January 14 is the entry deadline for the second annual Ten Grands Young Artist Awards sponsored by 98.1 Classical KING FM. Official contest rules and entry form, plus the judging timelines, are online at www.king.org.

The competition, presented in collaboration with “Ten Grands” Seattle, RBC Wealth Management and The Snowman Foundation, is open to all non-professional acoustic, instrumental, and vocal musicians ages 6-18. Entries in the form of YouTube clips lasting no more than five (5) minutes will be accepted through the KING FM website at KING.org until Jan. 14.

“We’re excited to celebrate, nurture and encourage these talented young classical musicians, to give them the recognition, and the opportunity they so richly deserve,” said Bryan Lowe, program director at 98.1 Classical KING FM. “At KING FM, encouraging the appreciation of classical music is our mission, especially with new generations of listeners,” he commented, adding, “It’s been remarkable to see the response as their videos are shared on our website, throughout YouTube, and on the stage of Benaroya Hall.”

Twenty semi-finalists will be showcased for public voting online at www.king.org, with half of them advancing as finalists. These finalists will perform together at the “Ten Grands” concert on April 1, with the grand prize winner featured in a solo performance.

Entries will be judged in phases:
January 14, 2011, all entries are due
January 31, 2011, a judging panel will select 20 semi-finalists from all entries.
February 7, 2011, semi-finalist videos will be posted online for a public vote.
March 1, 2011, top ten winners will be announced.

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page two (Ten Grands Young Artists competition) Nov. 16, 2010

“We are excited by this partnership between KING FM and Ten Grands and the opportunities it provides for talented young musicians,” said Kathy Fahlman Dewalt, executive producer of “Ten Grands” Seattle and a longtime music educator. “Whether kids aspire to be professional musicians, or just want the fun experience of preparing an audition tape, the Young Artist Awards promises to be rewarding,” she suggested.

Last year’s competition drew 170 entries, with ten-year old Alexander Lu of Redmond, Wash., taking top honors. His entry can be viewed on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAS8gKQDnt4.

One semi-finalist, reflecting on this year’s inaugural competition and concert, wrote, “As a Young Artist, it was a wonderful experience to be able to work with such incredible musicians. This was a positive experience that I will remember all my life.”

The one-night only “Ten Grands” concerts in Seattle sold out in 2009 and 2010. Tickets for the next “Ten Grands” concert, scheduled for April 1, went on sale last month. They may be ordered from the Benaroya Hall Box Office online at www.benaroyahall.org or by phone, 206-215-4747.

About Ten Grands and The Snowman Foundation
“Ten Grands” Seattle (www.tengrands.com) is held annually to raise funds for The Snowman Foundation. The concert features ten grand pianos and ten talented musicians all on the dramatically lit stage at Benaroya Hall. The program includes classical, jazz, blues, boogie woogie and pop pieces, with musicians playing as soloists and in various combinations.

Proceeds benefit The Snowman Foundation (www.thesnowmanfoundation.org) a non-profit charitable organization that was established in Portland, Ore. in 1999 in response to budget cuts affecting K-12 and community-based music programs.

Foundation founder Michael Allen Harrison, a popular pianist, composer and artistic director, formed the organization as a way to “give the gift of music to children” and to share the “joy, the healing, the learning and life-changing gifts music has to offer.”

Fourteen Puget Sound-area groups received grants from proceeds from Seattle concert held earlier this year. “Ten Grands” concerts are also held in Portland, with proceeds distributed to groups in that region.

Because he’s just 10 years old, Alexander Lu’s legs are too short to reach the piano pedals, and his hands are too small to play the chords in many classical music pieces. But he does have a secret weapon: his eyebrows.

When he plays, Alex gets so wrapped up in the music that his whole body moves expressively with the piece, weaving and swaying. His eyebrows shoot up and down as he draws out a tender chord or punctuates a dramatic moment.

The Redmond fourth-grader’s interpretation was so expressive, and his playing so accomplished for someone so young, that he wowed the judges of a KING-FM young artists competition open to students in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. His playing shone among 169 other top students in the area — most of the others in high school.

The judges were “unanimous — he was the one,” said Kathy Fahlman Dewalt, executive producer of the KING-FM “Ten Grands Young Artists” awards competition. “He has an unbelievable talent.”

