Sage Canyon student wins sonata contest for second year running

By Max Sutton-Smolin

Michael Chen

A third-grader at Sage Canyon Elementary School has won the Music Teachers’ Association of California’s Sonata Contest for the second year in a row.
There were 22 contestants in Michael Chen’s group, which was assigned Beethoven’s “Sonatina in F” in the Dec. 12 competition at SDSU.
Forced to advance after winning, Michael, who is almost 9, played in level four last year and level five this year, with each level increasing in difficulty and assigned a different piece to play. Michael is advanced for his age—his group contained contestants ranging from several grades above him through high school, and last year’s situation was similar, his mother Sue Chen said.
Michael had two sonata choices for level five, so he chose this piece in part because of its interesting chord progressions, he said.
Michael has been playing for three-and-a -half years and likes “playing piano because it’s fun just hitting the notes and enjoying the musicality,” he said.
In the first round of the Sonata contest, the contestant plays privately for one judge, while in the quite formal second round, the contestant plays for an entire audience and three judges in the orchestra pit, Chen said.
Michael’s first teacher noticed him watching and showing interest in his older sister playing the piano, and sat him down to teach him some simple songs, Chen said.
“So he started taking lessons from this teacher and he just excelled so fast,” Chen said.
Michael’s current teacher, who he has been with for the past year and a half, is Inessa Litvin, “one of the best teachers in San Diego,” Chen said, a “very disciplined” instructor who has “helped Michael excel really fast.”
The MTAC also has a music theory Certificate of Merit program that Michael intends to undertake at some point, Chen said.
“He loves the theory. It’s not just the music; it has a lot of logic and math in it, which he loves,” Chen said.
Michael’s future plans may include starting to play the violin, he said.