International Music Talent Competition Spring 2022
The American Protégé International Music Talent Competition is open 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.
Talented musicians applied for this Spring’s Music Talent Competition. They hailed from 12 countries, including different parts of the U.S., Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
Awards
Winners will be offered to perform at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, or to receive a Winner’s Package by mail.
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 2022 Results:
Judges’ Distinction (Plaque Trophy) Award Winners
Austin Frantz lives in Salem, Virginia and started taking piano lessons in first grade around the age of six. Austin studies under Melia Garber, an American pianist with Romanian roots. Austin has loved playing piano for the church that his family attends and continues to play piano there to this day. The summer of 2021, Austin attended Interlochen Center for Arts Music Camp to focus on piano. He’s also attended UNC Greensboro Summer Music Camp in 2019. This summer, Austin will attend Brevard Summer Music Camp. Austin has participated in a few piano competitions in the past and is eager to compete in more. Austin’s love is playing classical music on piano. His goal is to make music as beautiful as possible by focusing on every detail, technically, musically, and from every other aspect.
Katherine Li began her musical journey when she was five years old. She took an interest in the violin and has been playing ever since then. Katherine currently studies with Ms. Jing Zeng. She is a sophomore at Desert Vista High School and a leading member of the Desert Vista Chamber Orchestra. Katherine has won the highest score in the AZ North Central Regional Orchestra auditions and top 5 in Arizona All-State Orchestra in both 20/21 & 21/22 school year. Katherine has won the 2019 American String Teacher Association Arizona Solo Competition and AZ Musicfest Young Musician Competition in 2021 and 2022, earning a Superior rating in both years (4th prize). Katherine has been invited to perform as soloist at the Music Instrument Museum (MIM) Young Musician Concert in 2022. She believes that music will be an inseparable part of her future.
Sophia Gu is now 5 years old and has entered kindergarten, CA. She began her piano online studies around 4 years old for one year during the pandemic shutdown. Then she shifted to do in person piano class. Sophia likes singing and golf, too. She passed with Merit for both of piano and singing in ABRSM grade one after 3 months in person class with teachers in 2021. She won 3rd place on Mozart Burleske in G Major in United States Open Music Competition 2022. Sophia loves dinosaurs. When she was 4 years old, one day, she had a dream with Dinosaurs. She drew the pictures of her dream, including the baby dinosaur hatch from egg, riding and flying with pterosaur, playing together in Dinosaur Park, etc. She wanted to compose her own music. Then she started to learn piano composition. It took around 1 year to finish her first composition “A Dream with Dinosaurs”.
Caden Chan is five years old and a native of San Francisco, CA. He started learning piano at the age of four during the pandemic with his piano teacher, Ms. Min Chao. Despite his entire piano learning experience being limited to online classes so far, he looks forward to his piano lesson every week. Apart from the piano, Caden also enjoys playing the ukulele, and he also loves composing his own music in his spare time. He is currently in kindergarten, is an active soccer player, and has a green belt in Taekwondo. Caden was recently awarded first place in the American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition 2022, the SF International Innovative Music Competition (Spring 2022), and the Great Composers Competition Best Performance Series 2022. He was also placed second in both the US International Open Music Competition 2022 and the American Music Talent Competition 2022.
