IN THIS NEWSLETTER

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From the President

 Greetings to all of OFMC!

 I hope that your year of 2025 is going smoothly and all your musical activities have been not only inspirational, but also worthwhile.  As we are in the season of Lent, many of us who are music directors or musicians in the church have Holy Week and Easter Sunday coming up.  A lot to prepare and pray that your ministries are as much appreciative of your hard work and dedication as we are at OFMC for all of your continuous service to keeping music alive in our youth and communities.

 In our second newsletter of 2025, you will find dates of all of the district meetings, locations, etc, as well competition results, new officers  and upcoming deadlines.   Please also make sure to check in on the OFMC website from time to time to make sure you are kept in the loop.

Thank you to all of our festival and competition chairs, as the month of March is always so stressful for each of you and the teachers.  But the positive impact it creates and the smile on the kids faces when they get that hard earned superior makes it all  worthwhile!

Another shout out to our Peggy Elliott who just completed her second newsletter for us!  Please thank her if you have not already for her time as this position is so valuable to this organization.

Happy Easter to you all and your families!

 Yours Musically,

 Jason Volovar
President OFMC
“Invest into Our Future”

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Five Dayton Music Club Members Receive National Recognition

Dayton Music Club members Jodi Boeddeker, Gretchen Germann, and Sarah Robertson form the Syrodesy Flute Trio. In 2024 they had the honor of commissioning two distinguished local composers, also DMC members, to create works inspired by Ohio’s rich heritage. Moira Levant composed Wright Flight which celebrates the Wright brothers’ pioneering flights, while Christian Berg crafted River Sounds, a tribute to the Cuyahoga River in northern Ohio. This second piece is uniquely written for a flute trio with flute choir accompaniment.    

Syrodesy submitted an audition of these new works to the National Flute Association (NFA) and was thrilled to be selected to perform at their annual convention held in Atlanta, Georgia on August 7, 2025.

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Brahms Allegro Junior Club

Tuesday Musical Association of Akron invites student performers from the Brahms Allegro Junior Music Club to perform at member meetings.  April’s meeting at the Akron Art Museum featured student violinist Aika Birch, a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.  Aika was accompanied by her father, Dr. Sebastian Birch.  She performed the Andante from Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol and Paganini’s Caprice No. 16.  Brahms Allegro has 20 teacher members and 61 student members.    

Jennifer Stenroos

Jennifer Stenroos Piano Studio
PO Box 768, Bath, OH 44210
Tuesday Musical Association’s
Brahms Allegro Junior Music Club, Chairman

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New Chair of the Summer Music Camp Awards,  Nathan DeMar 

I am looking forward to serving OFMC with the Summer Music Camp Scholarship Awards. Throughout Undergraduate and Masters degrees in piano performance, I taught a studio of piano students,  requiring students to perform in recitals and the OFMC festival. After graduation, I continued to teach for a few years while I went back to school to become a high school math teacher. My focus has been math education for the past 15 years, as at the present, but I’ve continued with music in the capacities of composition, music directing, and piano performance. I’ve also started up piano teaching again at a small scale these past couple years. I consider the skill of playing the piano invaluable, and an appreciation of music in general an essential part of a well-rounded education. I’m excited to be able to provide opportunities to these ends.

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Cups presented at Honors Concert

Heidelberg University, March 1, 2025

Denise Eikum, district IV – NW Ohio festival chair, has volunteered to be the new Festival treasurer. Thank you Denise!

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 Tuesday Musical announces 2025 scholarship winners, including 2 receiving OFMC awards

Tuesday Musical’s 2025 Annual Scholarship Competition was in March. Now in its 69^th year, the adjudicated annual competition provides support for music majors from throughout Ohio who are embarking on careers as music educators and performers. Nearly 130 applicants from 12 schools applied to compete this year for 29 scholarships ranging from $750 to $2,000 each and totaling a record-breaking $41,050. Dr. Patricia Grutzmacher, professor emeritus at Kent State University, adjudicated the Music Education category. The application process requires all Music Education applicants to submit grade transcripts and essays and to also interview with the judge and perform for the judge on their primary instrument —not an easy assignment!

