In the News

2021 JCM Chamber Music Competition Results

Judges: Dr. Junko Ueno Garrett, Jason Shafer, Kyle Gilner, Erin Patterson

Elementary Division:

Junior Division:

Senior Division:

While coronavirus has put a temporary pause on many music ensembles, it has helped us all realize how important music is in our everyday lives. Chamber music provides musical opportunities that are essential to the development of young musicians. With small groups (only 2-4 students) and the help of technological solutions, JCM is excited to provide ensemble music-making experiences while adhering to social distancing to keep students safe.

NEW: 2020-2021 Season “COVID Strategy”

• Online Auditions will be split into 2 parts:

   

• YouTube submission (due Sept. 30):  All applicants will upload a YouTube performance when they apply. 

  Students can submit 1-2 YouTube selections that best represents his/her range as a player.  This would include current level of musical phrasing and current technical level so the directors can best choose appropriate repertoire and matching ensemble members.  

• Zoom interview (Oct. 3-4 and 10-11): All applicants will then select a short 8 minute online interview time to meet with the directors and discuss repertoire, group members, and coach selections.  At this time, directors will ask a variety of questions regarding COVID to help them match groups in the most optimal way.  We ask that a parent attend this meeting to help answer certain logistical questions.

• Online Orientations (Oct. 24-25):  All applications will receive a Zoom invitation to an Orientation with their branch directors and team members.  Directors will explain all of the aspects of the program and answer questions.  Individual groups will then meet in separate meetings to meet their members and discuss their strategy and goals. 

   

• Early coachings (in December/January) can be online or in person, depending on the group/coach comfortability.  Online coachings will entail members all have mastered their parts before the groups meet together to save time in rehearsals.  Each student will perform their part separately for the coach and members.  The coach will help each member as well as discuss the score and how their parts work together.  In-person sessions will not be necessary until late January.

      

• 2021 (Jan-Mar) Coachings will all be done with social distancing and masks.  Local venues will be available for rehearsing and coachings for an extra charge as needed.  

    

• Workshops and Master Classes will be done via Zoom with internationally renowned music professors from our International Honors Tours (one benefit of online learning!).

   

• The Final Concert will either be a Mini-Concert (each group performs separately for their family,friends, and videographer) or a regular Final Concert, depending on how the virus progresses.

JCM Faculty Concert

Date posted: 1.17.19

Congratulations to our Season 2018-19 Debut Artists!

Date posted: 12.8.18

JCM Musician Chunyi Zhou To Perform on "From the Top"

Date posted: 2.14.18

Congratulations to Chunyi Zhou, a 12-yr. old JCM musician and student of Linda Rose, on being selected as the violinist to perform a solo with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on “From the Top” (a NPR program).

The performance will be held March 8 & 9, with the broadcast at a later date.

2018 Debut Artists

Date posted: 1.27.18

JCM Kids Perform at Lyceum Village

Date posted: 1.23.18

JCM students Sarah Yang, left, Anna B’Far, center, and Eiline Tai, right, on cello, all nine-years-old, play a piece at Lyceum Village in Tustin on Friday, January 5, 2018.

Read this feature on OC Register (written by Susan Christian Goulding)

JCM Faculty Concert

Date posted: 1.22.18

Season 2015-16 Honors Tour: Boston + NYC Photos
Date posted: 07.09.16

Season 2015-16: Music in the Mountains Tour Photos

Date posted: 07.09.16

What is JCM?

Date posted: 10.21.15

Here's why you or your friends should join JCM!

JCM on OC Register: Musicians Take Teamwork to a New Level

DATE POSTED: OCTOBER 9, 2015

Eighty-five young musicians appeared before three professional performing artists last weekend during the 12th annual Junior Chamber Music auditions. One by one they played two pieces of music to demonstrate their skill range and to help the adjudicators find a spot for them in the elite music training program.

“I remember when I walked in (for my first audition), I was extremely nervous,” said Amber Correa, 14, who auditioned five years ago. “I expected to see stone cold faces, but instead there was nothing but smiling faces, and I knew these people were going to be supportive no matter how I played.”

Read this feature on OC Register (written by Kaitlin Wright)

JCM Debut Artists Program: An Opportunity to Make a Music Video
DATE POSTED: AUGUST 29, 2015

This year, our Debut Artists were given the incredible opportunity to create their own music videos.

2015 JCM-CAPMT OC Symphony Competition Winners
DATE POSTED: JUNE 26, 2015

Watch our JCM-CAPMT OC Symphony Competition Winners perform on

August 30, 2015 with Orange County Symphony at Servite Theater in Anaheim.

Thompson Wang: 1st Place Winner (Ages 21 & under)

Thompson, age 15, is a 9th grade student of Crossroads school for Arts & Sciences, Santa Monica.  He started his first violin lesson at the age of 4.

Amber Correa: 1st Place Winner (Ages 14 & under)

Amber Correa is 14 and attends 8th grade at Orange County School of the Arts, performing in their School of Music’s Junior High and HS Symphony Orchestra.

