The Golden Key Music Festival receives consistently high praise from its many participants.
Here is a just a small sample of their reactions:
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Marcia Bryant, educator
USA, CO
Thank you for what you do for students all over the world. You are changing lives.
… Thank you for what you do for students all over the world. You are changing lives.
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Diana Lin
USA, NY
I just wanted to let you know that I was so impressed by the way you organized the Silver Winners’ Recital at Carnegie yesterday. Absolutely loved your intro and fun ending to the program. It was so much fun and the best experience for my student compared to other winners’ recitals I’ve seen & attended. Very heartwarming to see how kind you are and how you want to spread your love for music and the students. Thank you for the beautiful and inspiring recital for the students! Looking forward to the Lincoln Center recital and many more winners’ recitals in the future!
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Wei Tuck Chan & Hui Yun Wong
Malaysia
We would like to thank you for the great experience that we have during our stay in Vienna and we will remember this for a very long time. You and your team did a tremendous effort in putting together a successful festival and we see so much dedication and joy from you and team. The trip around Old Town Vienna, Haus der Musik, Esterhazy Palace at Eisenstadt, Salzburg, Beethovenhaus at Baden, and Mozarthaus Vienna is enlightening and a memorable one. The recitals by guest performers gives us a long lasting impression. We would like to thank you for all the opportunities that you have given to us, especially the masterclass with Prof. Stephan Möller, playing our duet in Ehrbarsaal, and performing in Bösendorer Hall at Mozarthaus Vienna. I am very thankful for the 3rd Prize Award for my composition ‘Intrigue’ and the opportunity to premiere my piece at Ehrbarsaal. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors and hope to see you again! Best regards
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Catherine Rollin, pianist & composer
USA
Thank you very much for all that you did – especifically for Jack Naglick, and generally for the wonderful afternoon and evening of music. I enjoyed all of the recitals! On the 2nd recital, I enjoyed Stephan Möller’s first movement of the Schumann Fantasy so much that I decided to stay for the whole Schumann song cycle. After that – I of course had to stay for Rollin’s “Rainbow Fish.” The student performed that very well !!! The acoustics of the hall really made this piece resonate so beautifully!
I enjoyed the complete 3rd recital as well. My student Kristine was so honored to be on the stage. There was lots of fine playing on this recital and it was also a lot of fun.
I have one more student coming to Golden Key in May. She is looking forward to it!! And my student Catherina is looking forward to the Vienna tour and master classes this summer!
Warmest wishes
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Professor Johnny Wu,
Western Australia
Thank you for organizing another successful Golden Key Festival this year. It is such an excellent opportunity for budding musicians to perform and learn from each other. Jasmine thoroughly enjoyed the recital and sharing her love of music with others. We hope to participate in the Golden key of the United States Festival next season again. Best regards
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Fei Ju Bradeen
USA, New York
Again, please accept my appreciation for you have done to kids last summer in Vienna, My children ( students) have gained a lot of experience and confidence from the Festival. Two students have gained the acceptance from Manhattan school of music, the wonderful experience was truly inspiring them. We all miss you!
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Alison Golder
UK
… Charlotte had a great time, and as an inexperienced pianist was happily surprised by the positive reception her piece and playing got. She has very little self belief and confidence, so I hope and believe that the experience will help her grow as both a musician and performer. Many thanks
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Terence Fernando
USA, New Jersey
I want to thank the Golden Key Music Festival for a most memorable event in August ’18. I, my wife and our daughter had one of the most enjoyable summers.
What an amazing time, also, it would have been for all the young pianists to have performed at the prestigious and historic Ehrbar Hall where great composers as Beethoven and Mozart too had performed while the kings were watching! It was such a proud moment for us to have seen our daughter Menaka perform on that same stage. The classical music talent of other performers, too, were simply outstanding. It is not always that we can see so much talent performing in one hall.
The trips to Salzburg where Mozart had lived and Beethoven’s apartment in Vienna were so touching that I observed how much all these young performers were intensely listening to what the guide was saying. I have no doubt that this trip would have had a tremendous influence on these artists’ classical musical interests. I can go on!