The 2025 Music Education category winners:

 Gertrude Seiberling Scholarship, sponsored by the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, $1,400: Lauren Meadows, voice, The Ohio State University 

• Lauren Meadows is a third-year undergraduate student at The Ohio State University, majoring in Choral Music Education and Theatre. She is originally from Suffield, near Akron in northeast Ohio. She describes herself as an aspiring music teacher, theatre director, and performer. This semester she is performing with the OSU Chorale and in her junior voice recital, as well as directing a production of the musical Legally Blonde for Off the Lake Productions, OSU’s student-run, service-based theater organization.

 Winifred Collins Scholarship, sponsored by the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, $1,400: Harley Nunez, percussion, The University of Akron School of Music

• Harley Nunez is a senior majoring in Music Education and Performance at The University of Akron. He has played with numerous ensembles on and off campus, including UA’s Wind Symphony, Steel Band, Marching Band, and Orchestra as well with Matrix and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. He has strengthened his musical foundation by teaching for Rogues Hollow Regiment, Cloverleaf HS, McKinley HS, and Firefly Music School. He also is Music Director for EN-RICH-MENT of Stark County, which provides fine and performing arts education for underserved youth ages 5-18 and wrap-around services free of charge to families.

 The first- and second-place winners in the performance categories have been invited to perform in the competition’s Final Round/Winners Concert on Sunday, May 4, 2:30 p.m. at The University of Akron School of Music’s Guzzetta Recital Hall, 157 University Ave. Two additional adjudicated scholarships — one for $1,000 and one for $2,000 — will be awarded. The audience will also pick the winner of the John M. Ream Jr. DDS People’s Choice Award of $500. The May 4 concert and post-concert reception are free and open to the public. 

 An Akron anchor arts organization founded in 1887, Tuesday Musical presents concerts by world-acclaimed musicians in Akron as well as education and community engagement programs throughout northeast Ohio. More at www.tuesdaymusical.org/education.

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Dayton Music Club awards $12,400 for Student Scholarships

The Dayton Music Club held their annual Student Scholarship Auditions on March 10 for students in grade 7 through 12 whose teachers are Music Club members. Forty-two students of piano, violin, guitar, flute, and voice participated; 31 were awarded scholarships ranging from $100 to $1,200.

In 1991 the Scholarship Endowment Fund was created by six Dayton Music Club members for the purpose of assisting young musicians in their musical endeavors. The awards may be used for college music study, summer music camps, or for continuing private lessons. Scholarship money is obtained through interest earned by the original endowment and from donations from Music Club members and the general public. Six awards are named for the original donors: M. E. Flory, E. Gustin, DMC, E. J. Lorenze-Porter, K. Christman, and E. Harbottle. There were also three scholarships in memory of Donald Hageman, Daira Skriblis, and Norma-Jean Hendricks.

Thirteen of the scholarship winners performed in a recital on March 23. Five of the top scholarship winners will appear on the Annual Youth Scholarship Benefit Concert Benefit on May 4. These students and their awards are: Isabella Fiers, piano, $1,200; Aiden Fiers, piano, $600; Adrian McKenzie, piano, $700; Ethan Hunt, guitar, $600; and Vivian Chang, violin, $1,200.

The Scholarship Benefit Concert is Sunday, May 4, at Epiphany Lutheran Church, 6430 Far Hills Avenue, Centerville 45459. Adult performers on the program are Christina Williams, piano, flute and guitar duo Kathleen Durig and Tom Wittberg, and pianist Gideon Brenner, recent graduate of the University of Michigan and former DMC scholarship winner. The concert is admission free and open to the public. Donations to the Scholarship Fund are gratefully accepted.

