Classical WQED-FM 89.3 announced the winners of a classical music competition it has held this spring for middle school students (grades six to eight). It is called  2013 Musical Kids. As you can see, the winners are from around the region, one that continues to produce excellent talent! Well, that makes it seem like it's in the water. I should say a region in which there are many teachers and parents and hard working ... and talented ... kids. Congrats to these winners and really to everyone who participated in the competition:

• Rebecca Chen, piano
  Carson Middle School
  Wexford, PA
• Joey Comella, violin
  PA Cyber Charter School
  Export, PA
• Suvir Merchandani, piano
  Dorseyville Middle School
  Pittsburgh, PA
• Nathan Pallotta, piano
  Mon Yough Catholic School
  McKeesport, PA
• Fiona Stauffer, piano
  Franklin Regional Middle School
  Murrysville, PA
• Lily Wang, piano “Public Choice Winner”
  Franklin Regional Middle School
  Murrysville, PA

Winners will be recognized publicly at “Classical WQED-FM 89.3 Night” following the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s performance at Heinz Hall on Friday, May 10. A special program hosted by Jim Cunningham with winner interviews and recorded performances will air on Performance in PittsburghFriday, May 17 at 7:00 p.m. on Classical WQED-FM 89.3. Winners will also perform on the Dollar Bank Stage at the Three Rivers Arts Festival as part of “Classical Music Day” on Monday, June 10 from 1-1:30 p.m. and 5-5:30 p.m.

Congrats to the River City Brass (nee Band)! On this tour it will give the inaugural pening concert of an auditorium at the University of Studies Roma Tre!

From the presser:

Pittsburgh’s own River City Brass is excitedly preparing to travel abroad for the first time in over 25 years. The tour will run from May 6^th through May 10^th, and will include four concerts, three of which are free to the public, and also will include a variety of educational outreach activities. Classical WQED-FM 89.3 will accompany the RCB, and will broadcast live from Italy at 8:30am and 5:00pm each day of the trip.

Musicians and staff from the River City Brass will arrive in Rome, Italy on May 6th, 2013 and travel to Teramo approximately 60 kilometers from Rome. There, the band will perform in the Teatro Communale. The concert will contain a mixture of American classics, big band music and jazz; the sound of Pittsburgh. On May 8th the band will travel back to Rome, where it will perform the opening concert of the new auditorium at the University of Studies Roma Tre, hosted by UPMC’s International and Commercial Services Division, a key sponsor of this trip. This will be made available, free of charge, to students and faculty of Roma Tre University as well as the general public.

Educational outreach is a major feature of the tour, as master-classes will be offered, free of charge, to brass students at Roma Tre University and at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Frosinone. American brass playing is famous the world over and so we anticipate a high demand for the classes.

After Rome, the Band makes a journey to the conservatory of music in Frosinone, where it will perform a concert and give master-classes on the 9th of May. May 10th has River City Brass pulling into San Gregorio where we will play a joint concert with the Saxula Brass, a local brass band featuring saxhorns, the basis of the British style brass band. This concert will also be free to the public.

Pittsburgh Concert Society is an amazing organization of which few cities can boast:

The 2013  Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Auditions were held on April 19 and 20 at the Kresge Theater, Carnegie Mellon University. Adrian Daly, Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Music, was the adjudicator.
Dr. Daly selected the following winners listed by alphabetical order:
 
Leta Chin, violin
Fernando Deddos, euphonium
Mimi Jung, violin
Sean Kennard, piano
Seungmin Oh, flute
Sage Po, harp

PCS also announces the 2013-14 season:

I have enjoyed listening to and writing about Mathew Rosenblum's music for years. And now the Pitt professor of music has gotten an honor I always thought he deserved: A Guggenheim Fellowship. He is one of 175 scholars, artists and scientists selected as fellows this year. The award is in recognition of past achievement but it is really about future endeavors. Rosenblum will be working on a concerto for the acclaimed klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer, who is also a close friend of his. The working tiele is "Lament: Witches' Sabbath" and if that rings a bell, it's because it reminds you of Berlioz’s Symphony "Fantastique." Indeed, Rosenblum will allude to the final movement's ("Songe d'une nuit du sabbat") for the concerto that will be recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, directed by former Pittsburgher Gil Rose. Here's his words, and an articles of mine that will give you an idea of his music:

Scale makes music of Rosenblum distinctive