EIGHT Yonsei Academy students participated in the 2023 Tumon Bay Music Festival, winning five gold and three silver medals.
TBMF was held again after three years of Covid restrictions.
The event is the largest music festival held in Guam annually. Musicians from various places such as Saipan, Guam, and Japan gather to become one through music.
The categories include choir, solo, ensemble, jazz, band, and orchestra. All participants play together regardless of genre, age, and ethnicity.
Since this year’s competition was the first in three years, there were far more participants but many were eliminated during the auditions.
All of Yonsei Academy students, Jennifer Woo (15, MHS), Olivia Hwang (17, SIS), Seiyul Hong (16, MHS), Abbie Kim (14, MHS), Jireh Wang (16, ACS), Chealza Navarro (15, MCS), and Eric Lai (17, GCA), and Peter Peng (15, ACS), passed the audition and made it to the finals.
On March 4, 2023, 18 finalists participated in the competition at Micronesia Mall.
Director of Yonsei Academy Jihye Yun, said, “I wanted to show people how much my children have grown while the competition was not held due to Covid for three years. However, unlike before, the situation where I had to go through auditions made me nervous. But I could expect good results because I trusted my students and knew how hard they had been practicing. Through this competition, my students feel a sense of accomplishment and they also experienced how consistent practice can develop their talents. And most importantly, I am happy to make music a most important and good friend in their life. We made it!”
Medalists
Eight Yonsei Academy students won five gold medals and three silver medals. Five of the seven gold medals for the entire piano session were won by students of the Yonsei Academy.
Olivia Hwang (17, SIS), a gold medalist, says:
“First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude to the judges and coordinators who have recognized my efforts. I’d also like to thank my parents, Mrs. Yun, Dr. Ron, Ms. Mili, and Ms. Melisha for their help throughout this process. It took almost a year for me to hold a gold medal in the ceremony and feel proud of myself. Your faith has been a source of inspiration and encouragement for me, and I want to thank everyone for providing me with this opportunity. Thank you and I will be striving to achieve another gold medal for TBMF 2024!”
Chealzka Navarro (16, MCS), a gold medalist for the first time in the competition, says:
“TBMF 2023 was a great experience for me especially as someone who started playing piano a few years ago. I wasn’t expecting to receive gold, but I’m proud I was able to pull it off. I was really nervous before the performance so I had to practice the piece many times in my head. With that, I am very grateful to my family, friends, and teacher for helping me throughout the competition.”
Abbie Kim (14, MHS), who won a gold medal at TBMF 2020 and won a gold again this year says:
“For this year‘s Tumon Bay Music Festival, I am glad that I was able to get a gold medal. Before the performance, I was really nervous because I thought I didn’t have enough practice. Also I heard that this year‘s music festival was more strict than the last time. So, I didn’t have a lot of confidence. Since last time as a 6th grader, I got a gold medal so I felt like I had to get gold this time too or else I would be disappointed and upset. During my performance, I made a lot of mistakes so I really thought I wouldn’t be able to get a silver medal. After a long period of anxiousness, when they finally announced my gold medal, I was really glad and relieved. However, even though I got a gold medal, I think I should be humble and still practice a lot. I enjoyed this year‘s Tumon Bay Music Festival because of the final results and the beautiful music I was able to perform. I hope I can keep up my streak of gold medals in the future. Also, I will improve my piano techniques so that I can make my academy, Yonsei Piano, and my teacher, Jihye Yun, seen positively by many people.”
The Yonsei Academy students won five gold and three silver medals at the 2023 Tumon Bay Music Festival on Guam.
Silver medalist Eric Lai, 3rd right.
Silver medalist Jennifer Woo, 3rd right.
Silver medalist Seiyul Hong, 3rd right.
The students and director Jihye Yun of Yonsei Academy.
