July, 2021

The MusicLink Foundation established the Senior Award of Excellence of $1000 to recognize a graduating senior who has shown ongoing commitment in lessons and has made significant progress in musical studies, performing at an outstanding level. This award is made possible through the Arline and Russell Bridge Endowment Fund.

The 2021 Senior Award winner is Jesse Nieman of Portland, Oregon. Jessie has been a MusicLink piano student for seven years, studying five years with Pauline Eidemiller and the past two years with Julia Lee. He has won numerous competitions, including the Beaverton Symphony Concerto competition and the MTNA Oregon state competition in Piano Duo. In addition to being a competition winner in his piano studies, he also played violin with the Portland Youth Philharmonic for 6 years. Jesse is active as a pianist at his church as well as performing at retirement homes. Jesse also has young students from five years old to thirteen on both violin and piano.

He explained a significant experience he had when traveling internationally. "I was on a mission trip in Mexico visiting a men's rehabilitation center where I expected to meet hardened drug users. The first surprise came when I found a violin workshop at the center where these men learned to make violins and knew the mechanical details of the violin but were unable to play themselves. They had not heard the incredible sounds that these instruments could make. As I played violin for these men, tears began rolling down their eyes as the strains of music reached their ears."

Jesse will be attending Westmont College, where he will study biochemistry. At Westmont College, he was invited to participate in the Augustinian Honors Program and competed in the Guild music scholarship competition. He was also nominated as a National Merit Scholarship recipient. Jesse plans to continue studying violin and piano in college, play in ensembles and hopefully continue teaching.

August, 2021

We love to hear MusicLink alumni success stories! Mandy Faccenda graduated from high school and MusicLink in 2015 and currently teaches piano to students of all levels. She started her studies at the age of 3 and teaching piano at the age of 13. Mandy graduated with honors and received her bachelor's degree in Piano Performance at Texas State University. She is continuing her studies at Texas State where she is pursuing her master's degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy. Mandy was awarded The Most Improvement in Piano award at Texas State in 2017.

Mandy's confidence as a pianist is inspiring and she is always looking to grow musically. She specializes and advocates in having an extensive knowledge of composers, honoring their authentic style, and performing their music the way that they have intended. She believes in the importance of musicality and expressiveness when performing. Mandy's key components on teaching include an awareness of Classical piano repertoire, developing high quality technique, and musicianship. These attributes are what makes her a special pianist and pedagogue.

Mandy began teaching in 2010 as a student-teacher at Frush Music Studios in Abilene, Texas. She also works as a Graduate Instructional Assistant for Texas State and as a counselor for the Texas State International Piano Festival. Because learning music is beneficial to expanding imagination and creativity, Mandy believes everyone should have the opportunity to learn music at their full potential… as do we.