International Music Talent Competition Spring 2020
The American Protégé International Music Talent Competition is opened to all instrumentalists (piano, winds, strings, brass, traditional, etc.), vocalists and traditional folk and jazz groups of all nationalities and countries. Participants are required to submit video recording materials for the audition. American Protégé is looking for genuinely talented people, who have creativity and stage charisma.
We invite talented performers of any age and genre to participate in the Competition.
All applicants who are signed with the manager or producer must submit via email a General Representation and Release Form signed by the Manager/Producer to be eligible for the Competition.
Awards
Winners performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City on the following dates:
December 12, 2020, December 13, 2020, and April 4, 2021
Star Performer Award, Judges’ Favorite Award Trophy, Judges’ Distinction Award Trophy and other Special Awards may be granted based on the judges recommendations.
Judges
Three qualified judges evaluate audition materials. All judges are independent, their students are not allowed to apply this season.
International Music Talent Competition Spring 2020 Results:
Judges’ Distinction (Plaque Trophy) Award Winners

Hannah Velez is 16 years old and has been playing the violin for over 10 years. Performing at Segerstrom Concert Hall in CA, she currently leads as co-principal, 2nd violin, for the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. Amongst her accomplishments, she is a concerto winner of SCJ Bach Festival Complete Works and 1st place winner at the Lansum International Music Festival. Additionally, she is a Regional winner of MTAC VOCE, and has won numerous awards from the Southwestern Youth Music Festival and American String Teachers Association. During the past two summers, she was selected to participate at Chamber Music Institute. Other venues of performances include the Disney Concert Hall and Zipper Hall in Los Angeles. Furthermore, she was selected to partake in masterclasses, with renowned violinists Peter Marsh, Paul Huang, Kevin Kumar, and Martin Beaver. Alongside her musical endeavors, she enjoys volunteering at her church and community in an international service organization.

Miłosz Bachonko was born in 2009 in Lublin (Poland). As a 10-year-old accordion player, he has over 60 concerts in the country and abroad. He is a laureate of international, nationwide competitions:1st prize in International Competition XV Art-Duo Music Festival (Prague),1st prize III International Accordion Competition (Suwałki),1st prize International Accordion Competition (Sanok),1st prize Polish National Accordion Festival Professor Mirosław Niziurski (Kielce), GrandPrix prize in XXIX Lublin Accordion Competition (Lublin). He is the laureate of the 2nd place in the Young Composers Competition at the 23rd Contemporary Art Forum Witold Lutosławski at the Lublin Philharmonic, where as a 9-year-old composer he faced fellow participants who were twice older than him. In this competition he also received the Special Award of the Lublin Philharmonic Director of the 23rd Contemporary Art Forum which was the performance of his own composition “Suite for accordion” accompanied by the Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Alvin Wang is a 6th grader from San Diego, studies piano since the age of 4 and violin since age 7. In 2018, Alvin won the “Most Promising Talent” from The International Academy Music Competition at The Castelnuovo di Garfagnana Music Festival in Italy. In 2018 and 2019, he helped UC San Diego – Autism Center of Excellence (ACE) raised close to $15K for their research initiatives in the Believe Benefit Concert. In March 2019, Alvin participated at the Bishop’s Rady Children’s Hospital – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Benefit Concert. In addition, he has been invited to perform as a Special Musical Guest at the UCSD – Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy (RAI) Scientific, UCSD – Autism Center of Excellence (ACE) Faculty, and Kids’ Turn San Diego Retreats. In the summer of 2019, Alvin received his first piano scholarship at the Burgos International Music Festival in Spain.
