Pacific Musical Society & Foundation

04/17/2022

It is our great pleasure to announce the winners of our 2022 annual competition, and to present their performances for you to enjoy in our online Winners Showcase! http://pacificmusical.com/2022-showcase

This year, nearly 100 talented young musicians submitted video performances for review by our esteemed judging panel: Dmitri Berlinsky, Jennifer Koh, Petras Geniušas, Orion Weiss, Sheri Greenawald, and Mason Bates. The judges chose winners across 9 categories including instrumental, piano, vocal, and composition, and provided individualized feedback to every applicant.

The winning students receive scholarship awards and their performances and compositions are featured in our online Winners Showcase, where you can also learn more about our scholarship recipients. Please enjoy and reshare these stunning performances with your friends and colleagues, and join us in congratulating our talented winners!

03/22/2021

It is our great pleasure to announce the winners of our 2021 annual competition, and to present their performances for you to enjoy in our online Virtual Showcase! http://pacificmusical.com/2021-showcase

Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year we held a modified, virtual version of our competition, replacing the usual two-round structure with one round of video-based judging. Nearly 100 talented young musicians submitted video performances for review by our esteemed judging panel: Dmitri Berlinsky, Jennifer Koh, Orli Shaham, Orion Weiss, Cesar Ulloa, and Arkadi Serper.

After careful review, our judges selected 23 students as scholarship winners across 9 categories (including the composition category). The winners' performances are now available for all to view from the comfort of home in our 2021 Virtual Winners Showcase, where you can also learn more about our scholarship recipients. Please enjoy and reshare these stunning performances with your friends and colleagues, and join us in congratulating our talented winners!

2021 Winners Showcase Now Online!We’re thrilled to unveil the 2021 Winners Showcase, featuring performances from the talented young winners of our modified 2021 competition! Please enjoy and share these stunning performances by our talented winners! Watch now! The Pacific Musical Society & Foundat...

03/07/2020

Dear friends of PMSF, we were just informed this evening that due to COVID-19 the San Francisco Office of the Mayor has directed the Herbst Theatre to cancel all events through March 20, including our planned Competition Live Finals. During the next few days we will be evaluating our options for how to proceed; for now, the only certainty is that the Finals will not be held this Sunday.

Our apologies for the short notice; we will provide updates as soon as we have them. For those of you who have purchased tickets, we expect that City Box Office will be contacting you directly regarding refunds.

02/19/2020

We are excited to announce the upcoming Live Finals and Winner Showcase for our 2020 Annual Competition!

Please join us at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco on Sunday, March 8th to watch 22 of the Bay Area’s best young musicians compete live in front of our distinguished jury for the honor of winning the Bay Area’s longest-standing classical music competition. With finalists ranging in age from 8 to 17, across strings, piano, and vocal categories, you’ll be sure to be impressed by the talent packed into these young performers!

This year, for the first time we have combined the Finals and Winners Showcase into a unified event in the main hall at Herbst Theatre, giving our talented finalists the magnificent venue they deserve to showcase their musical talents. We’ve updated the format so the finalists will perform complete works. And we have an impressive panel of judges, including Ruth Slenczynska, Arkady Serper, Sheri Greenawald, César Ulloa, Zakarias Grafilo, and Jassen Todorov.

Get your tickets now at the City Box Office online at http://www.cityboxoffice.com/PMSF, by phone at (415) 392-4400, or in person at the Herbst Theatre Box Office. General Admission tickets for the full day are $45 and Student/Senior tickets are $25. Strings will compete from 10am to 1pm; pianists from 2pm to 5pm, and vocalists from 5:15pm to 7pm.

For more information about the competition or Pacific Musical Society & Foundation, see our website at http://pacificmusical.com

Looking forward to seeing you on March 8th!

02/10/2020

We are delighted to announce the Finalists in the 2020 Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Annual Competition! Please see our website for the posted lists of Finalists, at http://pacificmusical.com/competition/2020-finalists.

Make plans now to see these talented young musicians perform at the Live Finals and Winners Showcase, which will be held on March 8, 2020 in the Main Hall at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco from 10am to 7pm.

Tickets are available for purchase online from City Box Office (https://www.cityboxoffice.com/ordertickets.asp?p=11571) or in person at the Herbst Theatre box office. The Instrumental Finals will run from 10am - 1pm, the Piano Finals from 2pm - 5pm, and the Vocal finals from 5:15pm - 7pm.

All finalists will compete live at the Live Finals and Winner's Showcase on Sunday, March 8, 2020 in the Main Hall at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, from 10am to 7pm.​Please read this page carefully and in its entirety for instructions, frequently asked questions, and a detailed schedule for...

