The 2024 Music Scholarship Competition

2024 Winners Announced!

Voice

1st - Lily Berthold, CSUN Soprano

Lily Berthold is an in demand soprano currently based out of the Los Angeles area. She has sung with many notable companies in California, such as: Opera San Luis Obispo, Pacific Lyric Association, Moorpark Symphony Orchestra, Opera Italia, Guild Opera, Landmark Opera, and The Verdi Chorus. Selected opera performance credits: Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), Suor Angelica (Suor Genovieffe), Gianni Schicchi (Lauretta), La Traviata (Annina), Rigoletto (Gilda u.s., The Page). Lily is in the final semester of her Bachelor of Arts in Music from California State University Northridge, and she holds an Associates Degree in Sociology from Moorpark College. 

2nd - Lauren Shafer, CSUN Mezzo-Soprano

Lauren Shafer is a lyric mezzo-soprano studying under Diane Ketchie-Saar at California State University while in her Master’s Degree. Lauren graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Bradley University.

Lauren has performed as Third Lady in CSUN Opera’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, as well as Mrs. Olga Olsen in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, understudying Dorabella in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, and recently accepted an offer to Miami Music Festival’s Opera Institute to perform the role of Sister Lilianne and cover the role of Sister Helen in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Ms. Shafer has participated in the chorus for operas such as Puccini’s La Boheme and Massenet’s Cendrillon. Lauren is currently participating in CSUN Opera’s Spring 2024 Productions of two contemporary Spanish operas—Marea Roja by Diana Syrse and ¡Cenicienta...! by Marta Lambertini, where she plays the murdered Erika Kassandra Bravo Caro in Marea Roja and Cenicienta’s evil stepmother called Matroshka.

Lauren also sings in various Los Angeles based vocal ensembles, including Grammy Award-Winning Pacific Chorale led by Robert Istad. Last September, Lauren had the opportunity to sing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in their Hollywood Bowl series performance of Gustav Holst's The Planets. Ms. Shafer also regularly sings with the Santa Barbara Choral Society.

Instrument

1st - Kaya Ralls, UCLA. Cellist

20 year old Cellist Kaya Ralls is currently a 3rd year undergraduate at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. While pursuing her degree in cello performance, she has appeared in a variety of performance settings, both solo and in groups. Recent performances include playing as principal cellist of the UCLA Philharmonia, a solo appearance in the Da Camera Society concert series, and a solo performance as a winner of the UCLA All Star competition. As a music educator, Kaya enjoys teaching lessons for both cello and music theory. While classical cello playing is her main focus, Kaya’s musical interests extend into jazz, arranging, composition, and singing

2nd - James Day, CSUN Alto Saxophone Jazz

James Day is a saxophonist, composer, and arranger from Long Beach, California. Over the course of his career, James has been recognized as a three-time National YoungArts Foundation winner, a three-time Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award winner, and was named the 2018 Orange County Register Artist of the Year. Currently, he is finishing his senior year at California State University, Northridge, where he is earning his bachelor’s degree in jazz studies. His new residence in the San Fernando Valley has allowed him to play with notable jazz ensembles, including the Bill Holman Big Band and the Tom Kubis Big Band. Additionally, his recent employment with the 11-piece big band Phat Cat Swinger has allowed him to perform regularly at the Disneyland Resort and tour all over the country.

Piano

1st - Wing Sze Chan, CSUN

Chan obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Music (Honors) from Hong Kong Baptist University and is currently a graduate student at California State University, Northridge in Piano Performance. She studied piano with Cherry Tsang and Dmitry Rachmanov, and is currently studying with Jason Stoll. She received masterclasses with Warren Lee, Sabrina He, Derek Parsons, Peter Vinograde and Victor Goldberg. She has a Trinity LTCL diploma in Piano Performance and won first place in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival in Solo Piano. She also won the Prize for Best Liszt Performance at the American Liszt Society SoCal Chapter Festival 2023 and the Santa Monica College Orchestra Concerto and Aria Competition in 2024.

