By Michael Hopkins
The 27th annual MASTA Chamber Music Festival was held on February 26, 2018 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Guest artists and competition judges were the four members of the Ambassador String Quartet:
Sunmi Chang, violin
Judy Lin Wu, violin
Caroline Coade, viola
Caroline Kim, cello.
Additional festival faculty included Nathaniel Pierce, Molly Baugh, and Aaron Reilley.
The winning ensemble of the 27th annual MASTA Chamber Music Festival Competition was the Gouin Tellinghuisen Wyn Trio from Grand Rapids, MI for their performance of Beethoven Trio op. 1 no. 3 mvt. 1:
Cameron Gouin, violin
Owen Tellinghuisen, piano
McCormack Wyn, cello
The runner up ensemble was the Ragazzo String Quartet from Troy, MI for their performance of Borodin String Quartet No. 2, 1st mvt:
Eric Chen, violin
Elbert Yi, violin
William Beardslee, viola
Mitchell Chang, cello
Honorable Mention goes to the Majdanek Trio from Forest Hills Eastern in Ada, MI for their performance of Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2, 4th mvt:
Nathan La Huis, violin
Aidan Lancaster, cello
Ian Blackman-Staves, piano
Congratulations to these students and their teachers, Karen Krummel, Bryan Kolk, and Anne Thompson!
Thank you to all the participants for a great festival and a wonderful recital! I would like to thank these MASTA members for sending students to the festival: Megan Crawford, Nathan Peters, Karen Krummel, James Gross, Bryan Kolk, Anne Thompson, Paul Wingert, Burke Lokey, Michael Markley, Kristen Shoup, and Ted McDonald.