Music briefs

School unites to save music program

When Seattle School District cut back money for music education last fall due to the district's budgetary crisis, families at West Seattle's Lafayette Elementary School took matters into their own hands. They formed a group called FOLM (Friends of Lafayette Music), and they're having a fund-raiser to generate the $7,000 needed to restore the school's instrumental music program for 2005-06.

"Music is a gift we want all of our children to have. As adults, so many of us turn to music for both recreation and restoration. It's just too important to our children's education to see it severed," said Alison Estep, parent volunteer and chair of the FOLM event.

At 6:30 p.m. Feb. 11, the school will host a Children's Dinner Theater, with performances by young Lafayette instrumentalists (piano, violin, classical guitar, plus singing and some Irish dancing). Parents will cook and serve the dinner; desserts will be brought and auctioned. There's what Estep calls "a modest silent auction." And some alumni (now high-schoolers) will return to perform in aid of the cause.

A $6 donation gets you in; children younger than 4 are free. The event takes place in the school's cafeteria/auditorium, 2645 California Ave. S.W. (info at 206-252-9500).

Bellevue violinist wins Junior Strings spot

Mikaela Holland, a 13-year-old Bellevue violinist, has won the Northwest Division of the Music Teachers National Association Junior Strings auditions, held recently in Spokane, and will advance to the nationals April 2 at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel, during the national conference of the MTNA. The national winner will be heard in recital here April 3.

The same weekend as her MTNA victory, Holland won the high-school division of the Coeur d'Alene Symphony Young Artists Concerto Competition in Idaho, for which she received a trophy, $500, an appearance on a live radio broadcast and a soloist opportunity with the orchestra in March.

Additionally, she won a performance opportunity among some of the region's most outstanding young musicians in the Portland MetroArts 2005 Young Artists Concerto Concert, under conductor Niel DePonte.

Holland began the violin 8-1/2 years ago and is studying with University of Washington professor Ronald Patterson.

Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times music critic