By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

It’s remarkable how fast the rollercoaster of life can move. One minute, performing at Carnegie Hall seems like a fantasy. It’s not the next. Another minute, a trip to New York is cut from the picture. Then it’s suddenly back in the cards.

Those seem like motion picture miracles, but they’re actually the real and emotional rewards that coincide when a few local musicians take home first prize at the third annual Ukrainian Music Competition. The contest tasked musicians with performing the works of living Ukrainian composers, and was produced by Young Performers Foundation and Ukrainian National Women’s League of America. Winners were announced May 24.

“It makes me very proud of my students accomplishments and it makes me very honored to be able to contribute towards the promotion of Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian music in these very difficult times,” said Nadia Shpachenko-Gottesman, Cal Poly Pomona music professor and mother of one winner.

(L-R) Cal Poly Pomona music professor Nadia Shpachenko-Gottesman and her son, cellist Mondy Gottesman, perform at Palomar College in San Diego in May. Photo/courtesy of Nadia Shpachenko-Gottesman

First place finishers across the contest’s four age groups will perform in New York City on December 7 at the Ukrainian Institute of America and January 16, 2026 at Carnegie Hall.

Shpachenko-Gottesman’s 14-year-old son Mondy Gottesman, a cellist and rising Claremont High School freshman, claimed first prize in the 14-18 age group with his performance of Zoltan Almashi’s “Elegy” and Mykola Lysenko’s “Elegie – La Tristesse.”

The first round was at Palomar College in San Diego, the second a livestreamed performance at Cal Poly Pomona. “And there, I’ve had more lessons on the pieces, so I played them with a bit more knowledge there and was really expressive,” Mondy said.

The competition meant a great deal to the young musician with Ukrainian roots.

“I’m going to make my family proud,” Mondy said. “My grandfather in Ukraine is also going to hear about this. And the composer of the ‘Elegy,’ Almashi, who’s also in Ukraine, … he’s already heard about this and he’s really proud.”

Mondy took up the cello at 6 and is a student of well-known local music teachers Maggie Parkins, Marek Szpakiewicz, Henry Guan and the late Rick Mooney.

He started rehearsing “Elegy” and “Elegie – La Tristesse” over spring break in April, ahead of the early May submission deadline. He said it was tough finding time to practice while managing school commitments.

Musicians from the Cal Poly Pomona Piano Ensemble, including pianists Josiah Kemp and Caitlin Yang, Anai Hernandez, vibraphone, Jesus Aguilera, drums, and Kyra Johnson, marimba, took home first place in the 19-24 age group category. The group performed two movements from Catherine Likhuta’s “Heirlooms Suite,” which they rehearsed for nearly three months.

Yang, a recent Cal Poly Pomona spring graduate, said the first place prize was a testament to their teamwork.

“We wanted to click and I think we did a great job at least at trying our best to collaborate together,” she said. “That was the meat of the difficulty of the piece. Of course, practicing it on my own and making sure I practice with the recording, getting all that stuff done was super important, but the biggest part was that collaboration.”

The win meant something different.

“First off, I don’t really win too many competitions so that was already like a shocker. And then, two, to be given the opportunity to perform [in New York] is just a crazy honor,” Yang said. “Even when I was little, again, Carnegie Hall is like … the best of the best perform over there.”

For Hernandez, the spring semester started off on a sour note: the ensemble was informed an upcoming New York trip was cut. The negative feelings have since vanished.

“I expected to go to New York like earlier in the semester, but we actually didn’t get to go because there were budget cuts in the department, so we had to stay with more local places,” Hernandez said. “I thought it was a pretty cool full circle moment to like win this huge competition, and in my senior year, the last chance I had, and now I get to go to New York still with Cal Poly.”

Shpachenko-Gottesman said the competition held a deeper meaning than others she’s been associated with.

“For me, the biggest joy is to see them perform and to see the performance is well received,” she said. “Also, to perform music by Ukrainian composers, which is something that I have been doing a lot, especially since the [Russia-Ukraine] war started, so to bring this music to wider audiences is very important to me.”

To that point, Shpachenko-Gottesman said she is working to secure funding to take additional students to watch the piano ensemble perform in the coming months, with the hope of inspiring them to give Ukrainian music a listen.

More information is at youngperformersfoundation.com.