The Federated Music Teachers Association of the Quad-Cities recently held its 37^th Annual Classical Piano Competition, with submissions turned in by video and instead of judged in person.

Quentin Fonseca

The Federated Music Teachers Association (FMTA) – part of the 122-year-old National Federation of Music Clubs — is a group of local music teachers that runs a Classical Festival one year, alternating with a Baroque Festival the following year. In the Classical Piano Festival, entrants needed to perform one sonata or sonatina from the Classical period (1750-1820) and depending on their level, a second piece of their choice.

In the first stage, the finalists are chosen by the piano pedagogy doctoral students from the University of Iowa. In normal years, the finals are held live at West Music in front of an audience and a judge. This year, however, due to Covid, the finalists had to make videos of themselves and the judge, Dr. Joan Trapp, had three days to pick the winners.

There were 46 total entrants. Finalists were chosen by recorded auditions to appear in the virtual performances of the Elementary, Intermediate and Senior Divisions.

Trapp is a native Iowan, raised in Cedar Falls. She completed her bachelor and master’s degrees at Northwestern University and her doctorate at the University of Iowa. She taught in the music department at St. Ambrose University for 38 years. In addition to teaching, practice and performance have been part of Trapp’s life for nearly 60 years. She has

Jack Stremlow

performed with colleagues from St. Ambrose and with many community music ensembles over the years.

The following students were named winners, including honorable mentions and their teachers listed in parentheses.

Elementary Division

• Jackson Havercamp (Davenport) – 1st place (Roberta Quist, Davenport)
• Madeline O’Malley (Bettendorf) – 2nd place (Roberta Quist, Davenport)
• Paige McMann (Eldridge) – 3rd place (Roberta Quist, Davenport)
• Eugene Chan (Bettendorf) – Honorable Mention (Perry Mears, Davenport)
• Annabelle Pettersen (Bettendorf) – HM (Roberta Quist, Davenport)
• Claire Pfeiffer (Bettendorf) – HM (Kay Basham, Bettendorf)

Intermediate Division

• Jack Stremlow (Davenport) – 1st place (Marian Lee, Davenport)
• Linda Phan (Bettendorf) — 2nd place (Marian Lee, Davenport)
• Xin-Yan Chan (Bettendorf) — 3rd place (Perry Mears, Davenport)
• Timothy Ku (Bettendorf) – HM (Marian Lee, Davenport)
• Molly Isaacson (Davenport) – HM (Roberta Quist, Davenport)
• Zach McMann (Eldridge) – HM (Roberta Quist, Davenport)

Jackson Haverford

Senior Division

• Quentin Fonseca (Rock Island) — 1st place (Marian Lee, Davenport)
• Nathan Hummel (Davenport) — 2nd place (Roberta Quist, Davenport)
• Sarah Eckert (Davenport) — 3rd place (Roberta Quist, Davenport)
• Matthew Dorang (Bettendorf) – HM (Perry Mears, Bettendorf)
• Erika Holmberg (Bettendorf) – HM (Laura Crumbleholme, Moline)
• Emma Nelson (Bluegrass) – HM (Vanessa Jewell, Bettendorf)

The 2020 Festival sponsors were Quad City Symphony Orchestra, West Music, Griggs Music, Augustana College, Linda and Don Allebach, Richard and Kay Patterson, Roberta Quist, Kay Basham, Richard Sessler, and Darlene Steffen.

For more information on FMTA, visit http://qcmusicteachers.org.

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Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner -- who has called the Quad Cities home since 1995 -- has decades of experience as a professional journalist and pianist. His experience writing for daily newspapers, public radio and local TV encompasses a wide range of subjects, including the arts, politics, education, economic development, historic preservation, business, and tourism.

Jonathan most loves writing about music and the arts (which he now does as a freelancer for the River Cities Reader and Visit Quad Cities). He has a passion for accompanying musicals, singers, choirs and instrumentalists, including playing for QC Music Guild's 2023 productions of RENT and SWEENEY TODD. He is assistant music director and accompanist for the spring 2025 Music Guild show, ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. He wrote an original musical based on The Book of Job, which premiered at Playcrafters in 2010. Jonathan penned a 175-page history book about downtown Davenport, that was published by The History Press in 2016, and a travel guide about the QC published by Reedy Press in 2022.