Welcome to the current and official 2026-2027 SDNC CAPMT website!

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CAPMT SAN DIEGO DISTRICT 1 NORTH CHAPTER

 

 

WELCOME!

We are the San Diego North Chapter of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT), the only state music teachers association in California affiliated with a national organization. The Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) was founded in 1876 and is the oldest professional music teachers' organization in the United States. Our membership includes independent music teachers, college faculty members, students, and concert artists of every instrument and voice.

 

 MEET OUR 2026-2028 LEADERSHIP TEAM!

FIND A TEACHER NOW AVAILABLE HERE!

Important information about qualifying for the Spotlight Concert here!

Read the archive of Newsletters from 2024- Spring 2026 here!

 

WINTER NEWSLETTER 2026

 

Dear Members of San Diego North Chapter (CAPMT),

Welcome to our chapter newsletter of the fall months of 2026. We have had many fine events since our last newsletter, including our Fall Festival and our Piano and Ensemble festival. We have planned a masterclass for December 19th, and our Winter Festival will be at Steinway Gallery on the afternoon of January 16. There are many other updates to look at below, particularly if you are interested in entering your students in the Honors/Contemporary/Concerto competitions through CAPMT.  I always welcome your feedback as members to help us improve our operations, and can be reached anytime at this email address (sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com). If you know someone who would like to join or rejoin our chapter, please let me know so I can reach out to them.

Sean Bennett

 

 

 

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

 

We offer a warm welcome to our new chapter members and hope to see them at our events and festivals soon!

 

Emma Rae Freed

Frank Meely

Melissa Beth Tierra

Jeffrey Mosier

 

CHAPTER NEWS: 

 

FALL FESTIVAL RECAP

Our Fall Festival, originally planned for October 23, 2026, was rescheduled to November 6, 2026 at Greene Music after a double-booking miscommunication. 34 students from 6 studios participated and the event was chaired by Tavner Delcamp and there were many fine performances. Two recitals were held and a total of 75 audience members were present throughout the event. Our adjudicator Jihun Cho provided valuable feedback and scoring to all students. We thank Greene Music for working with us to get us an alternative date quickly. Please enjoy some pictures from the event below.

 

 

PIANO AND ENSEMBLE FESTIVAL RECAP

On Saturday November 7, 2026, the Annual Piano and Ensemble Festival (In-Person Portion) was held at Escondido Library with 12 participants from 4 studios. The event was chaired by Young Robbins and we thank her for her organization and efforts in putting this event together for CAPMT!

It is worth noting that if you didn’t participate in the in-person event, there is still time to register for the virtual video event. Please see the details below:

 

Piano Festival: https://www.capmt.org/Piano-Festivals 


Ensemble Festival: https://www.capmt.org/Ensemble-Festivals/

· Virtual Registration & Video Submission Deadline: November 30, 2026

 

Please enjoy a picture of the participants from this year’s event:

 

 

MASTERCLASS UPCOMING

 

Following our successful masterclass on March 7, 2026, at Point Loma Library, we have booked another masterclass at the same venue for Saturday December 19, 2026, from 12 to 4 pm. The masterclass will again to be taught by Sean Bennett. We have room for 6 enthusiastic participants, each having the opportunity to work with Sean for 30-40 minutes in a constructive and positive environment. Several have expressed interest already. If you have a student interested in participating, please contact the chapter at sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com by *November 20* for more details, along with what they wish to play and how long the piece is.

For those who were unable to attend the last masterclass, it was videotaped and uploaded to a viewable dropbox link. We intend for these links to be shared only with teachers and their students (not publicly) and encourage you to share these with your students and watch when you have the time. They will not be posted on the website or YouTube unless permission is later received in writing from the participants.

 

 

 

CAPMT HONORS AND CONTEMPORARY AND CONCERTO COMPETITIONS REGISTRATION INFO

 

Each year, CAPMT at the State Level offers competitions for performance in Honors, Contemporary, and Concerto. We share this responsibility with the South Chapter, last year it was our turn to host the event, and this year it will be hosted by the South Chapter. To apply, please go directly to capmt.org for more details. Here is more information about the competitions below for your reference:

 

 

Please note that Clairemont Graduate University is in the city of Claremont, California, and not the *Clairemont* neighborhood of San Diego. Their address is 150 E 10th St, Claremont, CA 91711. This is in the Los Angeles area.