“We were very impressed by his musicality,” said Bryan Lowe, the program director for Classical KING-FM. Among the judges, “his name was on everybody’s list.”

“It’s like DNA in some people, music is,” said R&B singer Bernadette Bascom, who has heard Alex play. “He’s not just taught, he has music in his spirit.”

That prodigious skill hides behind the most unassuming of students. Alex, who goes to the private Bellevue Children’s Academy, has a cherubic face and is completely charming.

But when he sits down at the piano, he can be happy or sad, playful or mournful as the mood requires. And fast, fast, fast, with fingers that fly up and down the keyboard.

“He seems to have an imagination about the music that I really love,” said his teacher, Peter Mack, a professor of piano performance at Cornish College of the Arts. “He will do things that will make the music come alive for the members of an audience. That’s a real gift.”

Added Mack: “I always say he’s the student with the best eyebrows.”

For his winning performance in the “Ten Grands” competition, Alex played “The Cat and the Mouse” by Aaron Copland. It’s an advanced piece, with complex patterns and a disjointed style that makes full use of the keyboard, from the tiny tinkling notes at the top to deep notes at the low end of the piano, and it as impressive to watch Alex’s fingers race up and down the keys as it is to hear him.

Alex draws on an elaborate back story he’s created to help him interpret the music.

“It’s when the mouse comes out of its hole and then the cat starts chasing him, and then after a while the mouse races to the hole,” Alex explains. “At 3 o’clock in the morning, the mouse comes out again, and when he notices the cat is gone, he starts dancing. And then the cat suddenly comes out of nowhere, and the mouse had to play dead in order to escape.”

Neither of his parents play the piano, but Alex was introduced to the instrument when his maternal grandmother, Ting Yuan Zhou, came from China to look after him and his brother, Chris, when they were little. His grandmother asked his parents, Mei and Haiyuan Lu, to buy a piano so she could play for them from time to time.

Mei Lu said her mother took lessons as a child, but never studied formally — “Mom only plays for fun.” She thought the piano would keep her entertained and help soothe the boys when they were infants.

Chris, who is four years older, started taking lessons first, when he was 5 years old. Earlier this year, he was one of seven national finalists in the junior division of the Music Teachers National Association, after first winning the Washington state competition. It is the top musical competition for young pianists in the country, Mack said.

When Alex began playing at 5 ½, it took him only three months to master the same music it took his brother two years to learn. His parents quickly realized they needed a more advanced teacher to handle both their sons’ talents.

When he turned 8, Alex became the youngest winner of the Northwest Chopin Festival. At 9, he won several awards in the Seattle International Piano Competition, including the gold medal, best performance of Chopin Étude and the audience award.

It’s very unusual to have two prodigies in the same family, said Mack, who only teaches about 20 students in grades K-12 in addition to teaching at the college level, and is known as one of the top piano teachers in the area.

Mack describes Alex’s playing as “more out there — he’s not as refined” as his brother. “He’s more communicative, but not as beautifully polished.”

Mack encourages his students to enter competitions, and when Alex turns 11, the number of competitions he can enter will grow. But Mack said the number of people who make a career of playing the piano is so small that he encourages parents and students to instead think of piano lessons as a great training ground for the mind — one that will help them with whatever career they eventually choose.

Both boys practice for up to two hours a day, and often more on weekends. Their parents “come to the lessons, and they pay attention,” Mack said. “They are really smart musical people … they know what is the difference between good, very good and excellent.”

At the age of 10, Alex cannot yet reach notes an octave apart with his right hand. After the year 1750, composers wrote a lot of music that contained octaves, “so if you cannot reach with comfort, it’s a big handicap,” Mack said.

And his parents are hoping that his legs will be long enough by summer to reach the pedals without a pedal-extension device. When he plays, Alex takes his shoes off to control the pedal-extension box, which fits over the pedals and helps young players reach.

On May 21, Alex and the other nine finalists will perform at Benaroya Hall in a special Ten Grands event. They’ll perform a special arrangement of “Awakening,” composed by Michael Allen Harrison, the founder of Ten Grands and the Snowman Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money to promote the musical arts for K-12 students in Washington state.

Knowing he’ll have to play in his stocking feet, his mom is plotting his outfit down to his socks. “Black ones,” she said, laughing.

Alex says he likes playing the piano as a hobby, but aims to become an architect or an astronomer one day.