10/13/2019

We are pleased to announce that our 2020 Annual Competition is open for submissions! There are several key changes this year, including a new non-binding pre-registration requirement, and updates to the structure of the live events to provide a more visible showcase for competition finalists. Please visit our website at http://pacificmusical.com/competition for full details.

Pre-registration must be completed by 11:59pm on December 1, 2019. Final applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on January 12, 2020.

The combined Live Finals and Winners Showcase will be held on March 8, 2020 in the Main Hall at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, from 9am to 8pm.

Please share this invitation to help us reach talented young classical musicians throughout the Bay Area!
http://www.pacificmusical.com/competition/

05/17/2019

Big day today! Our Winners Concert is happening in a matter of hours! Tickets will still be sold at the door but advance purchase is welcome too at: bit.ly/2019pmsfconcert.

We would like to thank our esteemed music competition judges--Janet Campbell, Stuart Canin, Leon Livshin, Donna Petersen, Dolores San-Miguel Wagner, Arkadi Serper, and Jessen Todorov--for joining our panel again this year and taking on the difficult job of selecting our prize winners among Bay Area’s finest young classical musicians! We can’t wait to hear our judges’ picks! Hope to see you there tonight!

05/16/2019

We are now counting down the hours to our signature event tomorrow! If you still haven’t purchased your tickets, get them before it’s too late: bit.ly/2019pmsfconcert. You don’t want to miss our 8 First Place Winners’ performances that will be sure to impress and inspire!

First Place Winners pictured from left to right, top to bottom:
Xinran Shi
Lea Nayak
Jonathan Szeto
Julia Wang
Jun Yong Liu
Ethan Yuen
Hannah Lee
Fiona Faye Tsang

05/15/2019

To celebrate the introduction of chamber music groups in our competition this year, the piano trio of Sophia Shih, Irene Geng, and Allison Liu who is the first group to win a prize will kick off our Annual Concert this Friday (5/17).

This trio consists of three juniors from Irvington High School in Fremont. This is their first ensemble year but they have already made several debuts in local communities and school benefit concerts. They recently received third place in the ENKOR Competition in the chamber music category. They are currently coached by Alison Lee, DMA from University of Minnesota.

Sophia Shih has been studying violin for over ten years under Ming-Shui Yo. She has been serving as concertmaster in various orchestras—Golden State Youth Orchestra and Irvington High School Orchestra—to name a couple. She is also the first chair in Irvington High School Orchestra and has been selected to perform in California All-State Honor Orchestra several times.

Irene Geng discovered her interest in music when she was in kindergarten and has been studying piano under Rozina Tenenbaum. She placed third in the ENKOR competition last year. She also received the Panel Honors Award from MTAC (Music Teachers’ Association of California) Certificate of Merit last year.

Allison Liu started her music journey as a pianist and discovered her interest in cello when she was in fourth grade. She was under the guidance of cello prodigy Irene Sharp for more than five years and is now studying under Jihee Kim who was the faculty member of Northwestern University and teaching assistant of Hans Jorgen Jensen. Allison has been selected to perform in CODA (California Orchestra Directors Association) Orchestra and Mahler at Pacific.

Congratulations Sophia, Irene, and Allison! Please join us for this special occasion: bit.ly/2019pmsfconcert.

05/15/2019

More congratulations are in order—today to the Third Place Winners of our 2019 Competition!

Pictured from left to right, top to bottom:
Ajay Mallya (Instrumental - Ages 14-17)
Jacob Reed (Instrumental - Ages 14-17)
Isabella Lopez (Vocal - Ages 16-18, Female)
Sophia Shih, Irene Geng, Allison Liu (Chamber - Ages 11-17)
Sarah Yuan (Piano - Ages 11-13)
Crystal Cheng (Piano - Ages 11-13)
Erica Liu (Instrumental - Ages 11-13)

Please join our celebration of these outstanding musicians at our Annual Winners Concert and Awards Ceremony this Friday (5/17) at San Francisco War Memorial’s Green Room! To purchase tickets, please visit bit.ly/2019pmsfconcert.

05/13/2019

Congratulations also to the Second Place Winners of our 2019 Competition!

From left to right, top to bottom:
Jacob Rockower (Piano - Ages 8-10)
Ashley Chen (Vocal - Ages 16-18, Female)
Simon Minami (Instrumental - Ages 14-17)
Jonathan Hou (Piano - Ages 14-17)
Alexander Chang (Instrumental - Ages 11-13)
Curtis Li (Piano - Ages 14-17)

We look forward to meeting you at our Winners Concert and Awards Ceremony this Friday (5/17) at San Francisco War Memorial!

Tickets are available here: bit.ly/2019pmsfconcert.