 

 

WINTER FESTIVAL UPCOMING

 

The Winter Festival, often our largest Festival of the year, will be held at Steinway Gallery in Mira Mesa on Saturday January 16, 2027 from 12pm to 6pm. Registration is now open and the deadline to register will be Monday December 21, 2026. The event will be co-chaired by Sean Bennett and Victor Labenske, and inquiries may be directed to sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com

The registration form may be found here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1qcV5HysLHtB3vOHvAecHGhbfvjPuxXhrPgO_YsHcgsEvfA/viewform

 

 

  

ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

 

AWARD ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Huge congratulations to chapter President Sean Bennett’s long-time advisee 25-year old pianist Alexander Malofeev on winning both the 2026 Gramophone Classical Music Awards “Young Artist of the Year” and also the Opus Klassik “Young Talent of the Year” awards for his triumphant debut album on Sony called “Forgotten Melodies” – a two disc exploration of Russian Exiled Composers, available everywhere in CD stores and on all streaming platforms.

 

 

Have an award that you or your students won and would like it to be announced in future newsletters? If so, please email the details to sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com.

 

 

 

COMPETITIONS:

 

https://www.goldenclassicalmusicawards.com/regulations

This is an opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall! Please find details above and the deadline is Tuesday December 22, 2026 fo video submission.

 

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SYMPHONY TICKETS:

 

Periodically, the San Diego Symphony gives 2 free tickets for concerts to our chapter members. If you are interested in obtaining these wonderful concert tickets, please email Ana Grigorian for dates and availability at annagrigorianpiano@gmail.com.

 

It is worth noting that November 14, Daniil Trifonov will play Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto with the San Diego Symphony and while all the free tickets have been claimed from Anna for this event, it is sure to be spectacular and may still be worth attending! November 20 and 22, Inon Barnatan will also perform with the San Diego Symphony playing Liszt 1st piano concerto.

 

LARGE SHEET MUSIC COLLECTION OF ALFRED AND OTHER METHOD BOOKS

 

Betty Lea Martecchio was a long-time advisor and member of CAPMT in San Diego, and passed away earlier in the year. She was chair of the Independent Music Teachers Forum for CAPMT. In addition she was an advisor and editor for Alfred Publishing. Her son gave chapter President Sean Bennett a collection of nearly 1500 volumes of method books, which most of which are suited for beginner and intermediate pianists. As Sean goes through the collection, many books will be made available freely to teachers within the Chapter for use with their students. Please contact Sean directly if you are interested in having some of these books as he goes through the lengthy process of sorting the large collection. Sean has even found compositions by Chapter Recording Secretary Victor Labenske in the collection so far!



NON-MEMBERS

 

If you received this email and you are not a current member of our chapter, it most likely means you are a former member and we wish to keep you informed about our slate of events. We'd love to have you back. Reach out to sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com for details on how to rejoin or your suggestions and comments for how we can improve as a chapter!

 

THANK YOU AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SOON AT AN EVENT!

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

President:  Sean Bennett

Vice President: Lee Galloway

Treasurer:  Dr. Tavner Delcamp

Recording Secretary: Victor Labenske

Membership Secretary: Alice Lin

Director: Jihun Cho

 

 

Prepared by Sean Bennett

 

 

SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2026

 

Dear Members of San Diego North Chapter (CAPMT),

Welcome to our chapter newsletter of the summer months of 2026. We have had many fine events since our last newsletter, including our Spring Festival, our Spotlight Awards Ceremony, and the Senior Scholarship Competition and Awards (given to 3 fine seniors in high school!). We also had our elections for the new Officers of the Executive Board of Directors, details below, and I am grateful you instilled the trust and confidence in me to be your President from 2026-2028. We will meet soon to plan the next calendar year, in which I hope to expand the masterclass offerings and number of teachers and students who participate in our musical events. I always welcome your feedback as members to help us improve our operations, and can be reached anytime at this email address (sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com). If you know someone who would like to join or rejoin our chapter, please let me know so I can reach out to them.

Sean Bennett

 

 

CHAPTER NEWS: 

OFFICERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION RESULTS:

The biannual elections for the Officers of the Executive Board of Directors were held during May after a period of review by teacher-members of the eligible candidates. The elections are for a two-year term for President, Vice President, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, and Recording Secretary. After the Executive Board convenes later in the summer, further board appointments are made. The election results were audited by Debbie Lagomarsino, Chapter President of CCMTA and former District Chair. On June 1, she announced that the newly elected Officers of the Executive Board effective July 1, 2026 were as follows: 

President:  Sean Bennett

Vice President:  Lee Galloway

Treasurer:  Tavner Delcamp

Recording Secretary:  Victor Labenske

Membership Secretary:  Alice Lin

 

Congratulations to all of those elected. We look forward to serving the chapter in the coming years and we thank our previous board of Sean Bennett, Lee Galloway, Tavner Delcamp and James Gary for their contributions and service!

