Exciting news from the Fall Into Spring Tangent Trio! Yuji Yamada, John Cho, and Lexine Feng made the semi-final round of the Coltman Chamber Competition, and they will be heading to Austin, TX in March to compete for the finals. Bravo to them and to their coaches!

All eight Franklin Pond groups are working hard to get ready for our upcoming spring masterclasses with David Courcheron, Nick Curry, Annie Fullard, and Itamar Zorman. Kudos to Franklin Pond Fall Into Spring manager Lachlan McBane and ASYO manager Kaitlin Gress for organizing over 64 coaching sessions and rehearsals!

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During the weekend of February 8-9, Angela Beeching, music career counselor extraordinaire and author of Beyond Talent, came to Atlanta from Boston. She has advised and inspired college students at New England Conservatory, Juilliard School of Music, and Indiana University. On Saturday, she gave a high school workshop for 26 students and parents, and individual sessions to those who wanted it. It was a day of honest discussions about what to expect as a music major or minor, time management, preparing to apply to college, finances, getting the right teacher for you, and much more. On Sunday, she had individual sessions with several college students and professionals. We were proud to co-sponsor Angela with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.

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Franklin Pond had a booth at the GMEA Conference this year (January 23-25) for the first time. We loved connecting with our music education colleagues both at the Athens Classic Center and at the American String Teachers luncheon. Franklin Pond alum Daniel Boscan played for the luncheon in a group from North Atlanta High School. Kudos to Ginny and David Fairchild, who designed, built, and managed the booth.

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On February 8 and 9, Angela Beeching will be in Atlanta to speak with high school students about their current or future careers in music.
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We enjoyed a very festive holiday season at the Pond!
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Ready for Reger? How about some Schubert, Beethoven, Mendelssohn or Debussy? Want to hear a REALLY terrific brass quintet and the Mozart Clarinet Quintet? And FOUR cellos have to be twice as good as Two Cellos! We have it all and more this year in our Fall Into Spring program. You may not have to wait until the final concert in May to hear these 32 talented students. They will be giving concerts throughout the new year, so keep watch and you can keep up with their activities.

Following her visit to Franklin Pond for masterclasses and private lessons, Janet Horvath wrote an endearing article about Franklin Pond.
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The Summer Finale Concert showcased four of our Franklin Pond groups. They performed works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Halvorsen, and Bloch in Kellett Chapel of Peachtree Presbyterian Church on July 28. This performance was the last of several they gave throughout the five-week program, including five masterclasses and four Community (outreach) Concerts. There is much to be learned from performing the same repertoire several times, an experience professionals have all the time and students rarely get. We were very proud of our students this summer.

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Emily Rader was a violinist in Fall Into Spring last school year. That was her first exposure to chamber music and she loved it so much she wanted to enroll for the summer. We needed a violist to fit into one of our groups and asked her if she would be interested in playing viola for this summer. Ron Sachs Violins loaned her a viola; she bought a book and researched online, and 2 weeks later, she was starting Franklin Pond on viola, reading a completely different clef, learning Mozart and Dvorak quartets, and playing beautifully. She grew to really enjoy it and is happy she did it. Many professional violinists also play viola, so it’s a good skill to acquire.
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