 17, registered for the event. We had 15 recitals; three recitals ran simultaneously throughout the day.

The Judged Festival has a required repertoire list with a different theme every year. This year's theme was “Folk-Inspired” Piano Music, and the list was chosen carefully by the Judged Festival Repertoire Committee during the summer.

2024 Judged Festival judges - from left:  Alison Barr, Yidan Guo, Ivan Gusev, Jonathan Yasuda, Isabella Li, Minkyung Oh

Each student chose a piece from their age group. They performed their piece from memory and were judged by two judges. This year’s judges were Alison Barr, Yidan Guo, Ivan Gusev, Isabella Li, Minkyung Oh, and Jonathan Yasuda.

At the end of each recital, there was an Award Ceremony, during which each student received two judges’ comments and a certificate for participating in the event.

The Judges’ Biographies, the 2024 Judged Festival Award List, and the Required Repertoire List are on our website - Judged Festival page.

The event was successful thanks to Salem State University's support.  MMTA is incredibly grateful to the Music Department chair, Dr. Mary-Jo Grenfell, and SSU staff for accommodating many students, parents, and teachers since the Judged Festival has grown in the last few years.

As chair of the Judged Festival, I am grateful to our MMTA President Jonathan Roberts, President-Elect Valerie Stark, and the MMTA board for their full support of this event. I also want to thank the judges for their time and dedication.  And teachers who encouraged their students and parents to participate in this event.

The MMTA Judged Festival will continue to encourage many young, inexperienced pianists to perform in front of large audiences and achieve their goals in piano study. We hope to see more MMTA members participating in the 2025 Judged Festival!

Thank you.

Ranko Konishi-Houston, Judged Festival Chair

2024 Judged Festival judges - from left:  Alison Barr, Minkyung Oh, Jonathan Yasuda, Ivan Gusev, Yidan Guo, Isabella Li

Salem State University:  Recital Hall