International Competition of Romantic Music 2021
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 2021 attracted the largest number of very competitive applicants on record from 6 countries, including the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
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 2021. 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 2021 Results:
Judges Distinction Award (Plaque Trophies) Winners
Grace Wang studies piano with Dr. Jonathan Bass at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Grace has won the first place with Judges’ Distinction in the 2021 American Protégé International Concerto Competition, first prize in the 2021 GLORY Int’l Romantic Music Competition, first place in the 2021 American Protégé International Piano and String Competition, and first prize in the Great Composers Competition 2021 Masters of Concerto and 2021 Best Chopin Performance. She has also been awarded first place in the Piano Teacher’s Congress of New York Honors Program, first prize with a perfect score in the Crescendo International Music Competition, first prize in the American Protégé Talent competition. Grace has performed numerous times at Carnegie Hall.
Grace Peng, from Atlanta, Georgia, began studying piano at the age of five. Currently, she studies with Dr. David Fung, but her primary teachers have included Raffi Besalyan and Elena Cholakova. Her accolades include being a laureate of the ENKOR International Piano Competition, Nashville International Piano Competition, Steinway Junior Piano Competition, a semifinalist of the William Knabe Piano Competition, and a four-time winner of the Georgia Music Teachers’ Association auditions. She has participated in several international music festivals, including the John Perry Academy, Lee University Piano Festival, and Bowdoin International Music Festival, where she has studied with pianists such as Natalya Antonova, Alan Chow, John Perry, and Ran Dank. Outside of solo piano, Grace is the pianist of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Sycamore Piano Trio, which has won the Franklin Pond Chamber Music Competition.
Grace Navarro is a seventeen year old Mezzo-Soprano from Los Angeles County. She’s a senior at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where she studies Opera. Grace also studies at Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. She will begin her third year with them in 2022. Grace is an alumni of Washington National Opera’s Institute for High School students. In 2019, she participated in LAO’s Opera Camp and performed in Then I Stood Up: A Civil Rights Cycle. During that summer, she was also in the California Philharmonic Chorale and performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall. She’s an honorary member of Cal Tech’s Chamber Choir and Glee Club. This year, Grace was a semifinalist in Spotlight at the Music Center of LA Opera. About two years ago, she was a Los Angeles Rotary Club Pageant of the Arts Finalist and First Place Winner in her district.
Ryan Lee, who has just turned 13, was inspired to learn to play the cello after hearing Bach’s cello suites when he was 9. He now studies cello with Brady Anderson in Pleasanton, and is in his school orchestra. Ryan loves performing, whether for a recital or for a competition. He has won many awards, including first prize in the San Francisco International Innovative Music Competition (SFIIMC), the North California Young Talents Music Competition, and the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC) VOCE Alameda County section competition. He has also won awards in the VOCE California State Final, the California American String Teachers Association (CalASTA) – San Francisco competition, United States International Music Competition (USIMC), the Korean-American Music Supporters’ Association Competition (KAMSA), the United States Open Music Competition (USOMC), and the International Grande Music Competition (IGMC).
James Tsaggaris started piano lessons when he was 5.5 years old. He passed the California Certificate of Merit level 9 exam at 13 years of age and is currently working towards the advanced level certificate. In 2021, he competed in person at the United States Open Music Competition in Oakland, California winning First Place in the Treasury of U.S.A. Composers and Second Place in the Showcase Piano Solo against older kids. He also won First Place in the 2021 U.S. International Open Music Competition, as well as First Place in the 2021 American Fine Arts Festival Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition. In 2020, he won First Place in the American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music and American Fine Arts Festival Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition. Besides music, James also loves inventing things. His design of a mechanism to automatically flip music sheets won First Prize at the 2020 Synopsis Science Fair.
Evangeline Lien made her public solo piano debut recital at the age of 9. The unique sound of the viola attracted her attention, which led her to transition to a violist. She was frequently invited to perform in mayor recitals, churches, and senior homes. By the age of 11, she had won numerous international competitions including the 1st prize of the American Protege International Music Talent Competition, 1st prize of the Golden Classical Music Awards, 1st prize of the International Music Competition “Bonn and Salzburg” Grand Prize Virtuoso with invitations to perform at Beethoven-Haus in Bonn and Solitär Mozarteum in Salzburg, 1st prize of the Greece Muse International Competition along with the 3rd prize of the overall winners, 1st prize with Menzione Speciale of the 31st Young Musician International Competition “City of Barletta”, 1st place of the 21st Century Talents Music Competition, 1st prize of the IMKA Music Competition, and 1st prize of the Charleston International Music Competition.
