San Francisco's Community Music Center Awards $46,000 in Scholarships to Local Music Students

San Francisco’s Community Music Center Awards $46,000 in Scholarships to Local Music Students

· Scholarships awarded to 31 students as part of Community Music Center’s tuition assistance program

·Select 2016-2017 Merit scholarship recipients to perform at All-School Recital on Sunday, June 5 at 4:00 p.m. at San Francisco’s Community Music Center Concert Hall

SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2016 – Thirty-one local San Francisco music students will continue to pursue their dream of playing music thanks to 31 full-tuition scholarships awarded by the San Francisco Community Music Center (CMC).

The current scholarship recipients are part of CMC’s tuition assistance program, which will provide $1.7 million in financial support this school year, helping make music accessible to people of all ages, musical levels, and financial backgrounds. This year more than 2,400 students from San Francisco and the Bay Area will participate in CMC music programs.

“It’s exciting to see the progress all of our students make, their dedication and love of music keeps CMC moving forward,” said Christopher Borg, CMC’s executive director. “For 95 years, it has been our honor to offer this program to help support the musical dreams of thousands of San Franciscans with a high-quality music education.”

This is the 95th year of CMC’s music scholarship program. The program was established in 1921 by CMC’s founder, Gertrude Field, at the Dolores Street Girls Club settlement house to provide high quality music education to all – and in the 95 years since it has helped fund the musical educations of thousands of local youth, including some noted musicians such as singer Johnny Mathis, soprano Lucine Amara and composer Nathaniel Stookey.

Each spring, a panel of faculty and staff assess student performances to select full scholarship recipients for the coming year, based on need and merit. Scholarships are based on a student’s length of study, technique, musicality, attendance, practice habits, attitude and progress. All but one of this year’s recipients live in San Francisco and eight are first time scholarship winners.

Of the merit scholarship recipients, a select group of nine will perform in front of their peers and instructors at the All-School Recital on June 5th at 4:00 p.m. at the CMC Concert Hall located at 544 Capp Street in San Francisco. The All-School Recital will include performances on the flute, clarinet, violin, guitar and piano.

Among this year’s scholarship recipients is 17 year-old violinist Kirby Leo who said, “I am grateful to my teachers at CMC for their support and encouragement. Every week I learn something that helps me play better and with this scholarship I can look forward to another year of learning and playing the music I love.” Ms. Leo will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 211, Allegro moderato during Sunday’s recital.

CMC’s merit scholarships are among several tuition assistance programs available. The school offers tuition-free programs such as the Young Musicians Program, Older Adult Choir Program, Teen Jazz Orchestra and Children’s Chorus, as well as sliding-scale tuition and other discounts for all of its lessons, group classes and ensembles.

Community Music Center honors the 2016-2017 merit scholarship recipients at annual All-School Recital.

The 31 students who received merit scholarships this year are listed below. Students performing on Sunday include (*).

Ying Chen, violin

Ryan Nguyen, piano

Kirby Leo, violin*

Murali Meyer, voice

Leo Safir, clarinet*

Phuong Dang, piano*

Megan Ma, violin

Qiao Ying Chen, piano

Dinh Tran, flute

Gabriella Mendoza-Gorska,violin

Addison Kuang, guitar*

Maritza Bautista, piano*

Hannah Kim, piano

Susanna Lau, piano

Luis Lazaro, piano

Trinity Lee, piano

Rosa Zhang , piano

Journey Rae Moore-Prewitt,piano

Tiffany Iam, piano

Sophia Manodori, violin

Sunnie Lee, piano

Brenton Lai, piano*

Kelly Lee, violin

Alexander Lee, piano

Amy G. li, flute*

Vanessa Lopez, piano

Devin King-Roberts, piano*

Nora Milyak, cello

Jennifer Lee, piano*

Karen Domingo, piano

Pricilla Guan, guitar

About San Francisco’s Community Music Center: Founded in 1921, San Francisco’s Community Music Center (CMC), a Bay Area nonprofit, is one of the oldest and largest community arts organizations on the West Coast making high quality music accessible to all people, regardless of financial means. CMC, based in the Mission District, was established to “be a provider of music that is not art for art’s sake, but art for life’s sake.” CMC serves more than 23,000 people each year, including more than 2,400 students of all ages, ethnicities and income levels who enjoy music lessons, programs and concerts at no or low cost. Learn more about CMC at www.sfcmc.org and follow the organization on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.