Vanessa C. Schwarz’s MAC OPEN Summer Classic Piano and Voice Competition, an annual summer event that averages 400 performers from all over Michigan, is set to be held at the prestigious Kawai Music Lessons Studios in Shelby Township on August 3rd and 4th, 2024. This is an exciting opportunity for music enthusiasts to showcase their talent and compete among the best musicians in the state.
This event is more than just a competition; it's a celebration of music and a platform for budding musicians to learn and grow. The event includes Jazz performances, a 2 piece competition, and evaluations to provide performers with insightful feedback about their performance.
The Jazz events, a hallmark of this competition, are scheduled for Saturday. Jazz, with its roots in African-American communities of New Orleans, is a genre that is both complex and expressive. This event serves as a platform for jazz enthusiasts to express their musicality and creativity, with their soulful and moving performances. Be sure to check our website for the Jazz Song List Event at: www.macopenfallclassic.com
The evaluations will be conducted on both days of the event, Saturday and Sunday. The evaluative component of the event is a unique opportunity for participants to receive constructive criticism from an expert judge. This feedback is invaluable as it helps performers to identify their strengths and areas of improvement, and subsequently, refine their skills to reach their full potential.
The 2 piece competition is scheduled for Sunday. In this competition, participants are required to perform two contrasting pieces to showcase their versatility and the breadth of their repertoire. This competition not only tests the technical skills of the performers but also their ability to evoke emotions and tell a story through their music.
The stakes are high, and the rewards, even higher. All winners will receive a trophy engraved with their name, a testament to their talent and hard work. The trophy is not just a symbol of victory but a memento that performers can cherish for a lifetime.
The adjudicators are looking forward to a weekend filled with mesmerizing performances. So, mark your calendars for the MAC OPEN Summer Classic Piano and Voice Competition on August 3rd and 4th, 2024, at Kawai Music. Be sure to register by the July 7th deadline using this link: https://forms.gle/yJz4qx9CxuzTSLb59 . Whether you are a performer, or a music instructor, this special event is sure to leave you enthralled and inspired.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing all the wonderful piano, vocal and string performers this weekend! Jazz, Evaluations and 2 Piece Competitions will be heard at our Summer Classic 2024.  Tune in on Facebook Live Sunday August 4th at 8 pm to hear the winners for the competitions. Be sure to like us on Facebook, so you can watch the live announcements. 

Fun photos from our special MAC OPEN Fall Classic 2023 Weekend

Feel free to  email or send us your photos on Facebook to include in our memories!

The first winner of the squishee prize!

Thank you to this wonderful staff that helped to make this years Fall Classic a successful weekend!

Our MAC OPEN Fall Classic 2022 Schedules have all been sent to the teachers, so you should know your day, time and room numbers now.
We are looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks!
Reminder Only Students will be allowed into Kawai,
unless it is an evaluation, then your family
​can come in when it is your turn to go in and perform.

Our 2022 Summer Classic MAC OPEN World Series Champion

Thank you to our Registration Desk Help and support!

Hoping everyone had a great experience at our annual Summer Competition! hope to see you again in November!

11-16 and Adult 2 pc Piano
Competition Winners

8-10 Year Olds Piano
​Competition Winners

5 to 7 Year Olds Piano
​Competition Winners

Thank you to MaryAnne David at Kawai Studios for hosting our events!

Vocal 2 Pc Competition Winners

Instrumental Winners

Piano Jazz Veteran Division Winners

Piano Jazz All Star Division Winners

Piano Jazz Rookie Division Winners

Vocal Jazz Winners

2022 MAC OPEN Summer Classic Staff

Please scan this code to take you to the Fall Classic Registration Form. 
Thank you!

Thank you to our wonderful staff over the weekend!
​ From judges to monitors, they all helped to make it run smoothly!

Congratulations to our 2021 MAC OPEN Fall Classic World Series Champ
Yuri Caluag, placed 1st in 7 of her 9 events!!! What an accomplishment

Congrats to our World Series Runner Up Champ: Yuri Caluag
Yuri performed in all 6 piano and vocal events and did awesome!!!
She is looking forward now to the Fall Classic where she will try to win the overall crown!