Olivia Yu, from Lincoln Nebraska, is currently a 1st grader at the Maxey Elementary School. She started to learn piano at five years old with Dr. Feifei Jiang and Dr. Hua Jiang at the JF International Music Academy in Lincoln. Olivia practices piano joyfully and persistently. She was awarded the first place of the U.S. division of the 2021 Conero International Piano Competition and a scholarship to participate in the Young Musician Program of the 2021 Conero International Piano Festival. She was also a prize winner of the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition in 2021 and the International Piano Competition Online in 2021. Olivia enjoys performing in public and performed in several concerts at the Conero International Piano Festival in Kansas City in 2021 as well as many local music events. She also loves reading and drawing.
Andrew Lun is a seven years old boy from New York City. He is a second grader at St. Bernard’s School. He started his formal piano studies with Fumiko Honda Bauer when he was five and a half. After his first six months of study, Andrew started to make incredible progress and during the next year he rapidly learned the following works: all fifteen Inventions of Bach, three waltzes and a polonaise by Chopin, and several classical Sonatinas. Andrew is already starting to make his mark as a performer. He was a Gold Prize winner of the 2021 International Young Artist Competition, also a Grand Prix winner of the Music-Fest Rising Talents Festival and was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. Besides playing the piano, Andrew enjoys Math, reading, chess, tennis and learning different languages. He is also a student at School of American Ballet.
Winners by Age Category
| Name | Age | Country/State |
| Young Musicians Category, Age 5 to 10: | ||
| First Place Winners | ||
| Olivia Yu, piano | 6 | Lincoln, NE |
| Student of Dr. Feifei Jiang and Dr. Hua Jiang | ||
| Andrew Lun, piano | 7 | New York, NY |
| Student of Fumiko Honda Bauer | ||
| Julia Gentry, piano | 10 | Newport Beach, CA |
| Student of Ana Maria Eckstein | ||
| Maxwell Brown, violin | 10 | Wilmington, DE |
| Student of Shelley Beard Santore | ||
| Ryusei Kobayashi, piano | 10 | Rolling Hills Estates, CA |
| Student of Masumi Maeda | ||
| Yi Ting Lim, cello | 10 | Singapore |
| Student of Professor Natasha Liu | ||
| Zoe Augusto Pook, piano | 10 | Semarang, Indonesia |
| Student of Midya Wirawan, LRSM | ||
| Second Place Winners | ||
| River Brown, violin | 5 | Wilmington, DE |
| Student of Shelley Beard | ||
| Emma Zhou, piano | 8 | Getzville, NY |
| Student of Dr. Violeta Arakelova and Diana Kezerashvili | ||
| Jacob Frame, piano | 8 | Katy, TX |
| Student of Alina Uddin | ||
| Jundi Ke, piano | 8 | Hollywood, FL |
| Student of Zheng Wang and Zhangqian Huang | ||
| Lena Okada, piano | 8 | Rolling Meadows, IL |
| Student of Midori Nagasaka | ||
| Carissa Darmawan, piano | 9 | Austin, TX |
| Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
| Helun Yang, piano | 9 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Cheng Zhu | ||
| Kyle Tanaka, piano | 9 | Palatine, IL |
| Student of Midori Nagasaka | ||
| Rachel Wang, piano | 9 | Acton, MA |
| Student of Yidan Guo | ||
| Yoojun Curtis Lee, violin | 9 | Singapore |
| Student of Helena Dawn Yah | ||
| Boyou Huang, piano | 10 | Champaign, IL |
| Student of Jing Hao | ||
| Katie Moon, violin | 10 | Harbor City, CA |
| Student of Diana Kim | ||
| Kaylah Liu, piano | 10 | Sandy, UT |
| Student of Ya Liu | ||
| Third Place Winners | ||
| Daniel Frame, piano | 10 | Katy, TX |
| Student of Alina Uddin | ||
| Grace Guo, piano | 10 | Lexington, MA |
