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!