(L-R) Claire Casado, Olivia Falk, music teacher Katharine Austin, Linus Buchholz and Jonah Chan
Each year, a select group of music students are invited to the Music Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC) annual state convention, having earned the honor of performing a “Certificate of Merit” recital before the hundreds of teachers in attendance. This year, Orinda piano teacher Katharine Austin brought six of her students to the convention, which took place June 28 to July 2 in Santa Clara.
The pianists participated in the spring “Certificate of Merit” evaluation program along with 25,000 other music students statewide and were among the five percent chosen to perform at the convention.
Students were selected based on their musicianship skills, including sight reading, theory knowledge and technique, as well as their repertoire.
Austin has been teaching piano in Orinda for more than 25 years and has taught dozens of students who have won local, state and national awards, including earning invitations to perform at the MTAC Convention.
She attended the convention with students Linus Buchholz (Orinda), Claire Casado (Orinda), Jonah Chan (Alameda), Olivia Falk (Orinda), Amurai Lau (Hercules) and Sydney Zhang (Moraga).