Congrats to the World Series CHAMP at our very first Summer MAC OPEN:
Naya Varghese, who had the highest overall scores in 6 events.
She performed in both piano and vocal events.

Congrats to our 2021 Summer MAC OPEN Vocal Champ: Antonio Starke
Placed 1st in all three vocal events with the highest scores!

Congrats to the Summer MAC OPEN Piano Champ 2021
Ysabella Borromeo
Received 100% Ratings in all three piano events
where she took 1st place in each!

Summer Classic MAC OPEN Winners

Summer MAC OPEN Violin and Vocal Winners 2021

We are proud to announce our 2021 Jazz Piano Winners

Thank you to all that participated in our first ever Summer Classic MAC OPEN.
With the emphasis on Jazz, we had 203 performers and 17 teachers participating.  
Thanks to MaryAnne David for letting us use
her wonderful facility, Evola Music in Shelby Township, MI.  
We even had students compete over zoom, so it was a huge success!!!

A Big Thank You to this amazing team! To the judges and monitors, you were all the best! Thank you for making the students feel at ease with your smiling faces and calming personalities!

Join us Sunday, August 15th at 6 pm on Facebook Live for our Award Ceremony Announcements! Tune in to see if you are one of the winners from the weekend events!

It's never to soon to be thinking about the next MAC OPEN, we are starting our first ever Summer Classic in 2021.  We have a new event, called the Central Division that has a Jazz Standard List to pick music from for both piano and vocal!

Our first ever Summer Classic is set to take place August 13-15th, 2021 at the Evola Music Lesson Studios in Shelby Township, and via virtual for those who would like to participate that way.  It will include evaluations, two piece competition and the new Central Division of Jazz Music.

Remember to thank your teacher for building your skills to perform this weekend.

MAC OPEN FALL CLASSIC 2020 PIANO 2 PIECE COMPETITION WINNERS:
​

First Place Winners:
Alessandro DeRosa
Haojia Liang
Elizabeth Pytel
Mikaela Romano
Luca Nowinski
Ysabella Borromeo
Keaton McCormic
Carson Zhu
Elias Habib
Zack Bishop
Manden Henke
Yiannis Thanasas
Zahra Husain
Jessica Duncan
Octavian German
Ryan Hsieh
Selina Lin
Aaron Amano
Sean Kaknjo
John Mondragon
Daniel Pop
Issac Song
Myrna Stephan
Gyan Caluag
Ellie Lin
Krishna Mukutmoni
Marcus Peret
Ella Spender
Garrett Brown
Hana Chrenka
Jeric DelOeste
Alexander Jiang
Dillan Lau
Kenneth Sun
Neil Zhu
Giovanni Cavataio
Evan Deras
Joey Geck
Eric Liu
Jonathan Taylor
Claire Hamlen
Tina MarieDaniel
Aleena Kaki
Pierce Fick
Minvy Pham
Rosalie Tabor
Gottlieb Zhu
Derick Alzaga
Adele Li
Miliana Mercure
Aiden Platt
Shige Zhu
Eryn L.Choi
Grace Covelli
Emily Crawford
Siddhaant Datta
Claire Douglas
Megan Dziadzio
Nikolas Greulich
Hosea Smith
Ashley Zhou

​2nd Place Winners:
Audrey Bishop
Angela Kuo
Dante Nowinski
Sophia Wanstreet
Angelina Lin
Lejla Kaknjo
Lukas Moubarak
NolaMae Tcruz
Milena Kielar
Nahil Edrisinha
Anna Li
Neel Nagappala
Nate Wanstreet
Adam Rozanski
Nolan Kas-mikha
James Thomas
Elijah Anderson
Evan Kovie
Swapna Srikantan
Nicholas Fleser
Natalie Watson
Charlie Jiang
Laura Stephan
Maria Bonucchi
Santo Craprotta
Quinn Bullock
Dominic Mercure
Anna Wen
Olivia Huang
Yzabella Iratagotia
Gabrielle Ranola
Flora Shu
Grace Clopton
Evelyn Gao
Amelia Wu
Emma Francisco
Yuki Anand
Chloe Boutros
Scarlet Bullock
Gioia Haddad
Joseph Lee
Amanda Liang
Josephine McIntosh
Timothy Petrisor

