The Hartt School Community Division April Newsletter
April 24, 2019
Weekly Monday Mailer
The Monday Mailer is a weekly snapshot of the happenings at the Hartt School Community Division. This includes items such as approaching registration deadlines, new program announcements,
and upcoming event spotlights.
Monthly Newsletter
The newsletter will focus on the celebration of our HCD students and faculty. Accolades, special performance opportunities, and
other exciting success stories
will be featured here.
"Success is no accident. It is hard work,
perseverance, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing." –Pelé
Ashley Chuang, piano student of Ruriko Wheeler , won the Middletown Concerto Competition. On Tuesday, April 9, Ashley also had the honor of acting as one of three soloists for Middletown High School's presentation of "The Symphony."
Here, Ashley is shown playing excerpts from Bach's Concerto in F Minor alongside her teacher, Ruriko.
Prairwaa Madden, piano student of Tamila Azadaliyeva , competed in the finals of the 5th Annual J.Y.Park Piano Competition and won 1st place in the Senior Division. The winners' concert and award ceremony took place on April 13 at Western Connecticut State University. 
Announcing our
Practice-a-Thon Winners!

Four youth students and two adult students were awarded special musical prizes with local arts organizations such as Hartford Stage , Women Composers Festival of Hartford , The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts , and Hartford Symphony Orchestra . These awards celebrate the students with the most hours practiced, most money raised, most pledges, and largest gift. 

Jessica Coles
student of  Donna Ngai
Lilian Ruiz
member of  Harmony Winds
Ellie Warren
student of  Christie Felsing
Catherine Jeffers
student of  Nancy Andersen
John Soares
student of  Ruriko Wheeler
Congratulations to all–
thank you for your
continued support of our
community and the arts!
Six Repertory Ensemble students from HCD Dance competed at the YAGP New York Finals from Friday, April 12 to Saturday, April 20. Kerry Shannon, Junior Soloist, competed in the Classical and Contemporary Categories and received two scholarships: The Rock School and Next Generation. Susannah Major, Vanessa Meikle, Georgia Randall, Autumn Rankin, Kerry Shannon, and Ciara Troy competed in the Ensemble Category dancing the Armenian Folk Dance by Sarkis Kaltakhtchian . The group performed beautifully and made HCD Dance proud!
Emily DeNucci recently had her quintet  Playing With Fire  read and rehearsed by Nouveau Classical Project as part of the Women Composers Festival of Hartford ’s Student Workshop. The culminating reading session took place on March 30 at Trinity College in Hartford.

Written for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, Emily’s composition is based on a melody she created for her Advanced Musicianship class at the Community Division.

Emily is a private composition student of Jessica Rudman , a flute student of Greig Shearer , and a member of Philharmonia Winds .  
Each year, participants in the Composition Honors Program create new music for Community Division performers. This year, Helkin Sosa worked with the Stringendo String Orchestra, and Xavier Blackwell-Lipkind was paired with Philharmonia Winds. These new works will be premiered at the ensembles’ concerts on May 11 at 2 pm in Millard and May 12 at 2 pm in Lincoln.
Helkin Sosa studies composition with Jessica Rudman in the Young Composers Project and trumpet with Peter Roe . He a member of the Hartt Preparatory Academy and the Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble . Helkin’s piece  Music for the Gods  is inspired by Greek mythology. Helkin intends to continue composing in college as a composition and trumpet double major. 
Xavier Blackwell-Lipkind is a private composition student of Emmett Drake . He is a member of the Connecticut Youth Symphony and a participant in the HCD Chamber Music Program. He is also a string player, and working with Philharmonia and conductor Alan Francis allowed him to develop his ability to compose for winds and brass. Xavier’s work  Bratislava  is inspired by a Slovakian City where his father’s family came from. 
The String Department Junior Honors Recital took place on Sunday, March 31. The John Jorgensen Memorial Cello Scholarship was awarded to Vien Le, from the studio of Blake Brasch . This scholarship, in honor of former HCD student John Jorgensen, is given to a student who exhibits excellence in playing, commitment to the instrument and to the school, has steadily shown improvement during the current year, and plays with a beautiful tone.  
Two awards were presented during the String
Department Senior Honors Recital on March 29.
The Senior Award was presented to an outstanding senior-year student, Francesca Tavano, student of Melinda Daetsch .
The Abraham M. Huang Memorial Award, a scholarship awarded for the best (non-senior) performance at the String Honors Audition, was tied between two students from the studio of Mickey Reisman : Eva Astrachan and Maya Irizarry Lambright.
Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Huang for their generous gift to endow this prize in memory of their son (Abraham, formerly a student of Teri Einfeldt ’s), who loved music and studied at HCD.  
"Teachers affect eternity–
no one can tell where their influence stops."
–Henry Brooks Adams
HCD faculty members Jarek and Malgosia Lis will take part in the Music Academy International in the Italian Dolomites this July. The festival provides a wide variety of experiences, including Musical Theater, Opera, Orchestra, and Chamber Music.  Malgosia is always willing to chat with students about this amazing experience.
Jessica Rudman was awarded a 2019 Artist Fellowship by Connecticut of the Arts. These competitive grants are designed to support artists as they create new work and pursue their professional goals. Dr. Rudman is currently completing a commission for the California-based Choral Arts Initiative . Other recent and upcoming projects include a song cycle for mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen with Semiosis String Quartet , new piano solos for Holly Roadfeldt and Michael Kirkendoll, and an orchestral suite based on her chamber opera  Marie Curie Learns to Swim . 
Dr. Rudman is the department head of HCD's Composition and Musicianship program and the director of the Hartt Preparatory Academy .
"We do not remember days, we
remember moments." –Cesare Pavese
TOP: On March 21, several members of the Hartt College and HCD faculty, administration, students, staff, and the community came together for a special lunchtime performance honoring Bach's birthday. This exceptional concert was organized by Melinda Daetsch .

BOTTOM: On March 22 and 23, the HCD Viola Tour Group performed an all-Bach program in Sukman Foyer prior to the Harttworks performances.
Both events were a part of the “Bach in the Subways” international celebration .
HCD Dance department’s offering of a 6-week Musical Theatre Class was received with great enthusiasm. Taught by Hartt School faculty member Janelle A. Robinson , this class was an opportunity for students to focus on vocal work and acting improvisations. 11 students from across our school were in attendance, leaving the studio with big smiles and much excitement.
The Connecticut Children’s Chorus joined the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for the presentation of  Harry   Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban  in Concert on Saturday, April 6 at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts . Students performed this magical music live while the entire film played in high-definition on a 40-foot screen.
 
Pictured here is the CCC Senior Division. 60 singers performed for two full houses, totaling over 5,000 audience members!
On March 30, HCD hosted the solo recital series featuring over 60 students! Pictured here is Nina Miller with her students Joyce Xue, Chloe Lee, Gabriella Nguyen, Serena Zhou, Ellen Chen, April Ge, Joshua Chen, Jane Xue, Isabella Nguyen, and Summer Wang.
Submit to the May Newsletter
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