 

MASTERCLASS RECAP

I’d like to highlight this event one more time since it is one of our chapter goals to expand the reach of teaching and performing opportunities for our students via masterclasses. On March 7, 2026, at Point Loma Library, we held our first chapter Masterclass in quite some time. We had enthusiastic participation by 6 students and teachers and Sean Bennett taught the two-part class from 10-12pm and 12-2pm. Many interesting concepts in piano technique, interpretation and history of composers were discussed. We accepted donations and appreciate those who donated. If you’d like to donate after viewing the videos, you may do so on zelle at sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com. All donations benefit the chapter funds directly. Remember that all donations are tax deductible due to our status as a non-profit organization. Thank you to those who participated! We hope to have more masterclasses in the future.

For those who were unable to attend the masterclass, it was videotaped and uploaded to a viewable dropbox link. We intend for these links to be shared only with teachers and their students (not publicly) and encourage you to share these with your students and watch when you have the time. They will not be posted on the website or YouTube unless permission is later received in writing from the participants.

10am-12pm, studio of Young Robbins

12-2pm studio of Azusa Komiyama and Miho Gary

 

Part 1 video (10am-12pm):

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/68lmp0y6u7vtfjw6qk8sm/seanbennettmasterclasspart1.mp4?rlkey=6kn92ejt4evzob71dklpwjx58&st=j50431lo&dl=0

Part 2 video (12pm-2pm):

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pzrfaz09ruof60rdgskdo/seanbennettmasterclasspart2.mp4?rlkey=1vcb3yzsmr6hig0jscrpffvnl&st=6tbp7xcl&dl=0

 

SPRING FESTIVAL

The Spring Festival occurred May 9, 2026 at the Mt. Soledad Presbyterian Church in La Jolla from 1pm-5pm. 22 students participated in the event and the event was chaired by Tavner Delcamp. The adjudicator was Lee Galloway. 5 studios participated: the teachers were Eunice Ahn, James Gary, Miho Gary, Katie Grab, and Anna Stal. Many fine performances were heard and several students qualified as a result for the Spotlight Awards Ceremony. There were two recitals. Here attached are a few pictures from the event:

 

 

 

SPOTLIGHT AWARDS CEREMONY AND SENIOR SCHOLARSHIPS: 

SENIOR SCHOLARSHIPS AND SPOTLIGHT CONCERT

The Spotlight Award Ceremony and Concert, as well as the awarding of the Senior Scholarships and their performances, were held on June 13, 2026, 1pm-5pm at Mt. Soledad Presbyterian Church in La Jolla. 

In the Spotlight Awards Ceremony and Concert, which was chaired by the entire existing SDNC CAPMT board, we had 22 students perform and 6 who were nominated but not available to perform the date of the event and accepted through a rigorous process where each achieved a high performance score in 2 or more qualifying events. All received certificates of participation and merit. They represented the studios of Eunice Ahn, James Gary, Miho Gary, Anna Grigorian, Gyuli Kambarova, Asuza Komiyama, Yukiko Mitchell, Young Robbins, Anna Stal and Angela Wu. For the first time in some time, in addition to many fine pianists, we had Jacob Wu, composer, perform a 3-movement symphonic work he composed. We wish to encourage more instruments and styles of music to participate in our future festivals!

After the students performed for the Spotlight Concert, we announced our three winners of the Senior Scholarship, who each received a $400 scholarship funded by the chapter for use towards musical aims. Hudson Jin, Minami Humer, and Melody Chen each were awarded this award and Minami and Melody performed, and Hudson was excused due to a family emergency. Their teachers are Yukiko Mitchell (Hudson and Minami) and Angela Wu (Melody). Congratulations to all three students and their teachers on this coveted annual tradition, which required nomination, essays, performance videos, letters of recommendation, and lists of accomplishments. 

After the conclusion of the event, Young Robbins provided the food and drink for the reception, which was spectacular (see pictures!). We wish to thank Young for her wonderful preparation and contributions to the chapter, she has been invaluable to helping us keep the events running and stylishly so. 