Music Talent Competition Fall 2019 Winners: | ||
Name, Instrument | Age | City, state, Country |
First Place Winners | ||
Kylie Yoo, piano | 7 | Long Grove, IL |
Student of Sueanne Metz | ||
Logan Li, piano | 7 | Oakville, Canada |
Student of Olga Chichova | ||
Owen Liu, piano | 7 | Vancouver, Canada |
Student of Haiwa Ye | ||
Rosalina Ruheng Xue, piano | 7 | Upland, CA |
Student of Jen Chan | ||
Helena Sprajcer, piano | 8 | Wheeling, IL |
Student of Elaine Felder | ||
Jarvis Zheng, piano | 8 | Montebello, CA |
Student of Liu Lin | ||
Koutaro Ohnishi, piano | 8 | Cupertino, CA |
Student of Matt Wang | ||
Shuangjunya (Selena) Zhang, piano | 8 | Millbrae, CA |
Student of Tammy Lin | ||
Tonya Zhu, piano | 8 | Great Neck, NY |
Student of Joyce Ng | ||
Cynthia Li, piano | 10 | Mississauga, Canada |
Student of Olga Chichova | ||
Milosz Bachonko, accordion | 10 | Motycz, Poland |
Student of Prof. Elwira Śliwkiewicz-Cisak | ||
Mehr Kaur, cello | 11 | Potomac, MD |
Student of Tanya Anisimova | ||
Yanjia Yang, piano | 11 | Beijing, China |
Student of Cen Wang | ||
Alvin Wang, violin | 12 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Michael Tseitlin and Irina Tseitlin | ||
Calvin Kwon, cello | 12 | Demarest, NJ |
Student of Jeehyoun Lee | ||
Enya Yu, cello | 12 | Ridgefield, CT |
Student of Chungsun Kim | ||
Minseo Ryu, flute | 12 | San Jose , CA |
Student of Teresa Orozco | ||
Andrew Tang, cello | 13 | Saratoga, CA |
Student of Jonathan Koh | ||
Brandon Diep, cello | 13 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Lu-Yan Guo | ||
Brian (Jaehyeon) Chun, cello | 13 | Ridgewood, NJ |
Student of Jennifer Jeehyoun Lee | ||
Abishek Satish, alto saxophone | 14 | Johns, Creek, GA |
Student of Tim Crump | ||
Aimee Okagawa, piano | 14 | Honolulu, Hi |
Student of Wendy Yamashita | ||
Carmen Peng, piano | 14 | Wolfville, Canada |
Student of John Hansen | ||
Jacob Yan, piano | 14 | Oakville, Canada |
Student of Olga Chichova | ||
Olivia Cai, violin | 14 | Dacula, GA |
Student of Que Yang | ||
Doyoon Kim, piano | 15 | Sherman Oaks, CA |
Student of Tammie Joo | ||
Emily Lai, piano | 15 | Palos Verdes Estates, CA |
Student of Esther Keel | ||
Joanne Lee, flute | 15 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Sunah Jong | ||
Judy Wang, violin | 15 | Geneva, Switzerland |
Tayte Choudhury, piano | 15 | Sugar Land, TX |
Student of Cindy Tan | ||
Billy Broker, piano | 15 | Phoenixville, PA |
Student of Dimitriy Borisovsky | ||
Angela Huang, violin | 16 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Iryna Krechkovsky | ||
Hannah Velez, violin | 16 | Yorba Linda, CA |
Student of Gary Hung | ||
Helena Seo, violin | 16 | Fort Lee, NJ |
Student of Ju Hyun Kim and Annaliesa Place | ||
Jennifer Li, cello | 16 | Los Gatos, CA |
Student of Kyeong Hwa Kim | ||
Katherine Wong, piano | 16 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Dr. Judy Huang | ||
Kimberly Rush, violin | 16 | Manila, Philippines |
Michelle Ding, piano | 16 | Missouri City, TX |
Student of Yanzi Lin | ||
Yifan Wang, piano | 16 | Irvine, CA |
