Menaka Fernando, a classical pianist, was recently selected as a winner for the American Protégé Competition for Piano and Strings.
Menaka Fernando is an 11th grade student at Cherry Hill High School East. She has been playing classical piano and has private tutelage for more than 10 years and has performed at various competitions that were sponsored by state and national organizations. These include her selections as a winner placed with honors at the New Jersey Music Teachers Association, and South Jersey Music Teachers Association competitions in the years of 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. She played as a winner at Rowan University New Jersey in 2012 to 2015, and Westminster College of Music in Princeton 2015. In 2016 and 2018 she was selected as a winner for the American Protégé Competition for Piano and Strings and performed at Carnegie Hall, at the Weil Recital Hall. She will perform this year again in June as a 2018 winner.
In January 2018 she was also selected as a winner of the Golden Key International piano music competition festival and will perform in the historic Ehrbar Hall and Mozart Haus in Vienna Austria in August, where she will receive a winner’s diploma to be followed by the Winners Gala Concert. She also received a gold and silver award for her piano performance in the Golden Key US piano music competition and festival, and performed on May 25 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She also passed an exam and was declared a district winner, preparatory for collegiate class in the National Piano Auditions from the National Guild of Piano Teachers and Teacher Division of American College of Musicians of the United States and Piano Hobbyists of the World for one year.