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JR. CLASS 1 – AGES 9 AND UNDER

1st Place in Class                                Jiroki Kimura, “Morning Waves”
1st Overall in State                            District 3D, Teacher: Takako Hayase Frautschi
Regional Winner

2nd Place in Class                               Ellie Fei, “I’m Hiding”
3rd Overall in State                            District 3G, Teacher: Susan Carlock

3rd Place in Class                                Niko Moeller, “Shining Shooting Star”
District 1C, Teacher: Jennifer Stenroos

JR. CLASS II – AGES 10 – 12

1st Place in Class                                Anwita Sharma, “The King’s Entrance”
District 3G, Teacher: Susan Carlock

2nd Place in Class                               Kalkin Ban, “Airport Sprint”
Regional Winner                                  District 3D, Teacher; Takako Hayase Frautschi

3rd Place in Class                                Bobby Topalidis, “Island Voyage”
District 3A, Teacher: James Loughery

JR. CLASS III – AGES 13 – 15

1st Place in Class                                Samantha Geary, “Waltz in C Minor”
2nd Overall in State                           District 3D, Teacher: Natasha Pence

2nd Place in Class                               Andrew Cobb, “Bronze Factory”
Regional Winner                                 District 3G, Teacher: Carla Grossman

3rd Place in Class                                Anika Sharma, “The Avalanche”
District 3G, Teacher: Susan Carlock         

JR. CLASS IV – AGES 16 – 18    

1st Place in Class                                Autumn Rinaldi, “Walk”
Teacher: Joe Bricker

2nd Place in Class                               Rhys Ceron, “Waves”
District 3A, Teacher:James Loughery

3rd Place in Class                                Evan Jackle, “Spring Meadow”
  District 3G,Teacher:Susan Carlock

Venetia Hall Piano Concerto Competition

On Saturday, March 29, eight very talented pianists competed in the Venetia Hall Concerto Competition held at Graves Piano and Organ in Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. Vivian Ripley, Dr. Tianshu Wang, and Dr. San Sung Aum judged the students. The performers are as follows:

• Levi Li Grieg Piano Concerto in A min., Op. 16 Mvmt I Teacher: Nina Polonsky Accompanist: Nina Polonsky

• Estella Li Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 in G min., Op. 25 Mvmt III Teacher: Sun Min Kim Accompanist: Sun Min Kim

• Saya Uejima Grieg Piano Concerto in A min., Op. 16 Mvmt I Teacher: Haewon Song Accompanist: Megumi Uejima

• Lillian Andrews Mendelssohn Concerto in G Min., Op. 25 Mvmt I Teacher: Diane Debiec Accompanist: Gretchen Kuhns

• Andrew Helmick Grieg Piano Concerto in A Min., Mvmt I Teacher: Diane Debiec Accompanist: Gretchen Kuhns

• Robert Einhorn Mendelssohn Capriccio Brillante Mvmt I Teacher: Susan Carlock Accompanist: Amanda Roberts

• Isabella Fiers Saint-Saens Concerto in G Min., Op. 22 Mvmt I Teacher: Samee Griffith Accompanist: Samee Griffith

• James Carson Chopin Concerto No. 1 in E min., Mvmt I Teacher: Gerado Teissoniere Accompanist: Professor Ed Bak

Each student performed very well and the scores were close. James Carson won the first place award of $1000, Levi Li won the second place award of $500, and Saya Uejima won the third place award of $200. Two honorable mention winners were chosen: Andrew Helmick and Estella Li. Thank you to those students who participated and the teachers who prepared them for competition. Thank you to the accompanists for their time and help. I look forward to hearing more students compete in the Venetia Hall Concerto Competition next year.

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Call for Chamber Music Reports

Chamber Music Chair, Pat Brooks

Please send your chamber music report AR2-1 to me so that I can report to the national office. I will accept it later than April 1 but I must send reports to NFMC by May 1 or it will not count. Thank you.