Please enjoy some of the many pictures from this fine event, the culminating event of our 2025-2026 season for the chapter:

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS



FALL FESTIVAL, SAVE THE DATE!

We will have our Fall Festival on Friday October 23, 2026, from 5pm to 9pm at Greene Music. We will provide a registration link in September and further details at that time. 



A MESSAGE FROM YOUNG ROBBINS REGARDING THE 2026–2027 CAPMT PIANO AND ENSEMBLE FESTIVALS youngrobbinsmusic@gmail.com

Dear San Diego North Chapter Teachers,

I hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Dr. Evelyn, our State Vice President, has updated the CAPMT 2026–2027 Piano and Ensemble Festival webpages. Please visit the links below for complete guidelines and registration information.

This is a great time to begin preparing your students. Participants will perform two solo repertoire selections plus one duet or teacher's choice.

Piano Festival: https://www.capmt.org/Piano-Festivals 


Ensemble Festival: https://www.capmt.org/Ensemble-Festivals/

This year's festival offers two participation options:

1.                  In-Person

2.                  Virtual

Registration Deadlines

I will be serving as the Chair for the San Diego North Chapter In-Person Festival. As this is a CAPMT State Program, all applications will be submitted directly through the state website. The state office will notify me of the participating students for our chapter's in-person festival. Do not miss the deadline.

San Diego North Chapter In-Person Festival

I hope we have an excellent turnout this year! I look forward to seeing many of your students participate.

Continue to enjoy the rest of your summer!

Warm regards,

Young Robbins 
Chair, San Diego North Chapter Piano & Ensemble Festival

 

AWARD ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations to composer and concert pianist Anna Grigorian, long time teacher member of our chapter, who recently won first prize at the Music Teachers Association of California’s 2026 Composers Today contest.

Her original winning piece, called “Folkloresque,” is inspired by Komitas’s “Gakavig.” Details may be found and an article at the following link: 

https://asbarez.com/from-folk-melody-to-award-winning-composition-composer-anna-grigorian-wins-state-prize/

 

Congratulations to Chapter President Sean Bennett who advises and teaches Maryland-based Matthew Chang, 17. Chang was recently named one of 5 finalists in the Senior Division of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and was one of two Americans in the final. Almost 300 young pianists from 20 countries entered the competition. Chang will attend Harvard and New England Conservatory’s Joint Degree program in the fall, and performed with the Utah Symphony in the final. Bennett has also recently begun advising Wilson Liu, 12, of New York, who was named a finalist in the Junior Division, and was the only American to make the final for the Juniors. 

 

Have an award that you or your students won and would like it to be announced in future newsletters? If so, please email the details to sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com.

 

SYMPHONY TICKETS:

Periodically, the San Diego Symphony gives 2 free tickets for concerts to our chapter members. If you are interested in obtaining these wonderful concert tickets, please email Ana Grigorian for dates and availability at annagrigorianpiano@gmail.com.

 

THE ROYAL FOUNDATION OF MUSIC AND ARTS EVENTS 
August 13, 2026

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NON-MEMBERS

If you received this email and you are not a current member of our chapter, it most likely means you are a former member and we wish to keep you informed about our slate of events. We'd love to have you back. Reach out to sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com for details on how to rejoin or your suggestions and comments for how we can improve as a chapter!

 

THANK YOU AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SOON AT AN EVENT!

 

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The goals of SDNC are to support and advance professional music teaching within our chapter’s region
which is the northern part of San Diego and Imperial Counties of California.

To increase professionalism among music teachers through regular meetings,
educational presentations, and workshops.

To provide positive educational experiences for music students through
quality instruction, performance opportunities, and local, state, and national
programs.

To encourage respect for the work of teacher colleagues, as well as for the
work of students of all ages, cultures, and musical disciplines.

CAPMT is an all-volunteer registered 501(c)(3)charitable organization

 

JOIN CAPMT HERE!

 

Our chapter is affiliated with the state California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT) and the Music Teachers' National Association (MTNA) that includes the northern, coastal areas of San Diego County. However, much of our current membership reside in areas as far south as Chula Vista, as far north as Los Angeles as far east as Poway/Escondido. We welcome potential members who teach all instruments: piano, winds, strings, brass, percussion, and voice. We also would like to welcome young professionals who are either starting out or are actively building their teaching careers. 

 

 


 

Contact

sdnorthcapmt@gmail.com