| Student of Andrew Goodridge | ||
| Mia Turakhia, violin | 10 | Hillsborough, CA |
| Student of Alena Tsoi-Barantschik | ||
| Selina Dong, piano | 10 | Draper, UT |
| Student of Ya Liu | ||
| Honorable Mention | ||
| Steven Si, piano | 8 | Austin, TX |
| Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
| Leem Jia En, piano | 10 | Singapore |
| Student of Khoong Shok Meng | ||
| Junior Category, Age 11 to 14: | ||
| First Place Winners | ||
| Evangeline Lien, viola | 11 | La Verne, CA |
| Student of Chu-Ping Lin | ||
| Sarah Qistina Lim, voice | 11 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Student of Cha Seng Tiang | ||
| Alex Kim, piano | 12 | Mountain View, CA |
| Student of Jinhee Kim | ||
| Gina Fanelli, piano | 12 | Morrow, OH |
| Student of Takako Hayase Frautschi | ||
| James Yan, piano | 12 | Champaign, IL |
| Student of Jiafeng Yan and Jing Hao | ||
| Katherine Yaya Wang, piano | 12 | Carmel, IN |
| Student of Phoenix Park-Kim | ||
| Cynthia Huang, cello | 13 | La Jolla, CA |
| Student of Ruslan Biryukov | ||
| Ryan Lee, cello | 13 | Dublin, CA |
| Student of Brady Anderson | ||
| David Deutsch, piano | 14 | San Diego, CA |
| Student of Tatiana Stignev | ||
| Gahyeon Yoon, clarinet | 14 | Los Gatos, CA |
| Student of Katie Ryu | ||
| Isaac Sohn, piano | 14 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Kookhee Hong | ||
| James Tsaggaris, piano | 14 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Nataly Gingis | ||
| Kenan Begovic, piano | 14 | Rancho Santa Fe, CA |
| Student of Belinda Juang | ||
| Oliver Kahng, violin | 14 | West Orange, NJ |
| Student of Sharon Cho | ||
| Theodore Tak, cello | 14 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Jonathan Koh | ||
| Piano Duo/ Four Hands: | ||
| April Yang, piano | 14 | East Amherst, NY |
| Kevin Yang, piano | 15 | East Amherst, NY |
| Students of Violeta Arakelova | ||
| Second Place Winners | ||
| Akshatha Arunkumar, piano | 11 | Cupertino, CA |
| Student of Matt Wang | ||
| Ethan Zhang, piano | 11 | Naperville, IL |
| Student of JeongSoo Kim | ||
| Angelina Wang, piano | 12 | Farmington, CT |
| Benjamin Lim, piano | 12 | Beverly Hills, CA |
| Student of Sung Eun Lee | ||
| David Mun, piano | 12 | Tenafly, NJ |
| Student of Juny Jung | ||
| Lemi Okada, piano | 12 | Rolling Meadows, IL |
| Student of Midori Nagasaka | ||
| Lucas Wang, violin | 12 | Los Altos, CA |
| Student of Iskandar Widjaja | ||
| Roy Wang, piano | 12 | Champaign, IL |
| Student of Jing Hao | ||
| Eleanor Yu, piano | 13 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Yo Han Kim | ||
| Wendy Liu, violin | 13 | Cupertino, CA |
| Student of Zheng Zeng | ||
| Anna Lui, piano | 14 | South Jordan, UT |
| Student of Ya Liu | ||
| Annika Shivam, piano | 14 | Austin, TX |
| Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
| Beverlyn Tsai, piano | 14 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Jane Jung | ||
| Claire Wang, piano | 14 | Ann Arbor, MI |
| Student of Yangwei Situ | ||
| Daniel Mun, piano | 14 | Tenafly, NJ |
| Student of Juny Jung | ||
| Joseph Padalecki, piano | 14 | Concord, CA |
| Student of Stephanie Pai | ||
| Kristy Luk, piano | 14 | Hong Kong |
| Maya Fu, piano | 14 | Superior Township, MI |
| Student of Michele Cooker | ||
| Sean Park, piano | 14 | Edgewater, NJ |
| Student of Simon Juny Jung | ||
| Zijing Zhang, piano | 14 | Saratoga, CA |
| Student of Frank Levy | ||
| Piano Duo/ Four Hands: | ||
| Joshua Hana, piano | 10 | Austin, TX |
| Samuel Hana, piano | 12 | Austin, TX |
| Students of Julia Hsiao | ||
| Third Place Winners | ||
| Alex Xu, piano | 12 | Potomac, MD |
| Student of Max Foster | ||
| Alice Nadauld, piano | 12 | Salt Lake City, UT |
