International Competition of Romantic Music 2020
The American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music is open to instrumentalists (piano, piano duo, winds, strings, chamber orchestras, voice) of all nationalities and countries. Participants are required to submit video recording materials for the audition. Multiple winners will be chosen in each age category.
American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music 2020 attracted the largest number of very competitive applicants on record from 9 countries, including the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Bulgaria, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia.
Awards
Since the situation with COVID-19 Global Health Crisis is still uncertain, winners will be offered to perform at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on the dates to be announced, or to receive a Winner’s Package by mail.
Special prizes for best performances may be awarded based on the judges’ recommendations.
Judges
Four qualified judges will evaluate audition materials. All judges are independent; their students are not allowed to apply this season.
Dr. Sophya Genis is invited as a Chairwoman of the Competition 2020. Mrs. Genis holds a Doctor of Music Arts Degree. She studied piano with such renowned professors as Alexander Yoheles, Yakov Milstein and Yakov Zak.
International Competition of Romantic Music 2020 Results:
Judges Distinction Award (Plaque Trophies) Winners

Lindsay Tao is now seven years old girl from San Jose, CA. She is a second-grade student at valley Christine School. She has been learning piano since the age of five. She is a sunny, bright, and happy girl. She loves drawing, singing, and Kungfu. But the piano is her favorite. After half a year learning piano, she began to perform at various concerts. She has been invited to perform in numerous piano concerts. She won the second place at 2019 American Protégé International Music Competition and she was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall for Winter Gala Concert. She won the first place and been chosen Exceptional Young Musician Special Prize at the 2020 Golden Classical International Competition. In this summer, she also won the first place and been chosen Exceptional Young Talent Special Prize at 2020 Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition and first place at International Open Music Competition 2020.
Winners by Age Category
Name | Age | Country/State |
Young Musicians Category, Age 5 to 10: | ||
First Place Winners | ||
Tingchen Ding, violin | 5 | Kunming, China |
Student of Maryna Kuchma | ||
Lucas Yao, piano | 6 | Pitt Meadows, Canada |
Student of Wayne Weng | ||
Bentley Penn, piano | 7 | Fort Mcmurray, Canada |
Student of Eunji penn | ||
Evelyn Hwang, piano | 7 | New York, NY |
Student of Dr. Sohyun Ahn | ||
Jessica Hu, piano | 7 | Levittown, NY |
Student of Joyce Ng | ||
Lindsay Tao, piano | 7 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Le Yu | ||
Victoria Ramos, piano | 8 | Seattle, WA |
Student of Marissa M. Rebadulla-Ramos and Peter Mack | ||
Julia Gentry, piano | 9 | Newport Beach, CA |
Student of Ana Maria Eckstein | ||
Sophie Yu, piano | 9 | Lincoln, NE |
Student of Dr. Feifei Jiang | ||
Vanessa Guan, piano | 9 | Austin, TX |
Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
Boxi Wang, violin | 10 | Kunming, China |
Student of Maryna Kuchma | ||
Cooper Li, violin | 10 | Sydney, Australia |
Student of Yong Yang | ||
Kathryn Loutzenheiser, cello | 10 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Laszlo Mezo | ||
Second Place Winners | ||
Evelyn Wang, piano | 5 | Milpitas, CA |
Student of Olivia Zhang | ||
Victoria Cui, piano | 6 | Bellevue, WA |
Student of Qian Yin | ||
Ruoyu Zhong, violin | 7 | Kunming, China |
Student of Maryna Kuchma | ||
Rosalind Pham, piano | 8 | Portland, OR |
Student of Leslie Chen | ||
Audrey Cham, piano | 9 | Austin, TX |
Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
Aeneas Yu, piano | 10 | Fremont, CA |
Student of Peyhwan Kuan | ||
Ava Shu, piano | 10 | Williamsville, NY |
Student of Violeta Arakelova | ||
Jiyool Kim, piano | 10 | New York, NY |
Student of Sohyun Ahn | ||
Joseph Yoon, piano | 10 | Centreville, VA |
Student of Dominique Shim | ||
Leon Crisan, violin | 10 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Wangchen Long | ||
Piano Duo/Four Hands: | ||
Vanessa Guan | 9 | Austin, TX |
Audrey Cham | 9 | Austin, TX |
Students of Julia Hsiao | ||
Third Place Winners | ||
Xinwei Liu, piano | 7 | Beijing, China |
Student of Mary Ko | ||
Emma Tseng, piano | 8 | Katy, TX |
