Dallas — Come meet Daphne Kwok, the newly appointed chair of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and learn how the federal government is working to help improve the lives of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

“The commission and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islander are our vehicles to help the federal government make a difference in our community,” said Ms. Kwok, who is the keynote speaker for the Dallas Fort Worth Asian American Citizens Council’s 10th Anniversary Awards Banquet. The event will be held at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, September 18th, 2010, in the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, Texas.

Other presenters will include Iowa State Senator Swati Dandekar, and the two Texas gubernatorial candidates, Texas Govenor Rick Perry and The Honorable Bill White.

“Our slogan has been ‘Key People in Key Places‘, and Ms. Kwok is certainly among the key people who can help the API community,” said DFW AACC president Jane Jan.

The Advisory Commission is part of a White House Initiative to improve the lives of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities underserved by federal resources.

Ms. Kwok is currently the Executive Director of Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California. She previously served as the executive director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, as well as the Organization of Chinese Americans, a national civil rights organization with more than 10,000 members. She was also the first-elected Chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.

A VIP reception will be held at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and program at 7:00 p.m. Community tables of 10 are available for $500.00. Individual tickets are $60.00 each. Ticket requests may be faxed to 972-398-1377. For more information please e-mail: David.Way@InnovativeWayInc.com.

DFW AACC is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to promote and assist Asian-American involvement in local social, political and civic activities that increase community awareness, improve representation and enhance the quality of life.

In recognition of a desire to encourage Asian Americans to become active participants in public service and government affairs, DFWAACC announced the creation of a new intern scholarship initiative. The program’s goal is to provide assistance in the intern application process and award financial support to area Asian American college students. Selected students will be awarded a scholarship toward living expenses during the internship period.

The program will initially focus on D.C. internship positions with the White House and U.S. Congressional Members. The first internship session under consideration will be the Summer 2010 session, with application deadlines in February and March. Applicants are required to be U.S. citizens and to submit a completed application packet required for the internship position. North Texas Asian American college students are encouraged to contact DFWAACC to indicate their desire to participate in the program.

A workshop will be held on Monday, December 28, 2009 from 6:30pm to 8:30 pm to provide information on various internship positions, as well as application requirements and deadlines. Mr. Cass Calloway, a former White House intern, will be on-hand to provide practical advice and guidance to interested students. The workshop will be held at the Richardson offices of Haynes and Boone, LLP, at 2505 N. Plano Road, Suite 4000, Richardson, TX 75082. Please email dfwaacc.intern@gmail.com to sign up for the workshop.

DFWAACC is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization with an affiliation of over 50 Asian chambers and community organizations. DFWAACC’s mission is to assist the Asian American community to be active participants in the U.S. political and civic arenas through voter education and registration, candidates forums, cross-cultural tutoring, leadership training, and youth programs. DFWAACC’s motto is Key People in Key Places.

A Van Cliburn welcome reception was held at Ed Landreth Auditorium Reception Area. It was sponsored by:

• Van Cliburn Foundation,
• DFW Asian American Citizens Council – Cultural Committee,
• US China Chamber of Commerce,
• Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce,
• Korean International Education and Cultural Committee,
• JR Chae Tax Services,
• Korean Literature Society of Dallas,
• Korean Go Club of Dallas,
• Maharlika Dancer, Inc.,
• Ironstone Bank,
• InnovaCorp Inc., and
• Juice Zone

Below is a review of the wonderful performances.

Also, the Dallas Morning News has an article on this event too.

This weekend, the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition began at TCU. Many Asians of the DFW area attended these concerts for the first time.

Everyone expected good concerts but few were prepared for THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME.
On Saturday we were treated with

• The great versatility and virtuosity of Konstantyn Travinsky of the Ukraine.
• An astonishingly excellent performance by Naomi Kudo who played her music with great élan,
• Imaginative interpretation of Ravel and Polonaise finale.

Just as we thought things could not be more wonderful, on Sunday we were all blown away by the magnificent beauty of music and the heart and soul of the performers:

Chuan-Chieh Yen of Taiwan performed to thunderous applause and bravos. “I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. He does us great honor” said a family from Taiwan.

Nobuyuki Tsujii the blind Japanese virtuoso played to great silence of awe throughout his entire repertoire and then there was an explosion of thunderous applause.