| Name | Age | City, state, Country |
| First Place Winners | ||
| Brigitte Xie, piano | 4 | Ridgefield, CT |
| Student of Felicia Feng Zhang | ||
| Caden Chan, piano | 5 | San Francisco, CA |
| Student of Min Chao | ||
| Juliette Leong, violin | 5 | Sparks, NV |
| Student of Danielle Charboneau | ||
| Sophia Gu, piano | 5 | San Jose, CA |
| Kaitlyn Han, piano | 7 | Keller, TX |
| Student of Anton Mordasov | ||
| Lainey Liang, piano | 7 | Vancouver, Canada |
| Student of Fafan Xiao | ||
| Hannah Lin, piano | 8 | Cary, NC |
| Student of Florence Ko | ||
| Rebecca Cheng, piano | 8 | Great Neck, NY |
| Student of Siyuan Zhou | ||
| Yuchu Chen, piano | 8 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Olivia Zhang | ||
| Leonard Xu, piano | 9 | Cary, NC |
| Student of Alice Zhao and Florence Ko | ||
| Ming Mei Sun, guzheng | 9 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Yuan, Siqi | ||
| Yunji Jeong, violin | 10 | North Vancouver, Canada |
| Student of Jenny Lim | ||
| Chanelle Zhang, violin | 11 | Bethpage, NY |
| Student of Julie Becker | ||
| Peyton Yang, piano | 11 | Cary, NC |
| Student of Olga Urick | ||
| Sean Hoover, piano | 11 | Arcadia, CA |
| Student of Yifu Yan | ||
| Zhien Jin, piano | 11 | Palisades Park, NJ |
| Student of Boram Choi and Goeun Lee | ||
| Caitlin Wang, violin | 12 | San Diego, CA |
| Student of Michael Tseitlin and Irina Tseitlin | ||
| Catherine Chen, flute | 12 | West Covina, CA |
| Student of Bolin Pan | ||
| Julia Perekhozhuk, violin | 12 | Westchester, IL |
| Student of Sang Mee Lee | ||
| Kevin Xiang, piano | 12 | Belmont, MA |
| Student of Jennifer Huang | ||
| Brandon Gao, violin | 13 | San Ramon, CA |
| Student of Amy Liu | ||
| Cynthia Huang, cello | 13 | La Jolla, CA |
| Student of Ruslan Biryukov | ||
| Ivan Chen, piano | 13 | New Hyde Park, NY |
| Student of Vivian Fang Liu | ||
| Max Yu, viola | 13 | Scarsdale, NY |
| Student of Sophie Arbuckle | ||
| Minghao Gu, piano | 13 | Solon, OH |
| Student of Xiaoling Anderson | ||
| Nathan Ahn, violin | 13 | Houston, TX |
| Student of SungHee Park | ||
| Alvin Wang, viola | 14 | San Diego, CA |
| Student of Michael Tseitlin and Irina Tseitlin | ||
| Brandon Ha, cello | 14 | Los Gatos, CA |
| Student of Kyeong Hwa Kim | ||
| David Lin, violin | 14 | Redmond, WA |
| Student of Prof. Cristian Neacsu and Wu Yi Tsung | ||
| Elena Zhu, guzheng | 14 | Columbus, OH |
| Student of Joanna Li | ||
| Gregory Panossian, Armenian duduk | 14 | La Cañada, CA |
| Student of Tigran Avetisyan | ||
| Reina Hewes, piano | 14 | Beverly Hills, CA |
| Student of Dr. Deborah H. How | ||
| Celine Kim, viola | 15 | New York, NY |
| Student of Molly Carr | ||
| Diana Reig, piano | 15 | Springfield, NJ |
| Student of Emilie Filipek | ||
| Estella Sky Keyoung, voice | 15 | Newport Beach, CA |
| Student of Kathleen Martin | ||
| Ethan Guan, piano | 15 | Palo Alto, CA |
| Student of Wenchun Ku | ||
| Hannah Biggins, cello | 15 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Grace Shin | ||
| Jayden Chen, cello | 15 | Pleasanton, CA |
| Student of Jonathan Koh | ||
| Jason Dong, piano | 15 | Diamond Bar, CA |
| Student of Jenny Shin | ||
| Michael Vu, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Michelle Lee | ||
| Minseo (Mina) Ryu, flute | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Teresa Orozco | ||
| Aaron Hsi, violin | 16 | San Ramon, CA |
| Student of James Choi | ||
| Anabelle (Annie) Chang, cello | 16 | Portland, OR |
| Student of Hyun-jin Kim | ||
| Austin Frantz, piano | 16 | Salem, VA |
| Student of Melia Garber | ||
| Charlotte Lew, piano | 16 | Rancho Palos Verdes, CA |
| Student of Marina Alexander | ||
| Christian Yom, piano | 16 | Carmel, NY |
| Student of Margarita Nuller | ||
| David Xiao, violin | 16 | Weston, FL |
| Student of Huifang Chen | ||
| Donavan Quek, cello | 16 | Singapore |
| Student of Song Woon Teng | ||
| Harrison Park, cello | 16 | Henderson, NV |
| Student of Jeewoong Kim | ||
