Ambassador Awards
The Ambassador Awards is designed to help talented disadvantaged
school children gain the education needed to succeed as great
musicians. All over the country today music budgets in our
schools are cut to a minimum leaving gifted kids with no
opportunity to obtain a superior education due to financial
constraints. The Max Reger Foundation of America is committed to
making a difference so that these young artists are given a
chance to excel as kids who are fortunate.
Max Reger performed a lot of music as a conductor, pianist,
organist and chamber musician. It is with his legacy that the
Foundation believes that its mission encompass all musical
genres to celebrate diversity. Although The Max Reger Foundation
is born of classical music, its outreach seeks to embody music
as a whole – a celebration of music. In the future, the
Foundation will expand this program to include less-fortunate
inner-city school children who wish to study Latin music and
Jazz with emphasis on the New York City and Miami, Florida
geographic areas. We are excited about the talent that will
develop and want to ensure a superior education for all children
in the program by partnering with distinguished music
professionals and institutions.
To date, The Max Reger Foundation is a partner with two premier
music institutions: 1) the New England Conservatory (Boston,
Massachusetts) and, 2) the Manhattan School of Music (New York
City). Once a candidate is selected for the Ambassador Award,
The Max Reger Foundation of America guarantees financial
assistance for the remainder of their pre-college education.
This means an automatic financial contribution of up to eight
years invested in a child’s future. This commitment is an
important factor to financially-strapped families of gifted
kids. With this model, the burden to the family is lifted
eliminating the worry whether or not a financial aid package
will be granted each year.
In addition to the scholarship, The Max Reger Foundation of
America creates opportunities for these children to share their
gifts with the community. Performance outside of the educational
environment is important to the overall development of an
artistic training and the Foundation is dedicated to provide
this service to these children.
The Foundation is honored to help deserving young artists and
looks forward to expanding this program throughout the United
States in the future.
Ambassador Award Recipients
Phoung Nghi Pham
2007 John C. Holtz Ambassador Award
In December 2007, the first Ambassador Award was granted for
study in piano to a very talented 10-year-old pianist. She
performed a recital of works by Joseph Haydn, Frédéric Chopin
and Max Reger at the award event where she delighted the
audience by her poise, grace and musical artistry.
The MRFOA Ambassador Award allows her to take a weekly 60-minute
piano lesson, theory class and piano seminar at the New England
Conservatory Preparatory School (NEC) in Boston, Massachusetts.
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photo copyright 2007 – John Hucker |
Born in Vietnam, she came to the United States with her
parents in 2004. This young artist started piano lessons at the
age of five in Vietnam and has won many prizes in competitions.
In 2004, she won First Prize in the Yamaha Cup in Vietnam.
Currently, she studies piano with Clara Slater and is enrolled
in the full Certificate Program at NEC. |
Hannah Ji
2007 Ambassador Award
In April 2007, Hannah was awarded the second Ambassador Award
for study in violin at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory
School in New York City. She performed a recital of works by
Brahms, De Falla, Gerschwin, Reger and Winkler. Hannah’s
technical and musical ability are truly outstanding and the
Foundation is proud to sponsor her education.
Born in Seoul, Korea, Hannah began violin studies at the age
of five and in 2000 won second place in the Korea Times
Children’s Music Competition and Young Artist Music Competition.
That same year, she performed as a soloist with the Seoul Pop’s
Orchestra.
She began studying with Grigory Kalinovsky at the Manhattan
School of Music Preparatory Division, in 2003. Hannah has
performed in many places, including Steinway Hall, Greenfield
Hall, and the Bryant Park Concert Series. In 2004 and 2005,
Hannah attended Bowdoin International Music Festival. In 2006,
she was selected to be part of Pinchas Zukerman's Young Artists
Program in Ottawa, Canada.
She has also won the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church
Competition, second place in the New Jersey Philharmonic
Orchestra, and first prize in the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra
Young Artists Competition, where she will perform on April 15,
2007.
Hannah won numerous honors and awards, including the Eugene B.
Kahn Memorial Award and the Thomas J. Lee Memorial Award. She
placed second in the Manhattan School of Music’s Concerto
Competition in 2005 and 2006. This year, she won first place in
the same competition and will perform, in February 2008, at the
Manhattan School of Music.
Hannah recently graduated from high-school a year early and was
accepted into the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, in
Philadelphia, where she will begin her sophomore year of college
in September, 2009. |
photo copyright 2008 – Tina Buckman |
Support the Mission of MRFOA
There are two ways that you can show your support for the
Foundation and its commitment to children. First, you can make a
financial contribution and secondly, sign up to attend
Foundation events like the Young Artist recitals. The Max Reger
Foundation of America appreciates your support so that it can
help disadvantaged kids fulfill their dreams and goals.
Young Artist Recitals
Each year, MRFOA’s Ambassador Award recipients share their
talent by performing free recitals for the community in various
settings. The Max Reger Foundation of America believes that a
musical education goes beyond the classroom and studio setting.
The recitals give our Ambassadors real life performance
experience while providing opportunities for the public to hear
aspiring young musicians outside the concert hall.
During the winter of 2008 and spring of 2009, performance venues
have included assisted-living care centers, banks and libraries
serving over 600 people within the communities of Metro New York
and Boston (see sampling below).
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Metro New York: |
Village Care of New
York (Greenwich Village)
New Rochelle Public Library |
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Metro Boston: |
Lasell Village Care
(Newton)
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MRFOA has received a tremendous response and continues to
work very hard to present these kids in new, exciting and -
sometimes - unexpected places.
Phuong Nghi Pham
December, 2008 |
Hannah Ji
April, 2009 |
©2008 - Miles Ladin |
©2008 - Miles Ladin |
©2008 - Miles Ladin |
©2008 - Miles Ladin |
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The Max Reger Foundation of America – $5,000 Max Reger Prize
On March 16, 2008, Richard and Valentin Humburger (Munich,
Germany) won the first Max Reger Prize ever awarded in the
United States. They were among 13 finalists from around the
world who competed at the Dranoff International Two Piano
Competition, in Miami, Florida (http://www.dranoff2piano.org/)
this past March.
Each piano duo was required to perform one of two major Reger
two-piano compositions:
o Introduktion, Passacaglia und Fuge, Opus 96
o Variationen und Fuge über ein Thema von Beethoven, Opus 86
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The Humberger’s chose to perform opus 86 and they did so
splendidly. Reger’s two-piano compositions are extremely
difficult pieces both musically and technically. To add to the
drama, the Humberger’s wowed the audience by performing the
entire 25-minute work completely from memory!
Bravo! Richard and Valentin. |
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