Winter
Anik in the Preliminary round of the St. Louis Teen Talent Competition
In January, Anik was invited to make a cameo appearance at the St. Louis Teen Talent Competition at the Fox. Additionally, for their performances in the Preliminary round, Anik was awarded a class scholarship to DaySpring School of the Arts and Nora was awarded a class scholarship to STAGES Performing Arts Academy.
Sean (Uncle Fester) kicked off spring show season early in February in The Addams Family at Fort Zumwalt East. He even learned to play the ukelele for his song, “The Moon and Me”!
To cap off the season we celebrated seven piano students who completed a level of their method books.
spring
Four of our students competed in the Federation District & Scholarship Competition in March. Anik was our club’s District voice winner and went on to represent the club at the State competition. Molly was selected as voice Runner-Up. Charlotte and Elijah were both awarded summer camp scholarships for their piano performances at the event.
In April, 58 students participated in the Federation Jr. Festival at UMSL. For the seventh year in a row, all of our students received Superiors for their performances and ten of our students earned trophies this year! A big thank you to studio family, the Polittes for all your paper shuffling, to piano student, Sophie for helping sort trophies, and studio alumn, Jack for helping out both as a judge and theory exam proctor. A festival of our size is a monumental undertaking and I couldn’t do it without lots of help!
Left: Nora as Miss Honey in Matilda
Right: Sean in the Ensemble of Matilda
Spring show season was as busy as ever - Nora B. appeared as “Charlotte”, one of the stepsisters in Cinderella at Incarnate Word; Sydney (Slappy Sammerstein) was in YPT’s Golly Gee Whiz; Nora P. performed in the Ensemble of Beauty & the Beast Jr. at her middle school; Olivia made a great “Zeke Baylor” in her middle school’s High School Musical Jr.; Alyssa (Aquata/Ensemble) shone in St. Charles West’s The Little Mermaid; Molly starred as “Grace” in Annie with Miss Patti’s Musical Theatre Company; Sydney (Ensemble) made her Stray Pups Theatre debut in The Little Mermaid Jr.; and Nora B. (Miss Honey) and Sean (Ensemble) were fantastic in YPT’s Matilda. Whew! What a season!
Other spring highlights included Payslie’s show choir, Tonali-T winning 2nd Place at the Mt. Zion Midwest Invitational, Mackenzie performing in her school talent show, and ten amazing piano students finishing a level of their method books!
Summer
Left: Jen, Kelly, and Sarah at the picnic recital in June
Right: Grace with Taylor Louderman after a Muny Kids performance
Summer got started with our picnic recital at 370 Lakeside Park - it was a humid one, but the storms held off and we enjoyed dinner al fresco and performances from 35 students!
Grace was back at The Muny this summer, this year as a member of The Muny Kids troupe! Their high energy pre-show was so much fun to watch. In addition to performing with the troupe, she was cast in the Youth Ensemble of Frozen, which was a Muny premiere.
Molly was chosen to participate in a week-long musical theatre intensive hosted by Taylor Louderman and Shelby Ringdahl. It was really special to see her and the other amazing students from the camp perform in their inaugural Rising Stars Showcase at the Blue Strawberry at the end of the week. Grace was also invited to work with Taylor in a workshop at STAGES. It’s so wonderful to have Broadway performers invest in our students right here in St. Louis!
We had several students participate in musical theatre camps that culminated in a production. Lea (Cyndra) and Sydney (Ensemble) were in Wentzville Christian Church’s High School Musical Jr.; Charlie (Old Man Jenkins) appeared in St. John UCC’s production of The Spongebob Musical Youth Edition; Hattie sang in the Ensemble of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with LifeLight Youth Theatre; and piano student Emily found her exact casting fit as “Kelsi” the pianist in High School Musical Jr. at YPT.
In addition to theatre camps, our students participated in community theatre productions - Sydney performed in the Ensemble of Seussical at Whitecliff Summer Playhouse and Nora (Margo) and Sean (Daddy Cane) starred in YPT’s Pre-College production of Bright Star.