“This is history, and I have heard a lot of music in my life” said a music critic and reporter of KERA

“He changed several people’s lives by converting them to love music. Most of the audience had tears in their eyes. We are so moved by the beauty he gave us all” said a Korean community leader who is not a novice to music.

At 5 PM jointly co-hosted reception was a great success and appreciated by all who attended including the musical majority audience and invited community leaders which included new friends from the Ukrainian, Russia , and Hungarian communities. We want to thank all our co-hosts who supported the program.

Our Chinese Canadian DFW resident Ang Li was extremely accomplished with her very difficult to play ‘Apres une lecture de Dante by List’. “Now that I have heard so many excellent players, I am glad I came” said a Chinese music lover who studied music. But then he had to leave since the next day is a working day and he missed …

Ilya Yakushev of Russia who played with contagious love and happiness as he threw each piece of music like golden stars into the sky like a magician.

“Oh he was wonderful ! I can’t believe each player can so delight the audience” said so many people.

Jie Yuan of China was challenged after such performances before him. But with great poise and dedication his long fingers flew up and down the scales with crystal sounds and fire and made Stravinsky’s “Trois movements de Petrouchka” tree dimensional. “Did you see his finders !!!!!!” said one astounded Korean connoisseur.

The next day, We were delighted to hear two world class Korean pianists today. Ms Young – Ah Tak rendered a fluid and beautifully nuanced List Sonetto.She then astounded everyone with a very unusual Judith Zaimont Wizards with pizzaz.

A very serious Mexican pianist was followed in the afternoon by a precise Russian player who served up a very crisp Prokofiev.

A beautiful Sara Danespour in scarlet presented a very ambitious program which she played with great feeling and impressive mastery of many styles.

Another international star is born whose origins are in Iran.

The grand finale was perfect in phrasing from the first to last. Whether we hear the very familiar echoes of Spain or the 1913 version of the second sonata by Rachmaninoff . This exquisitely piece made me think of a fast flight by coach on a starry and crispy cold night. Up and down the hills and vales with distant church bells ringing and swift clouds streaming across a silver moon. Andrew Staupe of Minnesota was America at its best.

On the last day, the matinee began with the 3rd Russian competitor whose best performance was the Two Fairy Tales, Op. 20 by Medtner.

Like all ‘impressionist‘ works, the enjoyment of the music is enhanced when the listener participates beyond using the ears but also actively imagines the musical pictures as interpreted by the pianists. One could see the prince, princesses, fairies et al

The star performer of the day was for me the white gowned Ti Xin of China who played like an angel.

She gifted us with the Brahms Variations on a Theme by Paganini . She delivered – exquisite phrasing and nuances that were delicate notes and tender tones, which became soaring sonorous crescendos. She then played the list Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 with such impeccable passion and longing that when she ended with the last perfect note, one elderly lady gasped aloud “Oh my God!” and she later said to me “I have never heard the Hungarian Rhapsody played like that, you must be very proud of her“.

Chetan Tierra followed with a fiery Ginastera Sonata No. 1 op 22 to a standing ovation.

Vassilis Varvaresos of Greece began the evening auditions. His program changed which was equally appreciated by the audience.

David Fung of Chinese origin but an Australian took the challenge by presenting 3 Scarlatti Sonatas that very much represented the period and were to me the best of all pieces by same composer played by several pianists. But it was his La Valse by Ravel that pleasured me since it was a different but equally well delivered interpretation as another star of these auditions.

These memorable auditions ended with Demitri Levkovich reclaiming the honor of representing those European nations and heritages that created and gifted such beautiful music to and shared by the world ‘the works of such composers as Hayden, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin’ I could see the elegant salons, George Sand and List below the chandeliers and amid the bejeweled gowns.

There will be 2 more days of the auditions of Ft. Worth . Out of 26 competitors, 10 are Asian. This is a very significant contribution to the world of music. We wish each competitor the very best of luck to be selected as one of 30 in March and get into the next stage of the competition.

We appreciate the photography by Jarvis Jacobs of DFWAACC

We all appreciate the generous sharing and outreach by Sevan Melikyan and the Van Cliburn Foundation.

By Katherine Dress,  Chairman of DFWAACC Cultural Committee