3rd Place Winners:
Stella Lopez
Caitlyn Minto
Nivritti Varanasi
Morgan Hurd
Sophia Novak
Kruti Pramudh
Maggie Wu
Gavin Bagtas
Matteo Durasevic
Alex Smith
Alasandri aDistefano
Isaac Murray
Justine Perakis
Henry Szmyd
Ethan Wilkie
George Perakis
Christina Ng
Sydney Wilkie
Lauren Crawford
Nicolas H.Davila-Hernandez
Amrith Anand
Angela Dai
Reagan Ellsworth
Harriet Wang
Meghana Nagappala
Aishwarya Sakthi
Evy Wang
Alex Zhou
Henry Bollinger
Sebastian H.Davila-Hernandez
Katherine Estes
Jonathan Lu
Kody Olson
Hana Vala

Even during these times,
​the music must go on! And what beautiful music was heard all weekend by so many talented hard working pianists and vocalists.

We are excited to announce we have added a new Central Division (Jazz Solos for piano and vocal students) to our very first MAC OPEN SUMMER CLASSIC we are having August 13-15, 2021.  We hope you can join us! We will include evaluations and two piece competition too!

Congratulations to the Vocal 2 Piece Competition in all the Age Groups Winners:

1st Place Winners
Naina Patalay
Madison Kaimala
Samantha Ranola
Rishika Balakrishnan
Katie-Grace Burd
Mia Bustamante
Ashley Woodford
Jenna Knepper
Michael Shoemaker
Emma Shoemaker
Gracie Shoemaker
Leigha Matonis
Lilly Rosin
​
2nd Place Winners
Jasmine Ng
Lauryn McConachie
Reid Rosin
Holly Rosin
Maria Dunn
Maria Bonucchi
Ava Weingartz
Elizabeth Younan

3rd Place Winners
Gina Bonucchi
Lyla Tradii
Natalie Watson
Gio Bagtas
Yuri Caluag​

Thank you to all who participated this weekend in person and virtually. 
We were so happy to be able to still put on an event like this. 
Many more hours were put in by all of us,
​ so that we could provide a safety environment for all. 
Stay tuned for Sunday 2 Piece Competition Winners to be announced!

American League Vocal Winners:

​​1st Place Vocal American League Winners:
Lilly Rosin
Angelina Stradley
Holly Rosin
Ashley Woodford
Maria Bonucchi
Emma Shoemaker
Gina Bonucchi
Samantha Ranola
Gio Bagtas

2nd Place Vocal American League Winners:
Lyla Tradii
Mia Bustamante
Natalie Watson
Katie-GraceBurd
Gracie Shoemaker
Rhoda Nepolian

3rd Place Vocal American League Winners:
Lilly Storrs
Yuri Caluag

National League Vocal Winners:

1st Place Vocal National League Winners:
Gavin Bagtas
Angelina Stradley
Lilly Storrs
Madison Kaimala
Ashley Woodford
Maria Bonucchi
Emma Shoemaker
Yuri Caluag
Gio Bagtas

2nd Place Vocal National League Winners:
Samantha Ranola
Lyla Tradii
Mia Bustamante
Natalie Watson
Holly Rosin
Gina Bonucchi

3rd Place Vocal National League Winners:
Leigha Matonis
Maria Dunn
Gracie Shoemaker​

Thank you to all the Family and Friends that helped again this year at our MAC OPEN.
We didn't get any pictures, so here is one from a few years ago.

