Whiz Kid: Crossroads Student Wins $12,900 in String Competition

is proving that isn't the only local school music honors these days. Case in point: Mayumi Kanagawa, a junior, came in first at last weekend's 26th annual Irving M. Klein International String Competition—and she took home $12,900 in prizes to boot.

In front of judges and an audience at San Francisco State University, the 16-year-old Kanagawa performed Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, BWV 1001; Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 23; Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77; and Klein Suite, a commissioned work by Elena Ruehr.

“I rarely remember a presentation of such uniformly expressive and polished performances in our 26-year history, and with such a range of engaging musical personalities,” competition director Mitchell Sardou Klein said in a statement. "Her performances showed remarkably focused musical integrity, warmth and passion. The audience and the jury were equally moved and enthralled by her fervent and fiery playing.”

Kanagawa, who is from Japan, earned a strong first-ballot endorsement from the jury. That won her the first-place Marvin T. Tepperman Memorial Prize, which comes with a hefty $12,200 purse. Thanks to her victory, she'll also get to perform with the Peninsula and Santa Cruz symphonies.

Kanagawa also took home the the Pablo Casals Prize for the best performance of a solo Bach work, and the Allen and Susan Weiss Memorial Prize for the best performance of a commissioned work. Those honors earned her an additional $500 and $200, respectively.

The awards are hardly the first Kanagawa has won. Earlier this year, she got the silver medal at the 2011 Stulberg International Competition. She's also won big at the Corpus Christi and Connecticut international competitions.

Kanagawa has studied in the Juilliard Pre-College Division and is an academy student at Los Angeles' Colburn School of Music. She's performed with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the New West Symphony; and participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the International Musicians Seminar in England, the Encore School for Strings, the Ishikawa Music Academy and the Aspen Music Festival. She was a fellowship student at the latter.

Want to recommend a young person who has made extraordinary accomplishments in the Santa Monica community, for feature in "Whiz Kid"? Drop a line to Kurt.Orzeck@patch.com.

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