| Student of Lindsey Wright | ||
| Andrew Gong, violin | 12 | Saratoga, CA |
| Student of Wangchen Long | ||
| Chelsea Chen, piano | 12 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Miranda Wu | ||
| Alexander Brown, piano | 14 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Minako Horimura | ||
| Cara Kim, piano | 14 | San Ramon, CA |
| Student of Junghee Park | ||
| Clarissa Joy Lee, violin | 14 | Singapore |
| Student of Andrea Lin | ||
| Honorable Mention | ||
| Siboney Oviedo-Gray, piano | 13 | Rye, NY |
| Student of Peggy Reich | ||
| Sofia Lee Lugo, cello | 13 | Wilton, CT |
| Student of Dr. Sara Bennett Wolfe | ||
| Intermediate Category, Age 15 to 18: | ||
| First Place Winners | ||
| Catherine Li, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Dr. Zhao Zhao Yang | ||
| David Lee, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of John McCarthy and Richard Cionco | ||
| Jaehyun Lim, clarinet | 15 | Saratoga, CA |
| Student of Young Park | ||
| Sophie Zhu, piano | 15 | Williamsville, NY |
| Student of Violeta Arakelova | ||
| Chantale Tso, violin | 16 | Fremont, CA |
| Student of Ker Qi | ||
| Ellie Lee, violin | 16 | San Diego, CA |
| Student of Michael Tseitlin and Irina Tseitlin | ||
| Francesco Severino, piano | 16 | Porter Ranch, CA |
| Student of Violette Hu and Robin Sharp | ||
| Grace Yang, cello | 16 | San Ramon, CA |
| Student of Jehah Han | ||
| Julianna Owyang, Harp | 16 | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Student of Linda Wood Rollo | ||
| Nathan Mo, piano | 16 | Herndon, VA |
| Student of Evelyn Mo | ||
| Alyssa Wu, cello | 17 | Diamond Bar, CA |
| Student of Ling Yan and | ||
| Brandon Lee, flute | 17 | Riverside, CA |
| Student of Yongmi Choi | ||
| Grace Peng, piano | 17 | Alpharetta, GA |
| Student of David Fung | ||
| Grace Navarro, voice | 17 | San Marino, CA |
| Student of Millicent Scarlett and Monica McCullough | ||
| Grace Wang, piano | 17 | Andover, MA |
| Student of Dr. Jonathan Bass | ||
| Joshua Kave, viola | 17 | Tarzana, CA |
| Student of Jonathan Moerschel | ||
| John Matters, violin | 18 | Milton, MA |
| Student of Naoko Tanaka and Lynn Chang | ||
| Piano Trio: | ||
| Jaehyun Lim, clarinet | 15 | Saratoga, CA |
| Steven Jeon, viola | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Claire Lee, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Students of Sonyoung Kang | ||
| Piano Trio: | ||
| Frances Kueper, violin | 16 | Cupertino, CA |
| Student of Seo Hee Byun | ||
| Cindy Xu, viola | 16 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Yen-Yin Lee | ||
| Sabrina Ning, piano | 16 | Cupertino, CA |
| Student of Maggie Lee | ||
| Second Place Winners | ||
| Audrey Fang, piano | 15 | Williamsville, NY |
| Student of Violeta Arakelova | ||
| Christina Huang, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Zhao Zhao Yang | ||
| Dixon Yang, violin | 15 | Fremont, CA |
| Student of Ker Qi | ||
| Elisabeth Floyd, piano | 15 | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Student of Erna Gulabyan | ||
| Emily Kim, cello | 15 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Jenny Oh | ||
| Emma Leifer, violin | 15 | New York, NY |
| Student of Eriko Sato | ||
| Joon-Hyung Noh, voice | 15 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Sang Keun Chang | ||
| Maxwell Huang, piano | 15 | Natick, MA |
| Student of Faina Kofman | ||
| Tiffany Lim, piano | 15 | Fremont, CA |
| Student of Anna Poklewski | ||
| Alan Ma, piano | 16 | Portland, OR |
| Student of Elena Istratova | ||
| Alexa Chen, harp | 16 | Pleasanton, CA |
| Alicia Lee, piano | 16 | Cupertino, CA |
| Student of Zhaoni Chen | ||
