This is the 7th year of our Violettes by Becky Youth Music Composition Competition.* The quality of our entries remains phenomenal. Congratulations to all the students on their hard work.

*Becky’s Youth Music Competition is named for her previous website name, Violettes by Becky. Becky’s Violettes are her own invention - musical instrument shaped purses. They make great gifts for students and teachers and anyone who loves music. which is just about everyone, Right?

Becky’s “Violettes” were name after the little violin purses she initially started making.

Winners 15 and older

1st Place, Adam Winograd, "La Endecha Del Violin Solitario", Classical, Solo Violin

Adam Winograd is a junior at Concord Academy, in Concord, MA. He started playing the violin when he was 8 years old with Bonnie Bewick of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has studied with her ever since. He is now a violinist in New England Conservatory’s Youth Symphony, Rivers Conservatory’s Camerata Strings, and his high school’s select Chamber Ensemble. Adam began composing in his free time to take breaks from homework, and now studies formally under Dr. Stephen Halloran. His most recent work is a two movement string quartet, which features this solo violin piece, La endecha del violín solitario, as its first movement. Adam enjoys composing for both classical instrumentation and digitally, including for video games, podcasts, animations, and personal endeavors.

2nd Place, Micah Primack, "The Golden Dove", classical, woodwind trio, oboe, clarinet, bassoon

Micah Primack started composing at the age of 12. He plays piano, guitar, mandolin, and ukulele. He attended the Boston Conservatory at Berklee in the High School Composition Intensive in the summer of 2019. Also, he came in 3rd place in his division in the National Federation of Music Clubs for the state of Pennsylvania for his work “The Adventures of Piccolo Boy.” He also received 2nd place in his division for the composition competition hosted by the Piano Explorer magazine for “Bella and Zoe.” He currently lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas and is in the 10th grade. His compositions can be found at micahprimack.com/music.

3rd Place, Fiona Abney-McPeek, "Woodwind Quintet No. 2", classical, woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon)

I’d like to highlight a blog about Fiona’s beautiful family from two years ago when both Fiona and her older sister, won the 1st place in the under and over age 15 categories, respectively. (Note to Fiona - if you want to send updates to the photo and bio, I’ll replace them. Otherwise, don’t worry about it.)

Fiona Abney-McPeek, 16, enjoys playing violin with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and with a chamber trio. She has studied composition with Elliot Cless, Teddy Niedermaier and Tonia Ko and is in her fifth year of participation in the Composition Seminar of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. Fiona also volunteers as a teaching assistant in the Chicago Math Circles, and she is active on her school's science and math teams. (Last year she and a teammate built a musical instrument for one of her Science Olympiad events.)

Honorable Mention for Age 15 and Over (in no order)

"Jiaqi Liu, Mother Earth", Romantic, String Quartet

Jiaqi Liu was born in 2002 in Beijing. He received his first musical training when five years old, ten years later he won the first place in entrance exams enrolling in Central Conservatory of Music Middle School as composition major and commenced to study with Prof. ChangyuanLIU. His pieces from this time reveal a fascination and accepted by the audience, which have been a hallmark of his music-making. In recent years, his music idea and concepts were also influenced in masterclasses by renowned musicians such as V. Nesic, M. Leuschner, G. Borisov, M. Hindson. JiaqiLiu's recent honors and awards in composition include: Work A SUMMER DAY won the first place at Cat. Senior International in 2020 US Golden Key Music Festival Piano Composition Competition.(2020); Work THE WOODS for solo piano was selected as one of the six works entering the final in Call for Score for the 2nd Beijing Fryderyk Chopin International Youth Piano Competition (2019); Work FAIRYLAND for octet won the second prize in 9th Italy Amigdala International Composition Competition. (2019); Work FRONTIER IN GALES for solo piano won LAUREAT Prize in Serbia XV "Donne in Musica" International Composition Contest (2018); Work A CLOWN IN JUGGLING was selected in the program of  "ZENE U MUZICI" International  Concerts held in Belgrade and Kragujevac (2018). His music works FAIRYLAND and THE WOODS were published by T.U.X. People's Music Publishing Co. in the United States (2019).

Other Honorable Mention Winners for Age 15 and Over that did not submit bios are: Jack Michalak, New York, "Epic Battle", Chamber,  Brass Sextet

Gabriel Brady,Virginia, "Lemoncholy", Classical, piano (Note to students. If you want to make a late submital, I will update your info here.)

Winners for Under 15

1st Place, Yim Lap Justin Cheung, "The Ghost", Piano (and Honorable Mention for “Super Storm”)

Justin Yim Lap Cheung is an 11-year old primary five student from Hong Kong. He started his Major study in Composition in the Junior Music Programme of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) in 2018 under Ms. Ng Hau Yee Poly. He is also a Violin Major student and a member of the Junior Repertoire Ensemble in HKAPA. He has learned the piano since the age of three and the violin from the age of four. Since the age of seven, he has won multiple prizes for the violin and the piano in the solo and duet classes in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, the annual major music event for school students in Hong Kong. From a very young age, Justin has shown his passion and enjoyment in playing and making music. He takes music composition as a great pleasure to convey his imaginative ideas through sound. Apart from music, Justin is also interested in writing short stories, drawing complicated mazes and travelling in foreign countries.

2nd Place Winner, Frederick Biddix, "Symphony No. 1", classical, orchestra: 1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellos, contrabasses, harp, snare drum, base drum, cymbal, timpani, french horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 b-flat clarinets, 2 bassoons

Fred is a native of San Antonio, Texas, 14 years old, home schooled, plays the piano and cello, loves listening to and composing classical music and programming. Took private piano lessons for a few years, has been taking composition classes for the last 8 months.

Fred,

Thanks for this wonderful photo!!

Becky

Honorable Mention for the 15 and Under Winners (in no order)

George Campbell Leiloglou, “ Attack of Scylla", Piano

Campbell Leiloglou is a twelve-year old homeschool student who enjoys drawing, building LEGO, and playing piano in his spare time. Campbell received honorable mention in the 2019 SAMTA Original Composition competition for his piece, "Mesa Storm." He is the piano student of Dorothy Yan and composition student of Edna Longoria.

Austin Tomecek, "Bear's Beets Battlestar Galactica--Ensemble", new Age, piano and violin

Austin is from the Crestmoor area in Denver, Colorado. He attends Good Shepherd Catholic School. His activities and hobbies are – middle school basketball, recreational soccer, snow sports, Scouting, piano, a little guitar, playing online with his friends and playing with his dog, Wesley. Austin prefers newer piano pieces and especially enjoys creating his own music. He draws inspiration from watching the street performers in New Orleans when he visits the French quarter with his family each year.

Becky’s Youth Music Competition is named for her previous website name, Violettes by Becky. Becky’s Violettes are her own invention - musical instrument shaped purses. They make great gifts for students and teachers and anyone who loves music. which is just about everyone, Right?

Becky’s “Violettes” were name after the little violin purses she started making.

Congratulations again to all these super amazing students.

Sincerely,

Becky