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Laetitia Ruccolo, Westminster Choir College
USA, New Jersey
…I have been willing to write you for a long time, but I absolutely wanted to thank you for organizing this fabulous concert at Carnegie Hall on April 30th 2018. It was such an incredible experience for my student, and it improved so much her self-confidence. I’m happy to tell you that she got great results at NYSSMA a few weeks ago, and she has just been invited to play for her school graduation, and will be the only student playing.
Thank you for giving such wonderful opportunities to young musicians. All the best,
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Jin (Emily’s mom)
USA, Pennsylvania
I want to thank you for providing this wonderful learning opportunity for the kids in Vienna. It was so inspiring. I accompanied Emily to the music trip every summer starting when she was 8 years old. We traveled to Germany Weimar, Russia Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kostroma, Paris and China and this is the 4th one. The one thing standing out of your event is that you provided so many concerts opportunities(total 6), either the kids need to play or can hear adults/promising kids perform. This was quite interesting and we learned a lot and heard many astonishing performances. In tonight’s concert, it was very touching when you gave Vsevolod Zavidov the golden key and said that it is for him to open the door of Music’s Hall of Fame. It suddenly reminded me the goal of your organization which is to not only promote music talents but also share and appreciate music.
Oh, Emily says “thanks” to you too!
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Vivian Read, piano pedagogue
USA, New Jersey
Thank you so much for the wonderful recitals on Sunday. Very professional and enjoyable. Especially loved the Pictures at an Exhibition performance. WOW!!! As you have said, it’s all about giving our students the opportunity to perform on a prestigious stage which they’ll remember their whole life. Kudos to you!!!!!
Looking forward to the gold recital in May!
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Lena and Leonid Russinov
USA, Boston, Massachusetts
We greatly appreciate how you and your staff organized the Carnegie Hall Recital. Our granddaughter is Deanna Neff who participated as a Silver Medal Winner. Even though Deanna previously played in Carnegie Hall as a winner of other competitions, the Golden Key Musical Festival recital … was the best. We really enjoyed… the music, performers, and set up by your organization. Especially great was the idea to juxtapose students’ performances with the professional pianist Stephanie Franke. Her stage appearance was just wonderful. We look forward to Deanna playing in the next year’s competition and possibly to seeing you again. Once again, thank you for the music!
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Leong Family
Singapore
We really enjoyed the festival and all the music programs that you put together. Which is why we’d like to submit for competition again – who knows? It’s almost 2 months since the Vienna tour, but Phoebe and I are still talking about the Festival, and we have lots and lots of wonderful memories. Phoebe would like to participate again next year.
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
John A. Patti, Esq.
USA
Being in Vienna and experiencing the Golden Key program was truly an experience that has had an explosive impact on our family. Every aspect of the program is interconnected with other aspects of the program. The organization of the program was truly a stroke of genius and well thought out by Dr. Borisov. My only regrets are that at some point the program ended and we had to come home. Major thanks to Dr. Borisov for the experience and the memories. If you have the opportunity to attend Vienna with Dr. Borisov and the Golden Key, take it! You will not regret it. Vienna waits for you.
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Santoso Tanzil
Indonesia, Jakarta
We would like to thank you for your warmest welcome during the concert of the Golden Key Festival in New York. You are so kind and we appreciate so very much your best hospitality and we enjoyed your marvelous concert so much. The artists were all so gorgeous and performed so well…. Congratulations on your successful Concert. Yovela was so happy to have your cerificate and your beautiful medals. It’s our honour to have your kindness. We are so proud of you and all of the young artists and your special Guest artist, Maestro Stephan Möller. Thank you so very very much.
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Marina Strakovsky, President of the Cecilian Music Club
USA, NJ
The [Vienna] tour was truly incredible. You succeeded in putting together such an interesting, lively, and enriching program, and every element fit perfectly into the overall theme of Viennese music and each event complemented the others. It was truly amazing, and a real success. It is this cohesion that distinguishes your program from other similar ones. It seems to me, that you created a great rhythm in the program through the fast-paced schedule and thematic unity; it gave each day a great energy. We all felt suddenly immersed in a world of music. …My students, for one, have not stopped talking about their experience. Not a lesson goes by that they do not remember something about Vienna …. Their eyes light up; they grin at the colorful and beautiful memories. You truly created a one-of-a-kind world, a one-of-a-kind atmosphere that engulfed us. It was both very productive and professional, and also friendly, casual, and warm. Thank you again, and congratulations!