Carol Lu, piano | 17 | Tucson, AZ |
Student of Dr. Svetlana Arakelova | ||
Danny Park, cello | 17 | Rolling Hills Estate, CA |
Student of In-Kyu Lee | ||
Paengram Chirasavinuprapand, piano | 19 | New York, NY |
Student of Yoojung Kim | ||
Ogabek Mansurov, tar | 20 | Baku, Azerbaijan |
Student of Elshan Amrahov | ||
Shuyi Li, voice | 22 | Rochester, NY |
Student of Jan Opalach | ||
Patrick Daniel Brandl Suarez, piano | 23 | Heredia, Costa Rica |
Student of Ludmila Melzer and Luis Monge | ||
Elshad Shikhaliyev, balaban | 25 | Baku, Azerbaijan |
Student of Ilham Najafov | ||
Shengsi Wang, piano | 28 | Boston, MA |
Student of Run Li | ||
Sze Yin Wong, piano | 33 | Lehi, UT |
Student of Jie Lu | ||
Piano Quarter/Eight Hands: | ||
Nathan Napier, piano | 16 | Amherst, NY |
Ross Mantsurov, piano | 15 | Williamsville, NY |
David Su, piano | 16 | East Amherst, NY |
Sophie Zhu, piano | 13 | Williamsville, NY |
Students of Dr. Violeta Arakelova | ||
Piano Trio/Six Hands: | ||
Julia Mu, piano | 8 | East Amherst, NY |
Zimo Wen, piano | 7 | Williamsville, NY |
Wenlee Vazquez, piano | 6 | Buffalo, NY |
Students of Dr. Violeta Arakelova and Alexander Bator | ||
Jaca Duo: | Los Angeles, CA | |
Jaxon Williams, guitar | 32 | |
Wesley Ferreira, clarinet | ||
Second Place Winners | ||
Nguyen Pham Minh Anh, piano | 8 | Hanoi, Vietnam |
Student of Hoang Khanh Linh Doan | ||
Ayden Yoo, piano | 9 | Long Grove, IL |
Student of Sueanne Metz | ||
Cayden Tan, piano | 9 | New York, NY |
Student of Kyungmi Nam | ||
Frank Rong, piano | 9 | Champion Lakes, Australia |
Student of Yoon Sen Lee | ||
Jake Matsuzaka, piano | 9 | New York, NY |
Student of Dr. Yoojung Kim | ||
Jayden Hwang, piano | 9 | Claremont, CA |
Student of Chun-Yi Wang | ||
Ethan Fu, piano | 10 | Fremont, CA |
Student of Peyhwan Kuan | ||
Charlize Tan, piano | 11 | New York, NY |
Student of Kyungmi Nam | ||
David Wong, piano | 11 | Irvine, CA |
Student of Janelle Kim | ||
Joe Yang, piano | 11 | Bellevue, WA |
Student of Dr. Yin | ||
Max Yu, violin | 11 | Scarsdale, NY |
Student of Yang Xu | ||
Sophie Gao, piano | 11 | Tucson, Arizona |
Student of Dr. Svetlana Arakelova | ||
Yi Chao Boey, piano | 11 | Singapore |
Student of Rosy Chua and Eileen Cheng | ||
Katie Liu, violin | 12 | Portland, OR |
Student of Hae-Jin Kim | ||
Sarah Mei, cello | 12 | North Potomac, MD |
Student of Ning Wang | ||
Alan Yue, piano | 13 | Miller Place, NY |
Student of Rowena Arrieta | ||
Angelina Wu, piano | 13 | Diamond Bar, CA |
Calix Xia, piano | 13 | Bethesda,MD |
Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
Don Wong, piano | 13 | Phillips Ranch, CA |
Student of Wen-Ting Huang | ||
Emma Yao, piano | 13 | Auburndale, MA |
Student of Margarita Kotlyarova | ||
Lucas Keunecke Pimenta, piano | 13 | White Plains, NY |
Student of Irena Portenko | ||
Carina Liu, piano | 14 | San Ramon, CA |
Student of Julia Wang | ||
Catherine Chong, piano | 14 | Bethesda,MD |
Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
Emily Zhang, piano | 14 | Needham, MA |
