Prep Trio Wins Silver

NEC congratulates the Trio Adonais of the Preparatory School which won the Second Place Medal and Scholarship of $1,800 at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition this past weekend in South Bend, Indiana. Coached by Natasha Brofsky, the trio is made up of Sammy Andonian (violin), Mari Nagahara (cello) and John Gibson (piano). The ensemble performed their complete program, Beethoven Trio, Op. 1, No.3, the first movement of Brahms Trio in B Ma jor, and Shulamit Ran's Soliloquy, from memory.  Honorable Mention went to the Prep's Isolde Quartet.

Founded in 1973 by Joseph E. Fischoff and fellow members of the South Bend Chamber Music Society, the Fischoff Competition is the largest chamber music competition in the nation and the world. Each year, an average of 125 ensembles, representing 22 nationalities, enter in either the wind or string categories of three to six performers. Fischoff is the only national chamber music competition with both senior divisions (ages 18-35) and a junior division (age 18 and younger). Since its founding, more than 6,600 musicians have participated, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in music performance and education.

Each of the Adonais players is an accomplished and much honored musician in his own right.

The versatile violinist Sammy Andonian, who also plays cello, studies with violinist John Holland and cellist Mike Reynolds. A student at Lincoln-Sudbury High School, he has participated in the Heifetz International Musical Institute and has been the winner of numerous awards, including first prize at the New England Philharmonic’s Young Artists Competition, and  the Waldon Chamber Players Young Artists Competition. He will perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto on The Friends of Armenian Culture Society’s annual Armenian Night at the Boston Pops, June 5, at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall.

Cellist Mari Nagahara, who attends Andover High School, currently studies with Natasha Brofsky, and previously studied with Nancy Hair and Carol Ou. Mari has participated in summer festivals such as the Killington Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Greenwood Music Camp, and Oxford Cello School. She recently won the shared first prize in the NEC Prep concerto competition. For that, she will perform the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Youth Symphony and Steven Karidoyanes on May 21 in Jordan Hall.

Pianist John Gibson was born in Florence, South Carolina and began his first piano lessons with his elementary music school teacher Heather-Lynn Shannon. Now a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, John studies with Alexander Korsantia in the New England Conservatory preparatory program, where he also attends piano seminar class and has participated in several of the Prep’s contemporary music festivals, Today’s Youth Performs Today’s Music.  John also plays the violin and viola and enjoys composition. He has previously attended the UNCSA Chamber Music Institute to study the violin and IIYM to study piano. In 2012, John was selected as a winner of the South Carolina Piano Festival and a runner up of the SCMTA’s pre-college auditions in both solo and concerto categories. He was also a winner of the Florence Symphony Orchestra’s concerto competition and performed Mendelssohn’s Concerto in G Minor with the symphony last spring. He will attend Princeton University in the fall.

The Trio Adonais will appear on the Prep chamber music gala in Jordan Hall on June 2nd and will be featured on From the Top in June. For a sampling of the ensemble's playing, click on the link below.