| Benjamin Who, piano | 16 | Sugar Land, TX |
| Student of Jenny Undercofler | ||
| Brian Nguyen, piano | 16 | Santa Clara, CA |
| Student of Anna Poklewski | ||
| Christopher Tillen, piano | 16 | Weston, MA |
| Student of Erin Lindsey | ||
| Cindy Xu, viola | 16 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Yen-yin Lee | ||
| Cody Zheng, piano | 16 | St. Louis, MO |
| Student of Oksana Shpringman | ||
| Katie Guo, violin | 16 | Los Gatos, CA |
| Student of Zheng Zeng | ||
| Matthew Wang, piano | 16 | Arcadia, CA |
| Student of Yinyin Huang | ||
| Mehana Ellis, piano | 16 | Palo Alto, CA |
| Student of Annamarie McCarthy | ||
| Pravin Agrawal-Chung, piano | 16 | Cupertino, CA |
| Student of Maggie Lee | ||
| Youngsung Sim, piano | 16 | Gyeonggi-do, South Korea |
| Student of Eunyoung Park | ||
| Jimin Kim, cello | 17 | Avon, CT |
| Student of Pablo Issa | ||
| Joseph Mathew, piano | 17 | Coppell, TX |
| Student of Hwa Lee | ||
| Joshua Lim, viola | 17 | Newton, MA |
| Student of Kyoko Horowitz | ||
| Sandra Chan, piano | 17 | Huntington Beach, CA |
| Student of Jane Jung | ||
| Sangwoo You, cello | 17 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Jenny Oh | ||
| Third Place Winners | ||
| Annie Ye, piano | 15 | Mason, OH |
| Student of Luba Fedorov | ||
| Anoushka Pandit, piano | 15 | Dublin, CA |
| Student of Sofia Biktimir | ||
| Claire Choe, piano | 15 | Boston, MA |
| Student of Mami Ienaga | ||
| Devin Chan, piano | 15 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Miranda Wu | ||
| Shaunak Pandey, piano | 15 | Austin, TX |
| Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
| Ryan Wang, piano | 16 | Champaign, IL |
| Student of Jiafeng Yan | ||
| Shreyas Verma, piano | 16 | Fremont, CA |
| Vaibhav Mishra, piano | 16 | Dublin, GA |
| Student of Nancy Claxton | ||
| Cindy Chen, flute | 17 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Cecily Lan | ||
| Joshua Kim, violin | 17 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Johnny Nam and Yun Hee Lee | ||
| Piano Duo/ Four Hands: | ||
| Aditi Dangi, piano | 17 | Austin, TX |
| Henrik Chan, piano | 16 | Austin, TX |
| Students of Julia Hsiao | ||
| Honorable Mention | ||
| Meiyi He, piano | 15 | San Gabriel, CA |
| Student of Lin Liu | ||
| Victoria Zhang, piano | 15 | Ann Arbor, MI |
| Student of Yangwei Situ | ||
| David Lee, piano | 16 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Soyun Kim | ||
| Edward Cao, voice | 16 | Princeton, NJ |
| Student of Sally Gu | ||
| Janice Nam, piano | 16 | Porter Ranch, CA |
| Student of Soyun Kim | ||
| Lina Chang, piano | 16 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Soyun Kim | ||
| Luca Focella, piano | 16 | Little Falls, NJ |
| Student of Yuka Yanagi | ||
| Mahir Siddiqui, piano | 16 | Tampa, FL |
| Student of Mickey Chien | ||
| Niranjan Girish, cello | 16 | Pepper Pike, OH |
| Student of Rebecca Konow | ||
| Daniel Youn, piano | 17 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Soyun Kim | ||
| David Choi, piano | 17 | Porter Ranch, CA |
| Student of Soyun Kim | ||
| Advanced Category, College Students and Professionals | ||
| First Place Winners | ||
| Jeesoo Kim, piano | 28 | Tallahassee, FL |
| Nayun Shin, piano | 27 | Seoul, South Korea |
| Voice and Violin Duo: | ||
| Hannah Nielsen, voice | 31 | Monroe, WA |
| Sydnee Hinrichsen, violin | 23 | Provo, UT |
| Student of Monte Belknap | ||
| Second Place Winners | ||
| Jingjing Shao, piano | 31 | Salt Lake City, UT |
| Student of Dr. Jie Lu | ||
| Tsai-Yun Kuo, piano | 31 | Columbia, MD |
| Student of Tsai-Yun Kuo | ||
Other applicants received Diploma of Participation
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!