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Temecula Sunrise Rotary Music Competition Winners

The Temecula Sunrise Rotary Club has named the winners of its 21st Annual Music Competition held on February 11th at Grace Presbyterian Church in Temecula. There were three categories of musical presentations: “vocal,” “piano,” and “other instrumental,” and 12 high school students from the Temecula Valley area competed for cash prizes.

In first place was clarinetist Joshua Julian Schaefer, a freshman at Vista Murrieta High School. Joshua, who won $400, played Time Pieces for Clarinet and Piano by Robert Muczynski. In second place was Brianna Chang, a pianist who was awarded $250. Brianna is a senior at Great Oak High School in Temecula, and she played Sonata in Cm, Op. 13 (1st Movement) – Pathetique by Ludwin Van Beethoven. The third- place winner was violinist Arissa Jeong, a sophomore at Great Oak High School. She played Salut d’amour by Edward Elgar and Perpetuum Mobile by Ottokar Nováček.

In addition to the three cash prize winners, the judges chose two more to go on to the finals. Vocalist Robyn Morales, who is a junior at Murrieta Valley High, sang Ach, ich fühl’s from the opera Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and What Baking Can Do from Waitress the Musical by Sara Bareilles. Pianist Francis Saspa, a senior at Temecula Preparatory School, played La Campanella by Franz Liszt.

Both Robyn and Francis were given high marks by the judges and will participate on an equal basis at the finals to be held at the University of Redlands, where the top prize in each category is $1,000.

Second place winners will receive $500, and third prize will be $250. The first-place winners in the Rotary District 5330 finals will be invited to show off their talents at the June Rotary District Conference at the Soboba Resort.

Adjudicators this year were Dave Bradley, Rhonda Parish and Michelle Risling, who are all talented performing and teaching musicians in their own right.

Out of the more than 60 Rotary clubs in District 5330, encompassing all of Riverside County and much of San Bernardino County, about one third are participating in this year’s competition. In addition to Temecula Sunrise, the Rotary clubs of Temecula, Murrieta, Wildomar, Menifee, and Lake Elsinore are also having their competitions during February and March.

Rotary International is a worldwide humanitarian service organization with 34,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and territories. Founded in 1905 in Chicago, members of Rotary are business and professional leaders united worldwide to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build good will and peace in the world. Rotary International is celebrating its 115th birthday on February 23rd and is the oldest service organization in the world. For information about membership in Rotary, call (951) 698-6116.

The five winners are, left to right: Francis Dominic Saspa, Robyn Morales, Joshua Julian Schaefer, Brianna Chang and Arissa Jeong.