Emiko Edwards, a freshman at High School North, recently won the Music Teachers National Association’s Performance Competition, senior division (age 15 to 18) for the state of New Jersey. The competition was held November 11 at Rowan University. Emiko, who became 15 on November 25, was the only girl in the competition as well as the youngest. The alternate is Robert Tsai, who played piano in the hit movie, “School Of Rock,” starring Jack Black.##M:[more]##
Edwards, pictured at right, played five pieces in 30 minutes featuring Bach (Prelude & Fugue in A Minor), Beethoven (Waldstein Sonata, 1st movement), Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2), Prokofiev (Sonata No. 7, 3rd movement), and a contemporary piece by Irving Fine.
She will represent New Jersey in the Eastern regional, which will be held at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh on January 5 and 6. In addition to performing the same five pieces, Edwards will also be performing the first movement of the Grieg piano concerto. The winners of the regional competition will move on to compete in the national finals which will be held in Toronto, Ontario, March 23 to 27.
Last year, Edwards won the state title in the MTNA Performance Competition, Junior Division and competed at the Eastern Regional in Ithaca, New York. (The News, January 6, 2006). She has studied piano with Ingrid Clarfield at Westminster Choir College since 1999.
At North, she plays cello in the orchestra, and is on the soccer team. She is also a member of the Rage, East Brunswick Soccer Association girls travel soccer team.
Emiko’s parents are Mark Edwards, a lawyer in New York City, and Yoshie. Her father plays the drums as did his father. Her mother, who worked with both Emiko and her younger sister, Marisa, in their early studies with the Suzuki method, can read music with them. “It was her realization that playing piano would be both positive and beneficial to them,” says her father.
