2009-2010 Winners and Honorable Mentions

(Scroll down to see everyone)

High School joint winner:

Hikaru Yonezaki

Hikaru Yonezaki, a ninth grader at Newton South High School, began playing the violin at the age of four, studying the Suzuki method in Japan. She has studied with Fudeko Takahashi since she moved to the United States.

Hikaru has been a member of a number of student orchestras, including the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and those at New England Conservatory Preparatory School. She is currently the youngest member in the first violin section of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra at NEC. She also enjoys chamber music, and her string quartet, the Chanche Quartet, was a Quarter Finalist at the National Fischoff Chamber Music Competition last year. Playing with Yo-Yo Ma at Governor Patrick’s inauguration ceremony was one of the most memorable events for her.

Among her broad violin concerto repertoire, from Bach and Mozart to Korngold and Barber, Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto has been her favorite since she first heard it played in a live performance by Midori at Tanglewood. Hikaru was impressed by its romantic sound and rich musical texture at first, then, as she learned about Tchaikovsky's life, she started to recognize the piece as autobiographical, from memories of his childhood to the deep sorrow he felt at the time he was writing it; that makes the concerto special to her.

Hikaru has received public recognition beginning with an honorable mention in the Brockton Symphony Orchestra's youth concerto competition in 2004 to, most recently, the first prize in the New England Conservatory Preparatory School Concerto Competition in category B. She played Bartok’s Rhapsody No.1 with NEC's Youth Repertory Orchestra as a winner of concerto competition in category A. In 2008 she was invited as a guest soloist to perform with the New Philharmonia Orchestra directed by Ronald Knudsen. This year, she has been selected as the Massachusetts junior string state representative, in the 2009-2010 Music Teachers National Association Competition.

High School joint winner:

Jaclyn Freshman

A resident of Newton her whole life, Jaclyn Freshman is the first to have ever won all three age groups of the Newton Symphony Orchestra’s Young Soloist Competition.

Currently a sophomore high honors student at Newton South High School, she began playing the violin at age five and is currently a first violinist at the New England Conservatory’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Benjamin Zander. She is a student of Jin-Kyung Joen in the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division and is an accomplished chamber music player.

In addition to the Newton Symphony Orchestra's Young Soloist Competition, Jaclyn is a decorated performer across the entire Bay State and has performed as soloist with several orchestras. She is a prizewinner for the Metrowest Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition, the Brockton Symphony’s Feinberg Competition, the Bay State Music Teachers' Association Strings Competition, the New England Philharmonic’s Young Artist Competition, the Lowell Philharmonic’s Jeanne Selander Memorial Concerto Competition, and the Concord Orchestra’s Ehlers Young Artist Concerto Competition. She was also a finalist for the NEC Preparatory School Concerto Competition and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Concerto Competition.

In her free time, Jaclyn spends her summers at the Greenwood Music Camp in Cummington Massachusetts, participating in both chamber music and orchestra. She shares an avid interest as well, in piano, guitar, voice and theatre. This is her fourth performance as soloist with the Newton Symphony.

Elementary School winner: Mitsuru Yonezaki

Mitsuru Yonezaki began studying violin at the age of four with Fudeko Takahashi. She grew up listening to her old sister practicing the violin, so she naturally picked up the instrument. Within a year she successfully auditioned for the String Training Orchestra at New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Since then, she has enjoyed playing in large ensemble groups. Mitsuru joined the NEC Youth Repertory Orchestra the following year as the youngest member and served as concert-mistress two years later, still the youngest member. In 2009, she traveled to Costa Rica as a member of NEC Youth Symphony, to which she currently belongs. She also plays in small ensembles, including a string section to support the Jazz Big Band at the NEC Gala concert.

Mitsuru has mastered a broad range of concertos from Bach and Mozart to Paganini and Khachaturian, as well as small show pieces, such as Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen, Wieniawski’s Polonaise Brillante, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz-Scherzo, and a fun piece, Kroll’s Banjo and Fiddle. Usually assigned pieces by her teacher, she also chooses some repertoire herself: for example Csárdás. When she was eight, a CD of Maxim Vengerov playing show-pieces was often played at home. She liked the cadenza he played at the introduction of Csárdás so much that she transcribed it and worked on that version instead of the original.

Mitsuru is also a big fan of the bagpipes, since she heard the instrument with the Newton, All-City Orchestra. She also plays the oboe with the school band. Mitsuru won first prize in the NEC Preparatory School Concerto Competition, and third prize at the Young Artist Competition Leonard D. Wood Awards of the Philharmonic Society of Arlington.

Mitsuru is an avid sudoku player. She also enjoys riding bicycles and reading.

Middle School winner:

Sophie Applbaum

Cellist Sophie Applbaum, 12, is a seventh grader at the Winsor School in Boston. She has been playing the cello since she was five years old and remains a student of the teacher who taught her first lesson, Michael Bonner, at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.

Sophie has performed chamber music at Merkin Hall in New York, and as a soloist with the Longy Chamber Orchestra and the New England Conservatory Baroque Chamber Orchestra. She has studied and performed at the Indiana Summer String Academy, Okemo Young Artists in Vermont, Kinhaven Music School in Vermont, Strings International in Philadelphia, and Camp Cadenza in Maine. Sophie was first prize winner in the Brookline Music School Cello Competition in 2005, and winner of the Longy Concerto Competition in 2007 and 2009. She has performed in masterclasses for Hans Jorgen Jensen, Matt Haimowitz, Rhonda Rider, Maria Zhuravleva, Leslie Moye, and John Kaboff.

In addition to cello, Sophie enjoys piano lessons with Eda Shlyam at Longy, and singing. She loves chamber music, and plays in a string quartet at the Longy School and a piano trio at New England Conservatory. In April 2010 she will travel to Italy to perform chamber music. When not doing music or homework, Sophie enjoys spending time with friends and family. She lives in Newton with her parents and twin sister, Emma.

Honorable Mention, Elementary School:

Steven Ahn
Steven Ahn is a fifth grader at Memorial Spaulding Elementary School in Newton. He began playing the violin at the age of five and currently studies with Jin-Kyung Joen. He participates in a chamber music ensemble at NEC prep school under the direction of Gillian Rogell. He has been a member of the NEC preparatory school orchestras since 2006. Steven is a member of the Newton Honors Chorus and plays Saxophone in the Memorial Spaulding School Band. In his free time Steven enjoys basketball, baseball, golf, snowboarding and drawing.

Honorable Mention, Middle School:

Noah Lewis

Noah Lewis is in the 8th grade at F.A.Day Middle School, Newton. He has been playing the violin for seven years. His first teacher was Mary Alyce Groman. He has been studying with Mark Lakirovich at the Longy School of Music for 5 years. Noah also takes lessons with Robert McDuffie in New York and with Yuri Mazurkevich at Boston University.

Noah was the 2007 winner of the Longy School of Music’s Preparatory Division Concerto Competition. In 2009 he was co-winner of the Feinberg Competition. Since 2007 He has appeared as a soloist with The National Orchestra of Ukraine, the Four Seasons Orchestra and Philharmonic and Pops in Kiev and other historic cities in Ukraine through the Vladimir Horowitz Foundation. He has performed at the Kremlin in Moscow and at United Nations concerts in Washington D.C. and New York City as a laureate of Vladimir Spivakov Foundation. He also studies chamber music at Longy, has traveled and performed in concerts in Melkin Hall, NY, Mexico, Dusseldorf and several other cities in Germany.

Noah enjoys meeting and performing music with students from many different places and cultures. He loves to exercise and loves boxing. In his spare time he loves to have laughs with his friends.