By MIKE DUNHAM
Ga-In Choi: 1st place MTNA winner performed Beethoven's 32 Variations in C Minor - a remarkable piece in that it probably comes as close as anything to capturing the spontaneous improvisations Beethoven popped out at his own concerts - at UAA on Saturday. Photo: Timothy Smith

The 19th Annual Winners Recital by singers receiving scholarships from the Anchorage Concert Chorus took place Saturday night at the UAA Arts Building Recital Hall. The winners were:

Zachary Milliman, 1st place, College Division ($750); Amy Horstman, 2nd place, College Division ($500); Dean Shannon, 3rd place, College Division ($300). Both big-voiced Horstman and Shannon, who seemed to be fighting a cold, hail from the University of Alaska Fairbanks' music department, and Shannon is previously from Healy. Those two singers also won award in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Alaska competition.

Robin Bonneau Yokel - another Fairbanksan - 1st place High School Division ($750); Caroline Dellinger of North Pole, 2nd place High School Division ($500); Maris O'Tierney, 3rd place, High School Division ($300).

The winners of other state music competitions also shared the stage Saturday night. Here's the list and my comments. Feel free to add your own:

• National Association of Teachers of Singing winners: Branson Gustafson, 1st place, Elementary; Leah Mattfield, 1st Place, Middle; Katherine Lyle, 1st Place, High School Musical Theatre; Amy Horstman, 1st Place, College Classical; Lauren Green, 1st Place, Adult Musical Theatre Upper Avocational.

• Alaska Piano Competition winners: Jessen Cao, 1st Place, Intermediate I; Maria Hanson, 1st Place, Intermediate II; Jasper Jackson, 1st Place, Junior Young Artist; Ian Huh, 1st Place, Senior Young Artist. Cao, Hanson and Jackson repeated the pieces they presented at the APC recital earlier this month. Huh had played Beethoven's Sonata Op. 111, but for this he switched to the ferociously difficult Prokofiev Toccata Op. 11. That piece gave him more space for spectacular effects, but less opportunity for nuance. The audience nonetheless gasped as they heard him play.

• Music Teachers National Association: Brendon Mezzetti, 1st Place, Junior Strings; Wesley Voley, 1st Place, Junior Piano; Ga-In Choi, 1st Place, Young Artist Piano Division; Annie Kil, 1st Place, Senior Piano. Voley, from Kenney Lake, was nothing less than astonishing in his performance of Prokofiev's "Diabolic Suggestion No. 4," which was most like a manifesto than a suggestion. Choi presented Beethoven's fascinating 32 Variations in C Minor with utter confidence.

Geurim Kim: Photo: Bill Roth

Anchorage Civic Orchestra Concerto Competition winner Geurim Kim and Christine Harada Li, winner of Anchorage Youth Symphony Concerto and Anchorage Symphony Orchestra Cassetta competitions, both violinists, performed as well. Li, in particular, seemed more secure in her reading of the first movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concert than she was last month, when she played it with the Anchorage Youth Symphony. The piano accompaniment is usually more sympathetic than an orchestra in these matters.

I continue to be flummoxed by the fact that there were any empty seats for this concert. Do you know how rare it is to hear the Beethoven variations performed live? As well as Choi did it? For free?