Ocean City High School Student Wins $150 At Esther Weil Music Competition

OCEAN CITY, NJ — An Ocean City High School student took fourth place in the instrumental division at the seventh annual Esther Weil Student Competition for high school students from schools in Cape May and Atlantic counties. Matthew Torrence took home $150 by placing fourth in the instrumental competition, according to city officials. The contest was held on Wednesday, May 3, at the Ocean City Music Pier.

Hans-Derek Yu, of Egg Harbor Township High School, took first place in the instrumental competition. Maecy Bischoff, a student at Wildwood Catholic High School, was first in the vocal competton. They each too home a $1,000 prize.

Each contestant presented a selection for the judges to evaluate. Featured this year were students playing trumpet, tuba, violin, saxophone, bassoon, piano and flute. There were also 14 singers.There were three judges: Bill Scheible (Conductor of the Pops), Inna Nederezov (Principal 2nd Violin of the Pops) and Angel Loffredo (Retired Choral Director at Mainland HS).

The emcee for the event was local barrister and President of the Friends of the Ocean City Pops, Jon Batastini. The Friends of the Ocean City Pops presented the event. Listed below are the winners of this year’s contest.

Instrumental Winners
1st Place: Derek Yu, Piano Egg Harbor Twp HS $1,000
2nd Place: Luis Ozoria, Trumpet Absegami HS $500
3rd Place: Aidan Seals, Sax. Mainland HS $250
4th Place: Matthew Torrence Ocean City HS $150

Vocal Winners
1st Place: Maecy Bischoff Wildwood Catholic HS $1000
2nd Place: Fred Spiewak Wildwood Catholic HS $500
3rd Place: Grace Mozitis Mainland Regional HS $250
4th Place: Anika Buchanan Middle Twp HS $150

The attached images were provided by Ocean City officials:

Photo #1: Back row, left to right, instrumental winners Hans-Derek Yu, Luis Ozoria, and Aidan Seals. Front row, left to right, Maecy Bischoff, Fred Spiewak, Grace Mozitis and Anika Buchanan. Matthew Torrence is not pictured.

Photo #2: Hans-Derek Yu of Egg Harbor Township High School performs “Tarantella” from Venezia e Napoli by Franz Liszt.