The MMTA Judged Festival provides an opportunity for students of ages up to high school with varying playing levels to perform and compete.  Each year, there is a rotating theme.  This year was “Women Composers - Celebrating Diverse Heritage,” and students performed a piece from a required repertoire list.  Students were divided into smaller groups of 7 to 10 contestants (divided by age levels), which helped keep the recital format.

The event was held successfully online on Sunday, April 3, 2022, using the online registration platform:  TenutoWeb.  We had 37 teachers register their students, and 140 students submitted their pre-recorded video performances.  Submitted videos were adjudicated by six respected judges:  Paul Dykstra, Kallin Johnson, Gulimina Mahamuti, Deborah Nemko, Gregg Pauley, and Wei-Yuh Christina Xie.  Every participant received two judges’ comments and a certificate.

MMTA congratulates all who participated in the 2022 Online Judged Festival:  the teachers, students, and parents, and are very grateful to the judges for their time and expertise. You can view the 2022 Required Repertoire List, Judges’ Biographies, and Winners List on the MMTA Judged Festival page.  MMTA Judged Festival

MMTA recognizes how much students enjoy hearing their peers’ performances in this event.  As a result, we plan to create the Winners’ Video, which will be shared.  We will inform you when the video is available on our website.

If you missed participating in the Judged Festival this year, we hope you will join us next year.  Please look out for the new theme with the required repertoire list and the latest updates through our email communications and our website.

Lastly, the Judged Festival was held online again to keep everyone safe from the omicron variant.  COVID-19 will probably continue, but hopefully, the end of the pandemic is near.  MMTA hopes that we will be safe to run the event in person next year.  We understand the importance of students performing in person.

As the chair of the event, I want to thank the MMTA Board and Interim President Ellyses Kuan for your support in running the Judged Festival so smoothly. We look forward to seeing you hopefully in person next year!

Ranko Konishi-Houston, MMTA Judged Festival Chair