THE VIOLIN STUDIO- ALUMNI and STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS
In addition to being a soloist, Sonja is an artist teacher, who has a private studio for exceptionally gifted pre-college violinists in the Southeast. Many are now professional violinists and international soloists.
Former Students who are professional soloists and artists:
Timothy Ying: Timothy was the First Violin of the Grammy Award winning Ying Quartet for twenty years, performing internationally. Currently on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory ( Canada).
Janet Ying: Janet, second violin of the Grammy award winning Ying quartet, performs across the world. With the quartet, she actively commissions new works in an ongoing project called LifeWorks. Janet is Associate Professor of Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music.
Phillip Ying: Violist of the internationally known, Grammy award winning Ying Quartet since its inception, is one of the Artistic Directors of the Bowdoin International Music Festival. He is also a renown soloist who has appeared in concerts across the county. Phillip is Assistant Professor of Violin at Eastman School of Music as well as Associate Professor of Chamber Music. The Ying Quartet is also in residence at Harvard University .
Kristen Lee: an internationally known concert violinist who tours extensively, 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, a Jensen Artist and a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, B.M and M.M., where she studied with Dorothy Delay and Itzhak Perlman.
She world premiered the Vivian Fung Violin Concerto. Kristin studied with Sonja upon arriving in the US from Korea at age 8 until she went to Dorothy Delay at Juilliard.
Joel Link: First Violin of the Dover String Quartet, First Place Winner of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. The Dover Quartet is in residence at Northwestern University. Joel was the 2001 National First Place Winner of the Music Teachers National Association Junior String Performance Competition; made his debut with the Gwinnett Philharmonic at the age of 11; 2004, First Place Winner of the International Menuhin Competition, Junior Section. Joel is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music.
Alex Link: First Place Winner of the National MTNA Junior String Performance Competition. In 2005 was the First Place Winner of the Johansen International Competition. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School and in graduate studies at the Curtis Institute.
Daisuke Yamamoto: Concertmaster of the Richmond Symphony( Va.)
Rachel Harding: First violin section, Detroit Symphony
Carolyn Toll Hancock: Atlanta Symphony
Yoshiko Kunimitsu- Dayton Symphony; Faculty, McCutcheon Music School
Margeaux Maloney- Assistant Concertmaster, Reno Chamber Orchestra
Sonja’s students have won many awards.
- In addition to two winning First Place MTNA National Junior Performance Competition, others have won Second and Third Place in the National MTNA Senior Performance Competition
- Several have won MTNA Southern Division Junior and Senior Performance Competition
- One has won National Finalist - ASTA National Solo Competition
- One has won Third Place and Fourth Place of the Blount Slawson Young Artist Competition.
- Ten have been chosen for the Robert McDuffie Labor Day Chamber Music Festival
- One was chosen as one of eight worldwide to participate in the first Starling Delay Seminar at Juilliard and performed for Dorothy Delay (2001)
- One was chosen to be in the Carnegie Hall- National Youth Orchestra of the United States Tour of China, 2015
- Three were chosen from three states to participate in the Carnegie Hall- National Youth Orchestra of the United States2 in 2016
- Five have won the Samuel Fordis Concerto Competition of the Georgia Philharmonic and two others have been guest artists before there was a competition
- Thirteen have won the Ruth Kern Concerto Competition of the Atlanta Community Orchestra
- Seven have won the GMTA Concerto Competition
- One has won the Lois Pickard Concerto Competition, Second Place. One has won the Southern Adventist University Concerto Competition
- Four have won the Buckhead Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition
- Many have won the GMTA- MTNA Georgia Junior and Senior performance Competitions
- Many have been chosen Outstanding Performer- Conference Recitalist, GMTA with as many as six in one year chosen
- Four have won and soloed with the ASYO
- Ten have been chosen Concertmaster, Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
- Two were chosen Principal Viola, ASYO
- Three were chosen Concertmaster of Georgia All State Orchestra, Middle School Orchestra
- One was chosen Assistant Concertmaster to he Tennessee All State Orchestra
- Several others were chosen Concertmaster of the Georgia All State Orchestra grades 9-10 and 11-12 and the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra
- Students have won: the Atlanta Jewish Community Young Artists Competition; the Southeastern Young Artists Competition; the LaGrange Symphony Competition; the Atlanta Musicians Union Scholarship; Rising Stars Competition; Greenville, S.C. Music Club Scholarship
Sonja’s students have performed in Master Classes for Dorothy Delay, Midori, (3); Henryk Szeryng; Stephen Clapp; Robert McDuffie; William Preucil; Nadja Salerno -Sonneberg; Judith Ingolfssohn; Martin Chalifour; Alexander Kerr; Timothy Lee and Sergiu Schwartz.
Her students have been accepted as violin majors in undergraduate and graduate programs of the best music schools in the U.S., many on significant scholarship, including The Juilliard School; Cleveland Institute of Music; Mannes School of Music; Eastman School of Music; Indiana University; San Francisco Conservatory; Northwestern University; Vanderbilt University/Blair School of Music; Cincinnati Conservatory of Music; New England School of Music; Boston Conservatory; Columbus State University; NYU; University of Texas- Austin; Mercer University/ McDuffie Center for Strings; UGA; and many others.
copyright 2016 Sonja Foster