Student of Alina Uddin | ||
Stephen Cui, violin | 8 | Bellevue, WA |
Student of Christian Neascu | ||
Audrey Chu, piano | 10 | Portland, OR |
Student of Leslie Chen | ||
Justin Liaw, piano | 10 | Fremont, CA |
Student of Peyhwan Kuan and Natalie Chia | ||
Honorable Mention | ||
Albert Zhang, piano | 9 | Gilroy, CA |
Student of Elena Paradies | ||
Junior Category, Age 11 to 14: | ||
First Place Winners | ||
Annie Le, violin | 11 | Malvern, PA |
Student of Jessie Jin | ||
Beatrice Jean Consolata Gobang, voice | 11 | Bekasi, Indonesia |
Student of Valentina Nova Aman | ||
Chloe Frisco, cello | 12 | Palos Verdes Estates, CA |
Student of Clive Greensmith | ||
Stella Seong, violin | 12 | Wyckoff, NJ |
Student of Dr. Yu Jeong Lee | ||
Chance Hattrick, piano | 13 | Clarcksburg, MD |
Student of Jaewon Lee | ||
David Deutsch, piano | 13 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Tatiana Stignev | ||
James Tsaggaris, piano | 13 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Nataly Gingis | ||
Nicole Rovniaguin, voice | 13 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Vagharshak Ohanyan | ||
Tane Kim, cello | 13 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Jenny Hyunseung Oh | ||
Catherine Li, piano | 14 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Dr. Zhao Zhao Yang | ||
Emanuel Luo, piano | 14 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Nataly Gingis | ||
Henry Yao, piano | 14 | Sunnyvale, CA |
Student of Dr. Dante Dilanni and Shen-Ling Chuang | ||
Isabella Jung, violin | 14 | Leonia, NJ |
Student of Dr. Yu Jeong Lee | ||
Kayleen Kim, cello | 14 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Jenny Oh | ||
Second Place Winners | ||
Annabel Rae Ng, violin | 11 | Singapore |
Student of Le Hoang Hai Van | ||
Claira Nguyen, piano | 11 | Fremont, CA |
Student of Le Yu | ||
Albena Deneva, piano | 12 | Sofia, Bulgaria |
Student of Milena Pavlova | ||
Claire Jin, piano | 12 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Miranda Wu | ||
Ivo Ivanov, piano | 12 | Sofia, Bulgaria |
Student of Milena Pavlova | ||
Qiao Zhang, piano | 12 | Temple City, CA |
Student of Vera Hoalim | ||
Serena Wu, piano | 12 | Solon, OH |
Student of Xiaoling Anderson | ||
Amber Lee, piano | 13 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Agnes Mah | ||
Katie Liu, piano | 13 | Portland, OR |
Student of Leslie Chen | ||
Seone Ahn, violin | 13 | Seoul, South Korea |
Student of Najeong Kim | ||
Wilson Song, violin | 13 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Sorah Myung | ||
Yue Zhang, cello | 13 | Shanghai, China |
Student of Benjamin Larsen | ||
Zijing Zhang, piano | 13 | Saratoga, CA |
Student of Frank Levy | ||
David Lee, piano | 14 | San Jose, CA |
Student of John McCarthy | ||
Devon Chang, violin | 14 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Eunhee Kim | ||
Joshua Bold, piano | 14 | Gainesville, VA |
Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
Ryan Feng, piano | 14 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Le Yu | ||
Shirley Xu, piano | 14 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Tatiana Stignev | ||
Piano Duo/Four Hands: | ||
Joy Liu | 12 | Leander, TX |
Amelia Spielman | 14 | Austin, TX |
Students of Julia Hsiao | ||
Third Place Winners | ||
Maya Jade Tantang, piano | 11 | Singapore |
Student of Angela Ang | ||
Sahana Manikandan, Oboe | 12 | Princeton, NJ |
Student of Barbara Witmer | ||
Darren Hung, piano | 13 | Henderson, NV |
Student of Dr. Emily Hung | ||
Winston Mahendra, violin | 13 | Fremont, CA |
Student of Jing Yang | ||
Rebecca Tang, violin | 14 | Chesterbrook, PA |
Student of Jessie Jin | ||
Piano Duo/Four Hands: | ||
Paras Nijhawan | 14 | Austin, TX |
Henrik Chan | 15 | Austin, TX |
Students of Julia Hsiao | ||
Honorable Mention | ||
Shogo Huang, violin | 12 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Wangchen Long | ||
Corey Zhang, piano | 13 | Sammamish, WA |
Student of Joyce Tang | ||
Romil Bhatt, piano | 13 | Fremont, CA |
Student of Dorothy Su | ||
Intermediate Category, Age 15 to 18: | ||
First Place Winners | ||
Alexa Chen, harp | 15 | Pleasanton, CA |
Brian Lee, cello | 15 | Belmont, MA |
Student of Eugene Kim | ||
Ethan Chen, cello | 15 | Davis, CA |
Student of David Chen | ||
Honor Frisco, violin | 15 | Palos Verdes Estates, CA |
Student of Elmer Su | ||
Ivan Smaltsuga, flute | 15 | Kunming, China |
Student of Denis Savelyev | ||
Jayden Yeung, piano | 15 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Lanzo Luconi | ||
Jayden Yeung, violin | 15 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Sam Fischer | ||