| Hayeon Kim, voice | 16 | San Ramon, CA |
| Student of Jennie Byun | ||
| Iris Lo, violin | 16 | Cupertino, CA |
| Student of Ryan Chen | ||
| Jianing Xu, piano | 16 | Diamond Bar, CA |
| Student of Yin Chen | ||
| Katherine Li, violin | 16 | Tempe, AZ |
| Student of Jing Zeng | ||
| Logan Yuan, piano | 16 | Avon, CT |
| Student of Pihsun Shih | ||
| Natasha Mar, piano | 16 | Poway, CA |
| Sarah Cho, piano | 16 | Silver Spring, MD |
| Student of Dr. JeongEun Park Kang | ||
| Selina Zhang, piano | 16 | Monterey Park , CA |
| Student of Anna Ching | ||
| Carolyn Pyun, violin | 17 | Saratoga, CA |
| Student of Tina Minn | ||
| Hyunjin Lee, violin | 17 | Scarsdale, NY |
| Student of Christina Khimm Rosand | ||
| Laura Mo, piano | 17 | Solon, OH |
| Student of Terry Moran | ||
| Martin Leung, piano | 17 | El Sobrante, CA |
| Student of Shu-Yi Pai | ||
| Olivia Hsu, violin | 17 | Castro Valley, CA |
| Student of James Choi | ||
| Tobia Tam, piano | 17 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Myong-joo Lee | ||
| Kevin Li, voice | 21 | Vancouver, Canada |
| Student of Janna Baty | ||
| Ladislav Palkovic, piano | 25 | Kosice, Slovak Republic |
| Student of Ivan Gajan | ||
| Jeeyoun Kang, flute | 30 | Sunnyside, NY |
| Student of Judith Mendenhall | ||
| Piano Duo/Four Hands: | ||
| Julia Mu, piano | 10 | East Amherst, NY |
| Student of Dr. Violeta Arakelova | ||
| Chenlyvia Xiong, piano | 10 | East Amherst, NY |
| Student of Diana Kezersashvili | ||
| Piano Trio: | ||
| Hannah Lee, violin | 15 | San Diego, CA |
| Justin Wu, cello | 17 | San Diego, CA |
| Eric Ryu, piano | 16 | San Diego, CA |
| Students of Rebekah Yoon and Chohyun Park | ||
| Second Place Winners | ||
| Derrick JJ Yim, Piano | 6 | College Point, NY |
| Student of Vivian Fang Liu | ||
| Katherine Hibbs, piano | 8 | Minneapolis, MN |
| Student of Dr. Jo Anne Link and Dr. Joe Zins | ||
| Quynh Anh Tran Pham, piano | 8 | Hanoi, Vietnam |
| Student of Doan Hoang Khanh Linh | ||
| Shera Li, piano | 8 | Newark, CA |
| Student of Chloe Xu | ||
| Victoria Wang, piano | 8 | Potomac, MD |
| Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
| Doyoung Kwon, piano | 9 | Palisades Park, NJ |
| Student of Boram Choi and Goeun Lee | ||
| Justin Yang, piano | 9 | Austin, TX |
| Student of Julia Hsiao | ||
| Anastasia Voronenko, piano | 10 | Bethesda, MD |
| Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
| Kaiya Murphy, violin | 10 | Maricopa, AZ |
| Student of Xiaolin Lee | ||
| Neel Perdue, piano | 10 | Ashburn, VA |
| Student of Dr. Edvinas Minkstimas | ||
| Ryan Wang, voice | 10 | Short Hills, NJ |
| Student of Henry Chen | ||
| Duke Greenman, violin | 11 | Las Vegas , NV |
| Student of Hye Lin Jung | ||
| Jisoo Park, violin | 11 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Lucy Jang | ||
| Luke (Dohyun) Kim, violin | 11 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Rosie Sung Kyong An | ||
| Thomas Medlin, piano | 11 | Saint James, NY |
| Student of Rowena Sanchez Arrieta | ||
| Victoria Chen, piano | 11 | Setauket, NY |
| Student of Rowena Arrieta | ||
| Benjamin Slive, piano | 12 | Boca Raton, FL |
| Student of Tiffany Goff | ||
| Easton Rodgers, piano | 12 | Mountain View, CA |
| Julian Slive, piano | 12 | Boca Raton, FL |
| Student of Tiffany Goff | ||
| Lars Jimin Han, voice | 12 | Dublin , CA |
| Student of Jennie Byun | ||
| Luca Maddox-Diaz, piano | 12 | Edmond, OK |
| Student of Jennifer Song | ||
| Petra Mitrovic, piano | 12 | Skopje, Macedonia |
| Student of Prof. Nina Kostova | ||
| ShuTing Pan, flute | 12 | San Marino, CA |
| Student of Bolin Pan | ||
| Sofia Olson, piano | 12 | Boca Raton, FL |
| Student of Leonid Treer and Estibaliz Gastesi | ||
| Adrien Dai, piano | 13 | Great Neck, NY |
| Student of Maria Asteriadou | ||
| Emily Jia, piano | 13 | Potomac, MD |
| Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
| Matthew Atticus Tan, viola | 13 | Singapore |
| Student of Odesa Tay | ||
| Mindy Truong, piano | 13 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Michelle Lee | ||