He gets nervous about playing in front of groups of people, but he is learning to conquer the jitters.

“Once I get to the piano my nervousness goes away, and I start listening to my music,” Alex said. “And when I’m finished, I’m usually very happy.”

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com

503-412-9339

mah@teleport.com

The competition, presented in collaboration with Ten Grands Seattle and The Snowman Foundation, is open to musicians between the ages of 6 and 18. Non-professional acoustic instrumentalists, vocalists, or ensembles of up to six people are eligible to submit the entry (consisting of an audition recording and entry form) until Jan. 31, 2010.  Acceptable submissions are YouTube clips lasting no more than five (5) minutes.

“Ten Grands is a sensational evening for music lovers and people who share a passion for making music accessible to children. We created this program to honor young, up and coming artists, as an outlet to celebrate their talent and hard work,” said Bryan Lowe, Program Director at 98.1 Classical KING FM.

Twenty semi-finalists will be showcased for public voting online from Feb. 8 until March 1, 2010 at www.king.org, with half of them advancing as finalists. These finalists will perform together at the May 21 Ten Grands event, with the grand prize winner featured in a solo performance.

Entries will be judged in phases:
1. All entries are due by January 31st.
2. On or about Feb. 1, 2010, a judging panel will select 20 semi-finalists from all entries.
3. On or about Feb. 8 until March 1, 2010, these semi-finalist videos will be posted online for a public vote.  One vote per household per week is allowed.
4. On or about March 15, 2010, KING FM will announce the top 10 finalists and the grand prize winner.

Along with the opportunity to perform at Benaroya Hall, contest winners will receive various prizes from KING FM, ranging from tickets to the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera to exclusive back stage meetings with major artists and CDs from KING FM and ArkivMusic.  The top ten finalist videos will also be featured on the front page of the KING FM website. Official contest rules and entry form are online at www.king.org.

“We are excited by this partnership between KING FM and Ten Grands and the opportunities it provides for talented young musicians,” said Kathy Fahlman Dewalt, executive producer of Ten Grands Seattle and a longtime music educator.  “Whether kids aspire to be professional musicians, or just want the fun experience of preparing an audition tape, the Young Artist Awards promises to be a memorable and rewarding experience,” she suggested.

About 98.1 Classical KING FM
KING FM, broadcasting on the radio at 98.1, and online with five channels at KING.org, is a commercial radio station, making substantial annual contributions to the arts in the Puget Sound region, thanks to an unparalleled ownership arrangement created by the Bullitt family. Legendary broadcaster Dorothy Bullitt created KING FM in 1947 specifically to bring classical music to the Northwest. The ownership of King Broadcasting Company passed to her daughters, Priscilla Collins and Harriet Bullitt upon her death in 1989.  In 1992, they put KING FM under the control of a newly created company, Classic Radio, Inc., which is the present licensee of KING FM. In turn, they donated their shares in that for-profit company to Beethoven, a nonprofit corporation. These channels will add to the mission of Beethoven, a non profit corporation: supporting the arts community while providing financial support through a dividend.

About Ten Grands and The Snowman Foundation
Ten Grands Seattle (www.tengrands.com) is a one-night only concert held annually to raise funds for The Snowman Foundation.  The concert features ten grand pianos and ten talented musicians all on the dramatically lit stage at Benaroya Hall, plus some selected guest artists. Musicians play a variety of classical and contemporary pieces in various combinations, from soloist to simultaneous.
Proceeds benefit The Snowman Foundation (www.thesnowmanfoundation.org), a non-profit charitable organization that was established in Portland, Ore. in 1999 in response to budget cuts affecting K-12 and community-based music programs.  Ten Grands concerts are scheduled in Portland on April 2 and April 3, 2010 and in Seattle on May 21, 2010.
Foundation founder Michael Allen Harrison, a popular pianist, composer and artistic director, formed the organization as a way to “give the gift of music to children” and to share the “joy, the healing, the learning and the life-changing gifts music has to offer.
Twelve Puget Sound-area groups received grants from funds raised at the sellout “Ten Grands” concert held April 3, 2009 at Benaroya Hall.
Tickets for the May 21 Ten Grands concert in Seattle presented by RBC Wealth Management go on sale Dec. 1 at www.benaroyahall.org and by phone, (206) 215-4747 (Benaroya Hall Box Office).