Jeslyn Cai, piano | 15 | Spokane, WA |
Student of Peter Mack and Karlyn Brett | ||
Hwa Lang Cho, violin | 16 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Heesun Choi | ||
Jonathan Backues, piano | 16 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Xiao-yan Sui | ||
Nichatorn Tangkuptanon, harp | 16 | Bangkok, Thailand |
Student of TongJuan Wang | ||
Audrey Liu, piano | 17 | Cupertino, CA |
Student of Tamami Honma | ||
Henry Hsiao, voice | 17 | Princeton, NJ |
Joanna Wang, piano | 17 | Scarsdale, NY |
Student of Adam Kent | ||
AYM-Octet2020: | ||
Aidan Kwon, violin | 11 | San Jose, CA |
Dongwoo Kang, violin | 14 | San Jose, CA |
Erica Song, violin | 15 | San Jose, CA |
Seyeon Rah, violin | 16 | San Jose, CA |
Bomin Kim, viola | 14 | San Jose, CA |
Brandon Kwon, viola | 16 | San Jose, CA |
Donghyung Kang, cello | 16 | San Jose, CA |
Andrew Kang, cello | 17 | San Jose, CA |
Students of Sonyoung Kang | ||
Second Place Winners | ||
Amanda Wang, violin | 15 | Guilford, CT |
Student of Shan Jiang | ||
Anna Jun, violin | 15 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Davis Law | ||
Ellie Lee, violin | 15 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Michael Tseitlin and Irina Tseitlin | ||
Emily Kim, violin | 15 | Glendale, CA |
Student of Shelly Ren | ||
Eric S. Huang, piano | 15 | Katy, TX |
Student of Alina Uddin | ||
Gwyneth Gherzan, violin | 15 | Highland Park, NJ |
Student of Sharon Gayoung Cho | ||
Honor Frisco, piano | 15 | Palos Verdes Estates, CA |
Student of Esther Keel | ||
Ira Hsiao, piano | 15 | Austin, TX |
Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
Jaeyee Jung, violin | 15 | Raleigh, NC |
Student of Rebekah Binford | ||
Kelly Hung, piano | 15 | Henderson, NV |
Student of Dr. Emily Hung | ||
Luke Qiao, piano | 15 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Dr. TingTing Zhang | ||
Nathan Kim, piano | 15 | Rolling Hills Estates, CA |
Student of Esther Keel | ||
Nellie Nguyen, piano | 15 | Westminster, CA |
Student of Ting Huang | ||
Amber H Wang, cello | 16 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Jenny Oh | ||
Carolyn Nguyen, piano | 16 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Elaine Lin | ||
Catherine Chen, piano | 16 | Valencia, CA |
Student of Agnes Kim | ||
Mary Zimmer, piano | 16 | Sunnyvale, CA |
Student of Yi Jia Ho | ||
Michael McPhie, piano | 16 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Susan Bana | ||
Simon Ahn, piano | 16 | Lansdale, PA |
Student of Sonyi Gwon | ||
Christine Youn, cello | 17 | Lake Oswego, OR |
Student of Jae Choi | ||
Eric Zhuo, piano | 17 | Murray, UT |
Student of Ya Liu | ||
Meilin Yen, voice | 17 | Cupertino, CA |
Student of Haruna Shiokawa-Mo | ||
Minji Kim, violin | 17 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Elbert Tsai | ||
Phillip Jeong, piano | 17 | Porter Ranch, CA |
Student of Soyun Kim | ||
Yvonne Kim, cello | 17 | Salt Lake City, UT |
Student of Anne Francis Bayless | ||
String Duo: | ||
Natalie Nef, violin | 17 | Pleasant View, UT |
Zach Benton, viola | 17 | Salt Lake City, UT |
Students of David Porter | ||
Third Place Winners | ||
Darian Liu, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
Student of William Wellborn | ||
Derrick Liu, piano | 15 | Cupertino, CA |
Student of Amy Hwang | ||
Jaeyee Jung, piano | 15 | Raleigh, NC |
Student of Debbie Kim | ||
Lucas Chen, piano | 15 | East Rutherford, NJ |
Bo Sun, violin | 16 | Exton, PA |
Student of Jessie Jin | ||
Joseph Mathew, piano | 16 | Coppell, TX |
Student of Hwa Lee | ||
Joseph Zhang, piano | 16 | Cupertino, CA |
Student of Nataly Gingis | ||
Miles Chen, piano | 16 | Beaverton, OR |
Student of Mauro Bertoli | ||
Zhenjie He, voice | 16 | Vancouver, Canada |
Student of Opus Academy | ||
David Hu, piano | 17 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Nataly Gingis | ||
Sunoo Jeong, piano | 18 | Thousand Oaks, CA |
Student of Soyun Kim | ||
Honorable Mention | ||
Ryan Cheng, violin | 15 | San Jose, CA |
Student of Jing Yang | ||
Trinity Lee, violin | 15 | Fremont, CA |
Student of Jing Yang | ||
Eric Wang, piano | 16 | Palo Alto, CA |
Student of Zhaoni Chen | ||
Seoyeong Hwang, piano | 16 | Yorba Linda, CA |
Student of Soyun Kim | ||
Advanced Category, College Students and Professionals | ||
First Place Winners | ||
Kseniia Vokhmianina, piano | 29 | Singapore |
Hyojeong Kim, piano | 31 | Frisco, TX |
Student of Pamela Mia Paul | ||
JIn Ah Kwon, piano | 35 | Lewisville, TX |
Other applicants received Diploma of Participation
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!