2023 Awards and Honors
Piano Guild Awards
Congratulations to RSM’s students that participated in the 2023 Howard County Chapter of Piano Guild. Our students received Special Plaques, Superior Plus, Superior and Superior Minus ratings:
- Superior Plus: Chloe Yan, Liam Elvard, Samuel Choi
- Superior: Jeremy Zhang, Sophia James, Danielle Spence, Veena Sellappan, Allison sabo, Valentina Leal, Gabriel Roberson, Liev Elvard, Sofia Fabian, Xylia Wheat, Taylor Jackson, Anisa Jackson, Marium Haider, Isaiah McCray
- Superior Minus: Susanna Babatunde, Kazim Haider, Kim Burson
Congratulations to the following students that received special plaques this year:
- Early Bach Plaque: Danielle Spence
- Founder’s Plaque: Samuel Choi
MTNA Studio Festival Awards
Congratulations to RSM students that participated in the 2023 Howard County Chapter MTNA Studio Festival for voice.
- Superior Minus: Aanya Sinha
- Excellent Plus: Kim Burson
MSMTA Distinguished Music Achievement Award
Congratulations to Jeremy Zhang for being awarded the MSMTA Distinguished Music Achievement Award at the Elementary level.
MSMTA Piano Solo Competition – Student Achievement
Congratulations to Chloe Yan for receiving honorable mention and Samuel Choi for receiving excellent ratings in the 2023 MSMTA Spring Piano Festival.
Royal Conservatory Exam Award
Congratulations to Kai Luo for receiving First Class Honours in the 2023 Royal Conservatory practical examination.
MSMTA Piano Solo and Musicianship Exam – Student Achievement
Congratulations to Jeremy Zhang and Samuel Choi who participated in the MSMTA piano solo competition and the MSMTA musicianship exam. Jeremy and Samuel received superior ratings.
MSMTA Music Theory Exam – Student Achievement
Congratulations to RSM students that participated in the 2023 MSMTA Music Theory testing exam. Our Students received superior plus and excellent ratings:
Superior Plus: Chloe Yan, Jeremy Zhang, Kai Luo
Superior: Samuel Choi
Excellent Plus: Kim Burson
Dr. Monica Roberson, Director
Monica Roberson, D.M.A, is a recognized performer, composer and music educator. Before receiving her Doctorate of Music in Composition/Theory and Piano Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Roberson also studied at Peabody Conservatory of Music where she received her Master’s of Music and the University of North Florida where she received her Bachelor’s of Education in Music.
As a pianist, she has performed throughout the United States to rave reviews. She has been featured on public television in Jacksonville, FL. Her piano playing has been described as “passionate and energetic.” She has competed in various piano competitions and received awards such as third place winner of the DeBose National Piano Competition.
As a composer, Dr. Roberson has composed various pieces ranging from solo to symphonic works. Her music has appeared in master classes with world-renowned vocalist, Dawn Upshaw. She has won several composition competitions, some of which include winner of the Margaret Blackburn Composition Competition. She was also awarded the Eubie Blake Scholar Award for outstanding musician and composer. During her studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she was awarded a grant from the Women’s Studies program in order to compose her chamber opera piece titled “A Room of One’s Own” based on the book by Virginia Woolf. She currently accepts commissions and participates in collaborations with artists. With every note she writes, she strives to touch the souls of listeners through rich, colorful, and energetic sounds.
As a teacher, Dr. Roberson has received positive ratings from her students. She teaches piano, voice, strings and percussion. Her students have won various competitions and scholarships in competitions such as ACT-SO, MSMTA, MTNA and Piano Guild. She has recently taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Spelman College, Howard University, the University of Maryland at Baltimore County and Anne Arundel Community College. She has also assisted with the growth and development of private piano programs at the Nathan Carter School of Music, Maryland Conservatory of Music and Champaign School of Music. Dr. Roberson has also taught general music, band and choir at Holy Trinity Episcopal School Elementary School, Greenland Pines Elementary School and Grace Episcopal School. Dr. Roberson is a recipient of the Guild Teachers’ National Honor Roll Award from the American College of Musicians for preparing top students for piano adjudication and international composition contests. In 2022, she was award the Piano Guild Hall of Fame. Dr. Roberson is currently a part-time professor at Howard Community College.
Dr. Roberson is also active in church music ministry. She has served as musician and assistant director at the Cross Creek Presbyterian Church and Mt. Nebo Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL, Warner Baptist Church in Falls Church, VA, and Friendship Lutheran Church in Savoy, IL. She has also served as the Director of Music at the Oakland Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA.
Additionally, Dr. Roberson is a writer and publisher. She has written several articles for Salem Press and EBSCO Publishing’s multi-volume of biographical and analytical publication of Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century as well as The Forties in America. She has also written several articles in their upcoming multi-volume of The Twenties in America, The Thirties in America, and Great Lives from History: African Americans. Dr. Roberson is also the publisher of Roberson Music Publishing Company where several of her works have been published.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and reading her favorite books.
To learn more about Dr. Roberson, visit her website.
Dr. Ji Eun Kim
Soprano Ji Eun Kim was born and grew up in Seoul, South Korea. She earned her Bachelors Degree in Voice from Yonsei University in Korea. In the United States she received her Masters Degree in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory studying with Prof. Phyllis Bryn-Julson, and an Artist Diploma in Voice and Opera from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Dr. Mary Schiller. Recently, she received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice and Opera from Boston University studying with Penelope Bitzas. Now, she has relocated to Gaithersburg in Maryland and is teaching, conducting and singing for the choir at Korean Presbyterian Church of Baltimore.
