Vera Kong Piano Studio

I am proud of all of my eleven students who participated in the MTAC 2023 Winter Festival today. Everyone learned their repertoire very deeply and enjoyed the process. Whether a student is selected to play at the showcase or not, these local piano events offer a significant learning experience and help students to practice better with more focus. I am so grateful for all the MTAC teachers who make this learning experience possible throughout the year in Santa Barbara.

Showcase: Landon Hellman, Miranda Li, Elisha Wu, Max Zee
Alternate: Annabelle Zhang, Lauren Lee, Angela Zhang
Honorable Mention: Miles Yan, Bryan Chen, Kelly Chen and Dylan Liu

Miranda Mozart Fantasia K 397

On March 13, 2022, we had our first studio recital at Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West. We had forty one participants; eighteen students in Part I and twenty three students in Part II. One of my students’ mother, Elisa, customized everyone’s mask matching their dress. The recital was recorded by the Music Academy of the West using their new one-camera video with high quality audio and was photographed by my friend and artist, Zoe Nathan. Looking forward to our next upcoming studio recital on October 8, 2022 at Lehmann Hall at the Music Academy of the West.

Part I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CtcJuvaF5I&t=889s
Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDpNKfHvEdM&t=279s

I will remain forever grateful for his teaching. It was one of the truly privileged experiences I've had in my life.

Focus on Faculty: Charles Asche After 60 years studying piano, UC Santa Barbara senior lecturer Charles Asche received the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2020 by the California Association ...

One of my high school students, Landon Hellman, was a featured soloist for Haydn Piano Concerto in D Major, Hob. XVIII/11, mvt 1 with the LA Youth Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble on December 21, 2021 at Thayer Hall at the Colburn School of Music. Here is the video of his performance. I hope you enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayE6BOYFhuk&list=RDMMayE6BOYFhuk&start_radio=1

My students and I are grateful that all the piano competitions were able to still continue, through online applications and social-distanced auditions. One of my students has told me that having these goals to work towards, and competitions to prepare for was a great motivation for her, and kept her spirits high throughout the years of COVID-19. Here is a video recording of my younger students, Miranda Li. She received the Branch Honors Award and the Regional Honors Award from 2021 Southern California Junior Bach Festival and was also accepted as a pianist in the Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic for the 2021 Summer Concert.

Bach Invention No. 14 in B flat major BWV 785 by Miranda Li Miranda Li received the Branch Honors Award and the Regional Honors Award from 2021 Southern California Junior Bach Festival. Miranda is a student of Vera Ko...

Six of my students participated in this year's Bach Festival on April 10. All six of them were in the group of twenty two students chosen to advance to the regional competition. Only eleven of the students were chosen to proceed to the Complete Works Audition (state level) and all of my six students made it! We were in near disbelief at this amazing result. We are so excited and of course I enjoyed this precious moment with a great sense of purpose and satisfaction.

It is unfortunate that a lot of hard working young pianists did not get a chance to perform programs that they had prepared for all year at various competitions, festivals and scholarship opportunities this year due to COVID-19. During this time however, Grace was able to submit one of the recordings she had made in March of this year during my studio recital to the Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic. She was awarded the opportunity to play the piano part in the LA Youth Philharmonic for the 2020 Summer Concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concert isn’t confirmed yet, but we are grateful to receive an acknowledgement of Grace’s hard work and accomplishment regardless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzaPCGgbzvo

During this challenging time for everyone, I am grateful to be able to connect with my students by means of virtual reality techniques and continue to make progress in their piano study and human connections. Thankfully, after our recent recital on March 8, everyone is selecting a new repertoire and engaged in foundational work such as learning notes and rhythm. Most of the foundational work can be done online. Because my students are highly intelligent, committed to their piano study, and have been working with me for a while, at the moment, they do not require me to demonstrate each phrase in person. I remind them of a certain technique and they implement it using their intellect and previous experience. Of course, online lessons are never the same as in-person lessons, but all of my students and their families are aware that this is not forever. Everyone is willing to adapt to changes, and I am so grateful to be working with such strong individuals.

I am actually enjoying my social distancing and self-quarantine time. I have been doing that since I was a child, and so this isn’t much different from how I normally conduct my daily life. I feel as though pianists have been practicing for this moment their entire lives. My daily schedule consists of morning and afternoon meditation, a hike, studying, catching up with the news, and teaching. I never binge on a TV series, and I feel this is really the wrong time to do that. Right now is the time to reinvent oneself.

Today was a big day for Landon. He presented Bach Invention & Sinfonia in F Major at Southern California Junior Bach Festival at the State level and won second place. His formal piano training has been only for one and a half years and I am impressed by his achievements and all the professional support and recognition he has been receiving this year. We are so grateful for Dr. Charles Asche and Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov who helped fine-tune Landon's performance last weekend without honorarium, but with much care for this profession and education.

Landon was accepted as a performer in the LA Youth Phil for the 2019 Music Festival LA Summer Concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall and he had a great time this weekend!