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Prize winners in the 2025 OFMC Collegiate Composers Contest:

First Prize ($1400): David Zimmerman, Otterbein University

Composition: Rise Up forSATB a cappella

Second Prize ($800): Brady Wolff, Bowling Green State University

Composition: Lost Winter for soprano saxophone, violin, cello, and piano

2025 OFMC Adult Composers Contest Winners

First Prize ($900): Moira Levant

Composition: Sonata for Violin and Piano

Second Prize ($700): Gwen Brubaker

Composition: Stonehenge (for piano, flute, oboe, & B-flat clarinet)

Third Prize ($400): Susan Carlock

Composition: Wynken, Blynken and Nod (for women’s trio and piano)

Submitted by Sally Christman

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District II and IV Meeting: Sat, April 12

OFMC District II and IV’s combined Spring Meeting

 Hosted on Saturday, April 12 by the Buckeye Music Teachers

Covenant Presbyterian Church
2070 Ridgecliff Road, Upper Arlington OH 43221

The 4 Year Honors Recital will follow (after lunch) at 1:00pm.

The cost for this meeting is $14.00.

Please RSVP (if coming in person): jcdorinsky@sbcglobal.net by April 10th.

Schedule of Events

• 9:30 AM          Registration: Coffee, Muffins & Fruit
• 10:00 AM        Business Meeting
• Jason Volovar, state president
• Donna Gerber, chair of district and senior club presidents
• 11:15 AM        Junior Festival Follow-Up State Convention 2026 and Juniors Day Discussion
• NOON             Lunch: from Chick-fil-A
• 1:00 PM          District Recital

An Agnes Fowler winner (TBA)will open the recital. That performance will be followed by Junior Festival participants who have received 4 consecutive superiors.

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District III Conference

April 23 at 8:00 pm on Zoom

Hosted by Northern Hills Piano Teachers Forum.

The Honors Recital is scheduled for 12:30 pm on April 26 at Epiphany Lutheran Church (6430 Far Hills Ave, Dayton, OH 45459). For any questions regarding the Honors Recital, please contact Sheryl Mabry (ssmabry@yahoo.com).

Gretchen Germann
OFMC District III president

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• 4/12             District II and IV Annual Meeting
• 4/15             Elsie Stupp Grand Cup Award application deadline
• 4/23            District III Annual Meeting
• 5/1               Disinger Summer Marching Band Camp Scholarship application deadline
• 5/15             Summer Music Camp Awards application deadline
• 5/15             Advanced Education Scholarships
• 6/10 – 6/14  National Conference in Austin, TX
• 10/18          Junior Day 2025

For more information on any of these events, please check the OFMC Website:ofmc.org

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Zachary Brandon, this year’s Helen Curtis Webster Award Winner

Zachary Brandon is an Artist Diploma student at CIM, studying with Stephen Rose and Jessica Lee. Brandon received top honors as a laureate in the 2023 Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition. He also secured top prizes in the International Stradivarius Violin Competition and Cooper International Violin Competition. A two-time finalist and recipient of the Bach Prize at the International Stulberg Competition, Brandon’s accolades further include semifinalist positions in the International Princess Astrid Music Competition, Menuhin International Violin Competition, Concours musical international de Montréal, and Sibelius International Violin Competition.

Brandon has captivated audiences worldwide with deeply passionate performances in venues such as Carnegie Hall and has also performed in diverse places such as the Virgin Islands, Norway, Finland, and Italy. He has also performed as a soloist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Fort Wayne Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra, Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, and Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra.

His first-place victories span numerous esteemed competitions.

Also an avid chamber musician, Brandon, as part of Quartet Vibrante, was awarded the bronze medal in the National Fischoff Chamber Competition. His quartet also received second place in the International M-Prize Chamber Competition. Brandon’s piano quartet, the Invictus Piano Quartet, was also awarded third place in the International M-Prize Chamber Competition.

Brandon has refined his craft under the guidance of internationally acclaimed artists and pedagogues, including Maxim Vengerov, Augustin Hadelich, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Miriam Fried, Joan Tower, Catherine Cho, Donald Weilerstein, Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Wu Han, David Finckel, Clive Greensmith, Menahem Pressler, Benjamin Beilman, Sharon Robinson, and Sylvia Rosenberg. His former teachers include Jaime Laredo, Robert Lipsett, Jan Mark Sloman, and Roland and Almita Vamos.

Brandon performs on a 1910 Scarampella violin gifted to CIM by John Bolton.