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
extract from “Middletown Patch“, NJ 9/18/2014
USA, NJ
… “Golden Key International Music Festivals are designed to educate and inspire student musicians […] by offering them opportunities to perform in the most prestigious concert halls, like Carnegie Hall in New York City, Ehrbar Hall in Vienna, and Theatre Champs-Elysees in Paris. This year’s festival in Vienna did just that.
Participants from Monmouth County in this year’s festival included Campbell Lee, Alexandra Siwulec of Rumson, Natalie Pugliese of Middletown, and Lisa Frost-Goodall of Red Bank.
The festival was held in Vienna, Austria from August 4-11 and attracted young musicians from China, Estonia, Russia, Greece, Australia, Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
The event opened with the Gala Concert for winners of the Golden Key Music Festival Vienna Piano Competition and guest artists, followed by the World Composers’ Concert for winners of the Golden Key Piano Composition Competition. Both recitals were held in the world-famous Ehrbar Hall at the Prayner Conservatory, where renowned musicians such as Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, and Gustav Mahler have performed.
Other musical opportunities for students included Master Classes with professors Carol Morgan and Stephan Moller, a “Mozart in Context” musical exposition at the Bosendorfer Saal at Mozarthaus, and “A Tribute to Vienna”, a monster concert at Kaiser Hall inspired by the Cecilian Music Club of Freehold.
Young musicians were able to fully immerse themselves in the Viennese musical culture with tours of the Esterhazy Palace with its famous Haydn Hall in Eisenstaedt, Mozart’s birthplace of Salzburg, and the Johann Strauss Museum in Vienna. Students were also encouraged to attend nightly musical expositions, such as an organ concert at Saint Michael’s Church, also known as Mozart’s Church.
Festival participants were ecstatic about their experience in Vienna. Viviana Liao, a performer from West Windsor, NJ, said, “The Golden Key Festival in Vienna was amazing, from the stunning concerts we attended and played in to the great friends we made. Though we’d only been there a week, it was hard to say goodbye to Vienna and all the friends we made.” Another performer, Anthony Low from California, called it “the best time of his life.” A Winner of the Piano Composition Competition, Kevin Su from Boyds, Maryland stated, “The Golden Key festival was both entertaining and educating.”
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Alissar Deeba
USA
Serina has been going to the Golden key Festival for a few years now. I need to let you know that every time I attend the Golden Key Festival at Carnegie Hall, I enjoy it so much…. But this year, it was really fantastic! All the kids were so talented. The guests were just great, especially Mr. Stephan Möller. Thank you again for such a wonderful evening.
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Sarah Qi
USA
I just wanted to say thank you for managing the trip to Vienna. It was spectacular, I loved it! It’s definitely one of my favorite places of Europe and I hope to visit there again. I especially liked the House of Music and the trip to Salzburg. It was beautiful there. Mozart was lucky to have lived in such a beautiful city. Thanks again for the amazing trip!
Golden Key of Vienna Music Festival-Tour
Sandip, Srirupa, and Abhik Mazumder
USA
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and Marina sincerely for hosting the Golden Key Piano Festival, Vienna. The festival was wonderfully organized, and we really enjoyed ourselves in Austria. Abhik had a great time. Going to Vienna had been his dream for a long time, and we think the reality was better than the dream.
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Paul Sallee, Director, Music University of New Jersey
USA
Congratulations on planning, organizing and pulling off another fantastic festival! Each year our students look forward to the event and the performances in New York and Philadelphia. It is very positive and encouraging event that brings out the best in the students who participate.
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Mary Wang
USA, NJ
Myson Raymond Zhang is Ms. Ingrid Clarfield’s student and have performed in Carnegie Hall, NYC today. We are very happy and we enjoyed the concert a lot. Thank you so much for successfully organized festival.
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Joanne Yeung
USA, Pennsylvania
Thank you so much for organizing the Golden Key Music Festival and for giving the children the opportunity to play at the Carnegie Hall and other prominent concert halls of New York and Philadelphia. My family had a wonderful time and enjoyed the recital very much. It is amazing to see how many children participate in the Festival and devote their time and effort to music.
Golden Key Music Festival of the USA
Ary Swaminathan, 9 years old
USA
Thank you very much for the Barnes & Noble gift card and my Diploma at the Kimmel Center. I enjoyed playing in the Festival recital and hope to do it again.