Anna Fruman: 2nd Place Winner (Ages 14 & under)

Anna, 12, began playing cello at age five. She has played with the IUSD Elementary Honor Chamber Strings and is a member of the Pacific Symphony Santiago Strings.

Incendium Quartet Won Gold in the 2015 Fischoff Competition

DATE POSTED: MAY 18, 2015

Incendium Quartet won First Place Medal and Scholarship in the 2015 Fiscoff Competition! Incendium Quartet is composed of Geneva Lewis (violin), Mei Zhan (violin), Emma Wernig (viola) and Atticus Mellor-Goldman (cello) and coaches Aimee Kreston and Andrew Cook!

DATE POSTED: MAY 2, 2015

JCM–OC Debussy Trio won First Place in the Ensemble Category of the American Fine Arts Festival, Golden Era Romantic category competition. They will perform at the winners concert at Carnegie Hall, New York. The Debussy Trio is coached by Sorah Myung (violin) and Dr. Janice Park (piano).

DATE POSTED: MARCH 15, 2015

Jaimee, 15, is a sophomore at Century Academy. She began her violin lessons with Deborah MacCallum at age five and currently studies with Gayaneh Kumar. In her early years of violin study, Jaimee received scholarship awards from the Fe Bland Foundation and the Santa Barbara Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation.

More recently, Jaimee won first place at the Southern California Bach Junior Festival Complete Works Competition in both the junior and senior divisions. She also won first place at the Greater Los Angeles Solo Competition by the American String Teachers Association and second place at the MTAC VOCE State Final. On 2014 Easter Sunday, Jaimee made her Carnegie Hall debut as a winner of the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition. In school, Jaimee is a straight A honor student. Besides violin, Jaimee enjoys reading and being with her friends.

Other winners include:

Nicholas Mendez, piano – 1st Alternate JCM-AVSOMC Concerto Competition
Sarah Kave, cello – Honorable Mention JCM-AVSOMC Concerto Competition

DATE POSTED: MARCH 1, 2015

Community School student Geneva Lewis (violin) has been named a Music Finalist in the 2015 YoungArts Awards! Geneva, originally from Auckland, New Zealand, is a merit scholarship student at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts where she studies violin with Aimée Kreston, studies music theory with Kathy Sawada, and plays in the Honors String Quartet coached by Aimée Kreston. She made her orchestral debut at age 11, and has since matured into an exceptional violinist.

Geneva’s powerful performances have awarded her first-prize wins in numerous competitions, including the Brentwood Concerto Competition, Parness Concerto Competition, Southern California Junior Bach Festival Complete Works Audition, and The American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition. Geneva was selected as one of the world's top 20 young violinists in the Menuhin International Violin Competition. She was presented with the ‘Discovery Prize’ in the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Concerto Competition and won the Doublestop Foundation's "Artist In You" Instrument Loan Competition. Geneva has twice reached the semi-finals of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and has performed with Junior Chamber Music on tour at such venues as the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the St. Petersburg Concert Hall of the Union of Composers in Russia. Geneva is a JCM Debut Artist and a member of Incendium Quartet.

DATE POSTED: FEBRUARY 20, 2015

In conversation or in performance, this group of young men communicates with an easy rapport, finishing each other's sentences and phrases to make the meaning complete. I had seen them perform once before, and I spoke with them a few weeks ago, between their trip to Connecticut to perform on "From the Top" and the date when it was to be aired. (Today online, and throughout the week on various NPR stations.) Their performance features the (modern and ear-bending) first-movement "Allegro" from String Quartet No. 4, Béla Bartók.

For the uninitiated, "From the Top" is an hour long show hosted by pianist Christopher O’Riley that is broadcast on 250 stations across the U.S. to an audience of more than 700,000 listeners. Each show features five acts, all young musicians, with performances, interviews, sketches and games. They tape about 20 episodes per season in front of a live audience, at various locations across the country.

Read the whole story on www.violinist.com.

Jeff Marsh on JCM Musicians' Recording Session for Kids vs. Monsters

From Jeff Marsh regarding the film recording session:

"Yesterday was an amazing day. The musicians exceeded my expectations. I prepared 11 pieces expecting to record maybe 8, but we recorded all 11 pieces and we made an additional cue out of a section of 1m3. So we really got 12 pieces and did not go into overtime. Plus, we took generous breaks. No doubt you are as proud of your kids as I am. Thank you for bringing them and allowing me to share this experience with them.

I also want to give a shout out to JCM’s very own Darlene and Susan for helping me contact many of you. We’ve just started our 5th year with them, and when I think about the festivals, competitions, coaches, teachers, friendships and world touring... I think of how less our lives would be had we not discovered JCM. Patrick’s musicianship has improved greatly from being around all of you and seeing the example of high standards you set. I may have shared a cool experience with you for an afternoon, but what all of you have given me and my family will last a lifetime.

I’ve had the privilege of spending many hours with the London Symphony and several other orchestras around the world. But my best experience so far was standing in front of a group of so called “kids,” and having my socks knocked off. You guys rock!!!

Thank you for sharing this experience with me."

-jm