2nd- Andrew Ngyen, UCI

Andrew Nguyen is twenty years old and is based in Irvine, California. He currently studies piano under the Marjorie and Robert Rawlins Scholarship with Professor Nina Scolnik at the University of Irvine, California. He has been the top recipients at competitions, ranging from county to international. He is a prize winner of the Kathryn Gawartin Chopin Competition twice, Southwestern Youth Music Festival, Lansum International Music Festival, CAPMT Honors Competition Finals, and the 2024 Sigma Iota Alpha Competition. In February 2018, he was the youngest prizewinner in the Senior Division of the prestigious Kathryn Gawartin Competition. In 2023, he was a participant at the Borromeo Music Festival. He has also participated in masterclasses with Oxana Yablonskaya, Stewart Gordon, Sharon Mann, Julio Elizalde, and Angela Cheng.

Our Scholarship Competition provides $1,500 first prizes and $750 second prizes for the winners in the following categories:

  • Voice

  • Piano

  • Instrumental

Scholarships, awarded at the discretion of the judges, are given in piano, voice, and instrumental categories. Decisions of the judges are final. Winners receive a cash award.

COMPETITION DATE & LOCATION

Saturday, February 17, 2024
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330

Eligibility

Applicant must be currently enrolled as a music major at a college or university, a college-level music conservatory, or a community college in Southern California [Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties].

Past winners of SAI-Pasadena Alumnae Music Scholarship Awards are not eligible to apply.

Winners must be able to perform at the Winner's Recital on Saturday, March 9, 2024 (1pm to 3pm)

Competition Requirements

  • Enrolled as a collegiate music major between 18 to 26 years old on the day of the competition.

  • Proof of enrollment as a collegiate music major, such as a current class schedule or unofficial transcript.

  • $25.00 Refundable application fee to reserve an audition: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SAIPAC

  • Perform a ten-minute (maximum) audition for a panel of judges.

Repertoire

Piano/Instrument:

·        Two selections will be chosen from major 17th – 21st century repertoire and will demonstrate contrasting style periods and tempi. No popular music.
·        Please note: Only one piano is available in the hall, so piano concerti cannot be accommodated.  Instrumental concerti are accepted.  

Applicant must provide an accompanist, as needed. Applicant must bring music for each of the three (3) judges.

Voice: 

·        Selections must be chosen from the major 17th – 21st century repertoire and will demonstrate contrasting style periods and tempi. No popular music. 
·       Two or three selections may be sung. One must be an operatic aria or art song. 
·        One selection must be sung in a foreign language. 
·        One selection may be music from a Broadway musical or light opera. 

 Applicant must provide an accompanist, as needed. Applicant must bring music for each of the three (3) judges.

Scholarship Awards

Scholarships, awarded at the discretion of the judges, are given in piano, voice, and instrumental categories. Decisions of the judges are final. Winners receive a cash award.

Questions?

Call Tia Annis, SAI Scholarship Chair, at (818) 296-5358 OR email at saipacscholarship@gmail.com.