Dr. Kim has performed numerous roles in opera productions of the Boston University Opera Institute including Violetta (La traviata, act 3), Lidoine (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Miss Wingrave (Owen Wingrave), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Eliza (Dark sisters), and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni). Also, she performed Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos and Beatrice in Beatrice et Benedict while at Cleveland, and Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and First Lady in Magic Flute while completing her Masters Degree. For concert work she performed the whole work of Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s The Creation in the Yonsei Concert Choir and was the soprano soloist of Handel’s Dixit Dominus, HWV 232 with Neponset Choral Society. Recently, she made her debut at Boston Symphony Hall as a soprano soloist of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony conducted by Ken-David Masur. In the summer of 2015, she was a featured artist at Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and performed the role of the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro.Dr. Kim was a first prizewinner in both the local Metrowest Opera Competition and the Piccola Opera Competition in New Hampshire; 4th prize winner of the Bel Canto Competition and received the encouragement award from the NEMPAC competition in Boston. Dr. Kim has received several accolades for her opera performances. Among them includes the fall 2012 performance of Violetta in the third act of La traviata at the Fringe Festival with the Boston University Opera Institute. “Kim’s initially delicate singing accurately depicted Violetta’s physical and mental frailty, but she revealed a clean, well-tempered sound in her passionate duet with Alfredo.” “Ji Eun Kim used her gleaming soprano to penetrating effect as Composer” in Ariadne auf Naxos, and “Ji Eun Kim brought warm charisma to the opera’s subversive protagonist, Eliza, and shaped a strong, resolute persona with minimal resources” in Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters.
Ms. Katelyn McClinton
Violinist, Ms. Katelyn McClinton has always held an interest in music from a young age. Her parents, both musicians themselves, introduced her to classical music as she grew up. At the age of 9, she began taking violin classes through her school. A year later, she began lessons with Karen Lauffer and studied with her for 4 years.
In her high school years, Ms. McClinton then studied with Dr. Courtney Orlando, who was her primary teacher until high school graduation. Towards the end of her high school career, decided that she would continue her music education through college. In the fall of 2011, Ms. McClinton attended The Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College, studying with Dr. Yeon-Su Kim. Throughout her 4 years at Gettysburg, Katelyn participated and performed in groups like the Gettysburg College Symphony Orchestra, Metta Ensemble, and Sunderman Strings, which included a performance in New York City.
Thanks to the years spent at college, Ms. McClinton has a major interest in chamber music and hopes to continue performing chamber music in her career. She has attended music festivals throughout numerous summers, including the International Music Institute and Festival in Maryland and the InterHarmony Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy. Ms. McClinton has a Bachelor’s in Music Performance from the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College and a Master’s of Music Performance from Towson University. She has also studied with the late John Eaken, Grammy-nominated violinist and former concertmaster of the York Symphony.
Ms. McClinton is currently a private violin instructor in the Maryland and York, PA area, giving violin lessons to beginning, intermediate and advanced students. She has been teaching for over 6 years and works with each student to find their own unique path in music. Ms. McClinton has also performed with the West Shore Symphony Orchestra in the Central PA area and is currently a member of the Hanover Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, Ms. McClinton joined the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra. She is the founder of Stravaganza Piano Trio. In 2021, Katelyn began working on her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Shenandoah University and Conservatory. She plans to continue studying and performing works of black composers, as well as learning other methods of teaching and playing contemporary music.
When not performing music, Ms. McClinton enjoys diving into other creative outlets by writing stories as well as doing makeup.
Mr. Jonah Kappraff
Jonah Kappraff is a trumpet performer and teacher new to the Baltimore area. Having trained at the Oberlin Conservatory (B.M. performance/education) and Boston University (M.M. performance) he spent a decade freelancing in Boston before relocating to central Pennsylvania in 2015. In Boston, Jonah was a regular member of the Lexington Symphony, the Marsh Chapel Collegium Musicum, and the avant-garde Boston Modern Brass Quintet, and performed frequently with the Boston Ballet, the Boston Pops, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Odyssey Opera. He also maintained a robust teaching studio, mentoring students who frequently competed in state and national competitions.
In Pennsylvania, Jonah performed with the Williamsport Symphony, York Symphony, Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, and the Penn’s Woods Music Festival. Additionally, he was featured as a guest soloist with the Penn Central Wind Band in 2017 and in performances of the J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 with the Allegretto Chamber Orchestra of Lancaster and the Nantucket Baroque Festival. Jonah has played principal trumpet with the Boston-based Ambient Orchestra (dir. Evan Ziporyn) since 2016, a group with whom he has toured nationally and internationally.
As a recitalist and clinician, Jonah has presented solo recitals and masterclasses at Keene State College, MIT, Harvard University, Bucknell University, and Lycoming College. His primary teachers have been Terry Everson, Steve Emery, and Roy Poper.
Mr. Quan Le
Originally born in Vietnam, Mr. Quan Le started piano lessons at the age of 8. In 2017, Mr. Le decided to pursue a music career as a pianist. He completed his Associate Degree of Arts from Montgomery College in 2020 and Bachelor of Arts from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2022 under the guidance of pianist Brian Ganz. This fall, Mr. Le will continue to pursue a Master’s Degree at the University of Maryland.
Mr. Le believes music has a supernatural power of helping people escape reality, and enter a magical world filled with imagination and wonders. It is within music that he feels the voiceless can speak and the blind can see. It is where one can become true to oneself with no fear of being criticized. It is with music that Mr. Le overcame the challenges in life, and it is his wish to share music with as many people as he can.