Piano National League Winners Are:



1st Place Winners:
Gavin Bagtas
Anandavel Sakthi
Jonathan Lu
Jacob Parkinson
Vibha Krishna
Michael D.Turea
Violet Potempski
Emily Zhao
Dezyderiusz Sakowski
Aaron Sun
Yuan Chen
Gabrielle Ranola
Aishwarya Sakthi
Emily Li
Kaeshav Krishna
Nideesh Srivatsavan
Claire Bahk
Riley Sauger
Junie Guo
Junseo Byun
Dan Marin

2nd Place Winners:
Riley Bannister
Nainika Jasti
Kyle Hall
Isaac Murray
Shreya Bhan
Yanchen Zhu
Sunny Wang
Anna Provenzano
Daniella Joseph
Louis Kim
Pujah Raj
Angelina Stradley
​
3rd Place Winners:
Nolan Pilotto
Sienna Nguyen
Ysabella Borromeo
Martha Eldersveld
Emma Francisco
Zahra Husain
Natalie Watson

Piano American League Winners Are:


First Place Winners:
Oliver Beauchamp
Aishwarya Sakthi
Abigail Miranda
Luke Moltzen
Oliver Jostock
Brody Jendrusik
Angela Kuo
Ysabella Borromeo
Geralyn Nguyen
Camille Korski
Meredith Steinhauser
Anna Wen
Sophia Iratagotia
Gabrielle Ranola
Tara Rush
Mateus Brajak
Bella Lindblade
Anna Li
​Isabella Card

2nd Place Winners
Elcee Choi
Vincent Coppola
Caitlin Lisseman
Gavin Bagtas
Gianna Coppola
Josie Nicosia
Anandavel Sakthi
Pedro Kawashima-Barbosa
Chelcee Choi
Helena Eldersveld
Natalie Watson
Zahra Husain
Nicolas Viulet

3rd Place Winners:
Ava Mazza
Walker Covelli
Angelina Stradley
Holly Rosin
Annabelle Jostock
Lucy Coppola

Using technology so the students do not have to miss out on everything this year.

Vocal Duet 1st Place Winners were:
​ Holly and Lilly Rosin
Vocal Duet with Teacher 1st Place Winner:
Katie-Grace Burd,
2nd Place:
Gracie Shoemaker 
3rd Place
​ Emma Shoemaker

A Beautiful Weekend
​for our MAC OPEN

Congratulations to Sarah Shoemaker's Vocal Ensemble this weekend!
Gracie & Emma Shoemaker, Lilly & Holly Rosin and Leigha Matonis took first place!

Congratulations to 2020 MAC OPEN FALL CLASSIC
First Place Theory Winner:
​Hayden Simko
Student of Melissa Gedrimas

Congratulations to 2020 MAC OPEN FALL CLASSIC
​ First Place Piano Duet Winners Emily & Anni Li 
​Students of Irene Lin

Thank you to all 583 students who all participated in our MAC OPEN this weekend! What a beautiful weekend we had inside and out!
You couldn't ask for a
more perfect outcome!
We are double checking all the scores this morning
​before we post any results.
So please be patient as we do so, thank you again!

Virtual Piano and Vocal Competition so students have a purpose this Fall. Join us as we add virtual events this November for all students to experience! If you haven't joined us in the past, this is the time to!

​

Who will be our next MAC OPEN World Series Champ? 
​We can't wait to find out!  

Gyan Caluag, MAC OPEN World Series Champion, and MMA Open Winner 2019-2020, with his teacher Vanessa C. Schwarz.

Like us on our Facebook Page to stay updated on all our events!
​

Join us this Fall, for what will be the best MAC OPEN Ever!
Be heard by composers, entertainers and teachers from all over the world in our Virtual Competitions/Evaluations!