Left: Charlotte at the Webster Piano Camp recital
Right: With Molly at the Blue Strawberry for the Rising Stars Showcase
In summer piano news, Elijah used his Federation scholarship to attend UCM’s Summer Piano Institute and Charlotte’s scholarship took her to Webster’s summer piano camp. They both learned so much and it was a treat to see their end of camp performances.
Thirteen students traveled to Springfield, MO to compete at MAMA at the end of August and received a total of seven Superiors. We closed out the summer with our annual High School recital at Steinway Piano Gallery and also celebrated seven piano students who completed a level of their method books.
Left: With Jack after his senior recital at Mizzou
Right: Ana with Kevin Chamberlin at Blue Strawberry
Alumni updates
In February, 2023 grad, Analiesa Hollowood was accepted to Union Avenue Opera’s CRESCENDO! program - a series of master classes and workshops culminating in an adjudicated recital open to the public. She sang so beautifully in the concert - such a gift to see how she has continued to grow as a performer! Ana also performed in a master class this fall given by Broadway performer, Kevin Chamberlin, at Blue Strawberry.
In April, I traveled to Mizzou to see Jack Ferry (‘21) give his senior piano recital. I’m so proud of Jack’s continued commitment to his music - there may have been a few tears shed during his rendition of “Misty”. Jack completed his BA in Music this spring, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He will be at Mizzou for one more year finishing up his engineering degree.
Fall
Left: With Alyssa after the Sing for Scholarships competition
Center: Riva, Jen, and Lea at Legally Blonde Jr.
Right: With Shreeya at the Teen Talent Semifinals
In September, Alyssa was named as a finalist in the River Blenders’ Sing for Scholarships competition. She performed at their fall concert in October and was awarded 2nd place by audience vote. Also this fall, Shreeya made it through to the semifinals of the St. Louis Teen Talent Competition.
Shreeya made it into the high school Metro 8 Honors Choir and Riva and Adhrit were both chosen for the Metro 8 Middle School Choir by their choir teacher. Olivia was named to the St. Louis Suburban MMEA District 5 Middle School Honors Choir.
Left: Sydney (far right) as “Bielke” in Fiddler on the Roof
Right: Ashley (center) in White Christmas
Connor (Gander) and Sydney (Ensemble) performed with YPT in Charlotte’s Web in October, and November shows included Sydney as “Bielke” in her Act Two debut in Fiddler on the Roof; Ashley (Ensemble) in her MBU Debut in White Christmas; and Riva (Brooke Wyndham) and Lea (Sundeep) in their middle school production of Legally Blonde Jr.
Also this fall, fifteen students participated in our Federation club’s Sonatina & Art Song Festival, receiving a total of 11 Superiors and we had eight piano students complete a level of their method books.
holidays
December was a busy month for community performances! Savannah, Evie, and Violet sang with the Choral Society of St. Charles in their annual holiday concert; Heidi performed in her school’s Advent service, Jack played piano as part of the pre-service music for the Christmas program at Lord of Life Lutheran Church; Alyssa sang a solo in her church’s children’s Christmas pageant; Sahel and Nora sang with their school choirs in the St Charles Christmas Traditions Santa Parade; and many other students performed with their church and school choirs and scout troops. Additionally, Sean (Ed Sullivan Announcer/Ensemble) and Nora (Receptionist/Ensemble) were in YPT’s production of White Christmas.
Our preschoolers in our Music for Little Mozarts program at Hope Lutheran Church Preschool gave their Christmas concert in mid-December. Miss Jen does such a great job working with our preschool friends on simple music concepts and preparing them for the concert.
We had 76 students join us for our annual Christmas recitals - it was a full house and so fun to gather together to close out a wonderful year of music!
Christmas Recital 2025
Thank you to all of our studio families for your support throughout the year. It’s a joy to make music with you each week and we are grateful for the opportunity to guide each of our students on their musical journey!
Warmly,
Kelly, Jen, and Sarah
