Welcome to the current and official
2026-2027 SDNC CAPMT website!
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!
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
- Christian
Guimet — Prelude in C♯, Rachmaninoff
- Nathan
Jannuzzi — Sonata in E major, Scarlatti K. 380
- Rachael
Lee — Arabesque No. 1, Debussy
12-2pm studio of Azusa Komiyama and
Miho Gary
- Zachary
Aiden Fleck – Consolation in Db, Liszt
- Neal
Kong: Tarantella, Moszkowski
- Miho
Gary: Rosenblatt Etude #4.
Part 1 video (10am-12pm):
Part 2 video (12pm-2pm):
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
- In-Person
Registration: September 5 – October 5, 2026
- Virtual
Registration & Video Submission Deadline: November 30, 2026
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
- Date: Saturday,
November 7, 2026
- Location: TBA
(currently Robbins Music Studio)
- Format: Individual
scheduled auditions (students/ensembles will perform one at a time)
- Evaluator: TBA
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:
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
- Exclusive
Music Festival
The Colburn School
August 14–15, 2026
Featuring Colburn faculty and artists from the Los Angeles Philharmonic
- Scholarships
Awarded to selected winners
—————————————————————
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!
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
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