Emiko Edwards, 14, won the 2005 Music Teachers National Association’s Performance Competition in the state junior division. The competition was held in November at Rowan University. She will compete against 12 other regional state winners in the MTNA Eastern Division Competition on January 14 at Ithaca College.##M:[more]##
The winner of the competition will compete in the MTNA National Finals on March 25 to 28 in Austin, Texas. The legendary pianist, Van Cliburn, will give the keynote address at the conference.
Emiko’s performance program for the competition includes Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6; Beethoven’s Sonata in G Major, Op. 31, No. 1 Allegro vivace; The Lark, by Mikhail Glinka; and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 in B flat Major, Precipitato. She studies with Ingrid Clarfield, professor of piano and coordinator of the piano department at Westminster Choir College.
Emiko also was a recent winner of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association’s 2005 Masterclass Competition and performed for Julliard Professor Jerome Lowenthal at the NJMTA State Conference. When she won NJMTA’s 2005 Concerto Competition, she performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1, G minor, op. 25, 1st movement, with the Westfield Symphony at the Union County Arts Center. She was also awarded a First Degree Diploma (exceptional performance level) at the 2005 American Concert Alliance’s Golden Key Music Festival.
Emiko is an eighth grade student at Community Middle School. She plays cello in her school’s chamber orchestra and is captain on the school’s soccer team. She is also a member of the Rage, East Brunswick Soccer Association’s U-14 Girls’ travel soccer team.
Emiko is the daughter of Mark, a lawyer in New York City, and Yoshie Edwards. Her younger sister, Marisa, a sixth grade student at Community, is also an accomplished pianist and plays violin with her school orchestra.