We Have a Plan and Back up Plan for this Fall's MAC OPEN-
​ THE SHOW WILL GO ON 

​We will offer in person events with all the safety measures in place at Evola,
​or if you'd rather do your event virtually on Zoom this Fall you can choose to do so!  
All events will be moved to Zoom if the State Mandates another stay at home order at the time of our planned events

Congratulations to our World Series Runner Up for 2019 Lyla Tradii

Picture
Lyla Tradii is a vocal student of Alyssa Phelps and a piano student of Vanessa C. Schwarz.  Lyla participated in 11 events this weekend! The only one she didn't do was the Concerto, so she will work towards adding that accomplishment next year!  Lyla is having quite the musical year, as she has also been awarded a scholarship from the Michigan Music Association for her Essay that won their contest for the upcoming 2020 Event.  Congratulation Lyla, keep up the great work and keep being a great role model.

Thank you to our 2019 MAC OPEN Staff​

Thank you to all the wonderful friends and family that help make this weekend a success! I couldn't do it without each and every one of you! From the judges, to the monitors, ushers, our photographer, front desk help, office and records to my sister baking all our treats, to our wonderful caterer Ty, and all the manpower to move everything around, to Evola and MaryAnne letting us use their site each year.  To my grandbabies that visited during lunch to help brighten the day! They are our future.
​ Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Congratulations to the 2019 MAC OPEN World Series Champion
Gyan Caluag 

Picture

Gyan Caluag, second time World Series Crown Winner, is a student of Vanessa C. Schwarz.
Gyan placed first in 8 of his 9 events.  Gyan performed in Piano Evaluation, Competition, American League, National League, Piano Duet, Concerto, Theory, Vocal Evaluation and Vocal Competition.  He placed second only in the National League event.  
He was also crowned the Senior Concerto Winner this year too!
Congratulations Gyan and please do continue to share your talent of music with the world! 

We are looking forward to seeing and hearing all of you perform on November 2nd and 3rd at Evola for our 2019 MAC OPEN.  Be sure to bring your music for the judges to look at.  We will announce the winners here on our website, and also on our Facebook Page.  Like us at MAC OPEN FALL CLASSIC 2019 to stay updated.

The MAC OPEN Staff is wishing you all a Happy New Year! We hope to see you again November 2-3, 2019.

Congratulations to Marena Tutag for becoming the 2018 MAC OPEN World Series Champion. Marena was the overall winner performing in 12 piano, vocal and theory events. She placed in all events. She was awarded the crown and $150 scholarship.
​Way to go Marena!

Marena is a senior at Eisenhower High School..

Gyan Farrell M. Caluag
2017 MAC OPEN WORLD SERIES CHAMPION​ 

Gyan performed in 8 piano and vocal events.  He placed first in 7 of these events.  He also tied for first with his Junior Concerto.  A rising star at age 12, he is definitely going places in the musical world.  We are so proud to announce him winning the World Series Champion Crown for 2017.  He received a Scholarship check for $125 along with the MAC OPEN Champ Trophy.
​The MAC OPEN had 57 teachers participating and 676 performers for the weekend, along with 20 various judges to help evaluate.

MAC OPEN FALL CLASSIC November 4-5, 2017

Natalie Watson, MAC OPEN 2016 World Series Champion 

Natalie Watson, entered nine events at the 2016 MAC OPEN, and placed in seven of the nine. She had the most overall points, and was named the World Series Champion.

Natalie was awarded a big trophy, and a Scholarship check for $125.

Natalie played in the Piano Events (Evaluation, Competition, American League, National League and Duets) and sang in the Vocal Events (Evaluation, Competition, American League and National League.
​
The 2016 MAC OPEN had 60 teachers participating and over 600 performers for the weekend.

MAC OPEN Location
Evola Music Store
12745 Twenty Three Mile Road
Shelby Township, MI 48315

Our MAC OPEN is held each year at the Evola Music Store conveniently located on 23 Mile Road between Schoenherr and Van Dyke in Shelby Township, MI.  Up to 25 rooms/studios may be used, along with the best pianos in town. Students doing evaluations even get the privilege of performing on the best grand pianos on site.

Contact Us

You can contact us at the [email protected]
​ if you have any questions, or would like to sign up.
Call 586-864-7514 if you need immediate questions or concerns addressed.

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