Hello, and welcome back to the second edition of Plumrose Notes! We’ve had quite a bit going on this month, so let’s get things started!

Summer 2025 Recital

The month started off with our Summer Recital! Thanks to everyone who came out—it’s such a joy being able to celebrate our students’ hard work and dedication, and to see what they’ve accomplished. Keep an eye out for our next recital, we’d love to see you there!

Plumrose Students Triumph at NCYT Summer Music Competition

We are proud to announce that several Plumrose students, under the guidance of our senior teacher Ichinkhorloo Batnasan, achieved remarkable results at the North California Young Talents (NCYT) Summer Music Competition held on May 3rd and 4th, 2025. Their exceptional performances were recognized with top honors:
• Ellery L. – Grand Prix Winner
• Aaryana H. – 1st Place Winner
• Rianna S. – 1st Place Winner
• Luna D. – 2nd Place Winner
• Miles N. – 2nd Place Winner

Congratulations to all! Your hard work and dedication continue to shine brightly, and we look forward to see what you continue to do.

LGBTQ+ Composers

Happy Pride, though Pride is certainly more than just the month! In celebration, we wanted to highlight some notable LGBTQ+ composers:

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): Britten wrote several fantastic and notable English operas, songs and choral works - many of which were written for his life partner, Sir Peter Pears! He started composing at only 9 years of age, and several of his operas tackle topics such as his belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, which at the time was illegal.

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944): Born in South-East London, during her school years Smyth had the honor of meeting composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Greig, and Clara Schumann. A very active member of the women’s suffrage movement, she made no secret of her relationships with women — a brave choice for the time! Her 1911 song The March of the Women became the official anthem worldwide for women’s suffrage activism.

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Barber, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, made no effort to hide being a part of the LGBTQ+ community! He met his life partner, Gina Carlo Menotti, while studying at the Curtis Institute, and his Adagio for Strings was one of the first works by an American composer to be championed by Arturo Toscanini.

These are only a few of the amazing LGBTQ+ composers out there - we’d be here all day if I tried to cover them all here! I highly recommend you take a listen to some of their works when you have a free moment, and perhaps you can even find some piano arrangements to play! By playing their music, we are keeping the memories of these composers live, by bringing life to their works.

Upcoming Events

We have a couple of exciting events for this month - we’ve kicked off our Young Composer Competition, and our very own Ichko Batnasan will be teaching a Piano Masterclass at the end of the month. Look forward to hearing more about those in our next edition of Plumrose Notes! Until then, happy playing!

Winners at the NCYT Summer Music Competition

Welcome to the first post of Plumrose Notes! While we do have our seasonal Studio Announcement emails, this is a space to highlight what’s been going on both in and out of the studio:

Plumrose Piano Students win Top Prizes at International and State-Level Piano Competitions, to Perform at Carnegie Hall

Congratulations are also in order to Samantha P., one of award-winning piano teacher Ichinkhorloo (Ichko) Batnasan’s wonderful students! She recently won the Little Mozart International Music Competition 2025, and will be performing at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall in New York City this month! “This is a dream come true—not just for Samantha, but for me as her teacher,” says Ichko. “Watching her grow into such a poised and passionate young musician has been one of the greatest joys of my teaching career. We are now working tirelessly to prepare for her Carnegie Hall debut, and I couldn’t be prouder.”

PPS is also proud to celebrate the outstanding achievements of its talented young pianists at the prestigious Sonor International Piano Competition 2025 held this past February in Lafayette, and at the North California Young Talents (NCYT) Competition last December. Miles N. and Eme N. both won 1st Place in their categories at NYCT. Samantha P. earned 2nd place at NYCT, and 1st Place in her category at the Sonor Piano Competition; she was honored with a performance at the Laureates’ Gala Concert, where Samantha took the stage alongside the competition’s top winners. “I’m incredibly proud of all three students,” said Ichko. “Their hard work, perseverance, and passion for music were evident in every note they played. It’s an honor to guide such promising young talents at Plumrose Piano Studio.” As a piano teacher deeply committed to nurturing young artists, Ichko continues to inspire and elevate the next generation of musicians. These achievements are a testament to the studio’s commitment to excellence in music education and to Ichko’s dedication as a teacher and mentor. Bravo to Miles, Eme, and Samantha for their successes!

Samantha P. and teacher Ichko at the *Little Mozart International Music Competition 2025*

*Miles N. performing at the Little Mozart International Music Competition 2025*

Seeing an Action…In Action!

Another highlight from April! Plumrose Piano Studio and our partners at Steinway and Sons hosted our first ever Piano Field Day event! Students and their families got to visit the San Francisco Gallery and learn how a piano as built, as well as get up close and personal with the action of a piano (a.k.a how playing a key translates to making a sound), and explore all sorts of different types of pianos. Throughout the day, students had a quest list to fill out in exchange for a prize, and the whole thing was wrapped up with the perfect bow of a recital performed by several of our talented teachers! If you’d like to see some video recordings of those performances, please visit our Facebook page!

*Students exploring the action of a grand piano at the Plumrose Piano Field Day*

Up and Coming Events

While May is a bit quiet in terms of events for the studio, it’s because we’re gearing up for some exciting stuff this summer! Our Summer Studio Recital will be on Sunday, June 8th at Christ Church Lutheran. Our recitals are a great chance for students to show off what they’ve been working on, as well as meet other students from both studios! We encourage current students of all skill levels to sign up - if you would like to, please check your email for the link! Don’t want to or can’t perform, but still curious? All current studio families are invited to attend! We will also be livestreaming the whole recital on our Facebook page.
This summer also marks the re-launch of our Plumrose Piano Studio Composer Competition! As with our recitals, students of all levels are invited and encouraged to work with their teachers on creating an original composition—the only limitation is that the composer needs to be able to both notate and play their own piece. Compositions will be judged by PPS Senior Teachers Abby Baker, Jason Zucker, and Ichinkhorloo Batnasan.

Three winners will receive the following prizes:

Three printed and bound copies of their composition
A $50 gift card to musicnotes.com
The debut of their composition at the Fall Studio Recital
Photo recognition at the studios (and on Plumrose Notes!)

The 1st place winner will also receive the following opportunity:

An hour long composition lesson with Matthew Cmiel, the Director of the John Adams Young Composers Program at the Crowden School of Music!
A San Francisco native, Matthew Cmiel is a composer, conductor, guitarist and enthusiastic advocate of new music and young performers. As well as being the director of the Young Composers program, he is the founder and co-director of the new music ensemble After Everything. “What Plumrose Piano Studio is doing here is encouraging their students to think of music not as a museum piece, locked in an ivory tower, but rather as a playground; a place to build and to create.” Matthew Cmiel says. “This is nothing short of vital to the survival of music as a whole, for what could make an art form more relevant, more alive, than having people add to it? Thank you, Plumrose Piano Studio, for encouraging this.”

That’s about it for now with highlights and news at the studio! Thank you for reading along with us today, and we hope to see you back soon!