Student of Margarita Kotlyarova | ||
Isabella Lin, piano | 14 | Johns Creek, GA |
Student of Frances Yao | ||
Alexandra Vesselinov, violin | 15 | Port Washington, NY |
Student of Miranda Cuckson | ||
Annie Fang, viola | 15 | La Jolla, CA |
Student of Ramon Negron Perez | ||
Luca Vernhes, piano | 15 | Brooklyn, NY |
Student of Kyungmi Nam | ||
Aileen Aizenshtat, violin | 16 | Trumbull, CT |
Student of Shan Jiang | ||
Angela Liu, piano | 16 | Forest Hills, NY |
Student of Yuka Yoshino | ||
Chau Nguyen, piano | 16 | Washington, DC |
Student of Paul Phifer | ||
Doh Hyun (Dennis) Kim, piano | 16 | Seoul, South Korea |
Student of Lee Boram | ||
Eve Sullivan, piano | 16 | Bronxville, NY |
Student of Kanako Koyama | ||
Ezekiel Kumar-Lau, piano | 16 | Danville, CA |
Student of Yingwen Lewis | ||
Justin Wang, guitar | 16 | Potomac, MD |
Mark Martirosian, voice | 16 | Winchester, MA |
Student of Victoria Avetisian | ||
Milo Barron, piano | 16 | Natick, MA |
Student of Emily Murphy | ||
Stephanie Yu, piano | 16 | Dover, MA |
Student of Margarita Kotlyarova | ||
Kevin Chen, violin | 17 | Peachtree Corners, GA |
Raymond Steinbrecher, piano | 17 | Panama City Beach, FL |
Student of Emily Vandermark | ||
Ariel Redmond, piano | 19 | Evanston, IL |
Student of Robert Marler and Jay Kolin | ||
Tanya Vegvary, piano | 51 | Sacramento, CA |
Piano Duo/Four Hands: | ||
Cayden Tan, piano | 9 | New York, NY |
Charlize Tan, piano | 11 | New York, NY |
Students of Kyungmi Nam | ||
Cello Duo: | ||
Brandon Diep, cello | 13 | San Diego, CA |
Ethan Diep, cello | 15 | San Diego, CA |
Students of Lu-Yan Guo | ||
Piano Duo: | ||
Hannah Zhang, violin | 14 | Tucson, AZ |
April Zhang, piano | 16 | Tucson, AZ |
Students of Vladimir Arakelov and Svetlana Arakelova | ||
Third Place Winners | ||
Nathalie Williamson, voice | 8 | Fort Worth, TX |
Student of LK Fletcher | ||
Amartya Paul, piano | 9 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Kia Portafekas | ||
Miguel Francis Saclolo, violin | 9 | Singapore |
Student of Miku Pancoast | ||
Jack Li, voice | 12 | Wellesley, MA |
Student of Yeghishe Manucharyan | ||
Alexander Tseng, piano | 13 | San Mateo, CA |
Student of Tammy Lin | ||
Shivali Singh, piano | 13 | Suwanee, GA |
Student of Frances Yao | ||
Johnathan Jen, piano | 14 | Danville, CA |
Student of Ying Wen Lewis | ||
Jocelyn Li, voice | 15 | Wellesley, MA |
Student of Victoria Avetisyan | ||
Julia Steinbrecher, piano | 15 | Panama City Beach, FL |
Student of Emily Vandermark | ||
Junhong Lin, piano | 15 | Fresh Meadows, NY |
Student of Xu Ran Zhao | ||
Izabella Ge, piano | 16 | Danville, CA |
Student of Yingwen Lewis | ||
Chloe Hardigree, piano | 17 | Evansville, IN |
Student of Kim Van Vorst | ||
Sanjna Kedia, violin | 17 | Manhasset, NY |
Student of Roslyn Huang | ||
Amish Darr Darr, guitar & voice | 35 | Fords, NJ |
InHwa Hwang, piano | 46 | San Diego, CA |
Student of Ginnie Kong |
Honorable Mention Winners and other participants will be notified of their standing via email.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!