List of Winners 1980-current

1980 Gordon Halligan, CSUN; Nancy Bronder, CSUN
1981 Janet Steinberg, USC; Jennifer Nelson, USC
1982 Catherine Heusner, USC; Debbie Voight, CSUF
1983 Nico Abondalo, USC; Thomas Randle, USC
1984 Anna Maria Baeza, USC; Myra Wilkes, USC
1985 Charles Fernandez, UCLA; Peter Reilly, UCLA
1986 Karin Hoesli, CA; Jeanne Okrasinski, USC
1987 Sachiko Kato, CSUN; Laura Pallas, UCI; Steve Dunham, CC
1988 Piotr Anderszewski, USC; Tomasz Liebig, USC
1989 Nili Newman; Richard Bernstein; Linda Wang, all USC
1990 Anita Krause; Nicole Monahan; Alayne Faraone, all USC
1991 Lauri Mendes CSUF; Shira Adler, UCLA; William Wilson, CSUN
1992 Rei Hotoda, USC; Robin Bartunek, UCLA; Bongshin Ko, USC
1993 Mikhail Korzhev, USC; Andrew McQuery, OC; Kun Dong, USC
1994 Kiril Gliadkovsky, USC; Mary Beth Wright, UCI; Kristel Hayes, UCI; Serge Oskotsky, USC
1995 Robert Thies, USC; Jennifer Mathious, USC; Marek Szpakiewicz, USC; Wendy Lin, USC
1996 Erin Wood, UCLA; Tina Qu, USC; Deborah Buck-Mathews, USC
1997 Annie Lin, USC; Dante Hernandez, USC; Jacqueline Goldgorin, CSUF; Monique Donnelly, APU
1998 Sara Kleeman, CSUN; Sara Larsen, CSULB; PaNaoko Takada, CSUN; Laura Rigby, CSUF
1999 Shan Jiang, USC; Xiaomu Fang, USC; Michael Rochios, CC; Grace Fong, USC
2000 Jin Chei, CSUN; Gina An, CSUN
2001 Kazem Abdullah, USC; Mandy Burke, CSULB Gina Graziado, CSULB’ Yang Shen, USC
2002 Annie Chon, UCLA’ Lucy Chuang, USC; Gal Faganel, USC; Shushanik Hovakimyan, USC
2003 Anne Yoon, CSULB; Shira Thomas, CSUN; Marco Lipari, UCSB, Myroslava Khomik, CC
2004 Hosana Anjiki, B; Aneta Augustyn, CSLB’ Jennifer Jester, CA
2005 Yoo-Jung Chang, CSUN; Ryan Goessl, USC; Sara Sumitani, USC
2006 Jessica Gross, CSULB; Katherine Harris, APU; Laura Odegaard, USC
2007 Keith Colcough, P; Jason Issokson, USC; Anna Volovitvh, APU
2008 Iida Akane, USC; Yao Wang, USC; Katherine Trimble, CC
2009 Shishi He, USC; Lyndsey Hoh, USC; Lauren Michelle Criddle, UCLA
2010 Nathan Cottrell, B; Jennifer Juang, APU; Jonathan Sandberg, UCI
2011 Calista Hoffman, USC; Emilio Borhesan, USC; Alin Melik-Adamyan, USC
2012 Kyle Shafiee, USC; Leslie Cook, UCLA; Pedro Victorino, CSUF
2013 Andrew Harrison, USC; Emily Dyer, Chapman University
2014 Regina Ngo, USC; Vanessa Vasquez, UCLA; Christina Cheon, Chapman
2015 Dongni Xie, USC; Micah Wright, USC; Chelsea Chaves, USC
2017 1st Places - Ednaldo Alves, APU; Sean Tang-Wang, UCLA
       2nd Places - Hyojeong Kim, APU; Elise Solberg, USC
2018 1st Places - Kendall Harb, CSUF; Tiffany Chen, USC
       2nd Place - Yi Chang, PCC
2019 1st Places - Shota Homma, UCLA; Clayton Dungey, Biola University
2nd Places - Veola Sun, UCLA; Trevor Johnson, Biola University
2020 1st Places - Christopher Erling, USC ; Sidney Tovey, Violin, Azusa Pacific University
2nd Places - Chaiyoung Kim, USC; Star Mc Afee, Cal State Long Beach
2021 - Cancelled due to CoVid-19 Pandemic
2022 - Cancelled due to CoVid-19 Pandemic
2023 1st Places Sabrina Langlois, UCLA ; Rin Homma, UCLA ; Melanie Ooi, Violin, CSUN
2nd Places - Krystal Mao, UCLA ; Terry Hsu, UCLA ; Eder Hernandez, Clarinet, CSUN
2024 1st Places - Wing Sze Chan, CSUN; Lily Berthold, CSUN; Kaya Ralls, UCLA
2nd Places - Andrew Ngyen, UCI; Lauren Shafer, CSUN; James Day, CSUN

For donations to the Scholarship Fund, please contact Tia Annis at saipacscholarship@gmail.com.

Final performances of competition winners are held at Shigemi Matsumoto Recital Hall located at California State University, Northridge 18236 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330