| Yan Qi Ong, violin | 13 | Singapore |
| Yunah Jeong, violin | 13 | North Vancouver, Canada |
| Student of Jenny Lim | ||
| Abigail Ribakoff, voice | 14 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Evelyn Edwards and Carol Tingle | ||
| Alyssa Kuang, piano | 14 | Spring, TX |
| Student of Yan Shen | ||
| Celine Lau, piano | 14 | San Diego, CA |
| Student of Eunice Ahn | ||
| Isabella Torrales, piano | 14 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Joyce Lee | ||
| Kailyn Song, cello | 14 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Dahwi | ||
| Natchanun Siripong, Piano | 14 | Muang, Thailand |
| Student of Dr. Pornsiri Uthaicharoenpong | ||
| Rain Xu, piano | 14 | Salt Lake City, UT |
| Student of Jie Lu | ||
| Sophia Lesokhin, violin | 14 | New York, NY |
| Student of Lynelle Smith | ||
| Yunie Shin, piano | 14 | Ellicott City, MD |
| Student of Amy Kwon | ||
| Calix Xia, piano | 15 | Bethesda, MD |
| Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
| Emily Choi, piano | 15 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Hannah Biggins, piano | 15 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Student of Grace Shin | ||
| Kyle Tianshi, piano | 15 | San Diego, CA |
| Student of Rinna Livshin | ||
| Melissa Ho, piano | 15 | Beverly Hils, CA |
| Student of Wojciech Kocyan | ||
| Nicole Ge, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Wei Coglio | ||
| Andrew Yuan, voice | 16 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Iari Melchor | ||
| Christian Kang, violin | 16 | Porter Ranch, CA |
| Student of Johnny Nam and Tracey Kim | ||
| Elaine Pan, piano | 16 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Emily Hung | ||
| Haejoo Chang, piano | 16 | Chino Hills, CA |
| Student of Jiwon Han | ||
| Pham Anh Minh Nguyen, piano | 16 | Hanoi, Vietnam |
| Student of Hoang Khanh Linh Doan | ||
| Vivian Wang, piano | 16 | Potomac, MD |
| Student of Aglaia Koras | ||
| Yiman Zhang, piano | 16 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Joyce Lee | ||
| Piers Rhee, piano | 17 | Winter Park, FL |
| Student of Ellen Betances and Yun-Ling Hsu | ||
| Shiqi Luo, flute | 17 | Arcadia, CA |
| Student of Bolin Pan | ||
| Varun Ganapathy, voice | 17 | Troy, MI |
| Student of Dr. Drake Dantzler and Carol Petty | ||
| Ziying Zhao, Guqin | 26 | College Station, TX |
| Student of Xiaozi Lu | ||
| Violin Duo: | ||
| Sienna Hwang, violin | 13 | New York, NY |
| Chloe Cho, violin | 9 | New York, NY |
| Students of Sofia Chung | ||
| Third Place Winners | ||
| Jamin Yoon, cello | 8 | Santa Monica, CA |
| Student of Youna Choi | ||
| Johnny Chen, piano | 9 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Dr. Emily Hung | ||
| Lisa Dai, piano | 9 | Katy, TX |
| Student of Yan Shen | ||
| Chloe Kang, violin | 11 | Porter Ranch, CA |
| Student of Tracy Kim | ||
| Pham Minh Anh Nguyen, piano | 11 | Hanoi, Vietnam |
| Student of Doan Hoang Khanh Linh | ||
| Rachelle Amelia Tan, violin | 11 | Singapore |
| Student of Odesa Tay | ||
| Marysol Boisvert, viola | 12 | New Brunswick, Canada |
| Student of Swan Serna | ||
| Shreya Rajeev, voice | 12 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Bernadette Mondok Keller | ||
| Albert Wu, violin | 13 | Great Neck, NY |
| Student of Kurt Nikkanen | ||
| Elaine Liang, violin | 14 | Morganville, NJ |
| Student of William Law | ||
| Kaira Soin, sitar | 14 | Sammamish, WA |
| Student of Randy Hollinger | ||
| Eunseo (Dana) Ryu, piano | 15 | San Jose, CA |
| Student of Jacklyn Kim | ||
| Vivian Davenport, piano | 15 | Thunder Bay, Canada |
| Student of Evelyn Davenport | ||
| Aryo Nabyzadeh, piano | 16 | Santa Clara, CA |
| Student of Chaz Fautch | ||
| Philip Orselli, tenor trombone | 22 | San Jose, CA |
| Honorable Mention | ||
| Isabella Ketkar, piano | 7 | Short Hills, NJ |
| Student of Emilie Filipek | ||
| Aadil Memon, piano | 11 | Campbell, CA |
| Student of Jesse McMilin | ||
| Emma Zhang, cello | 11 | Sarasota, FL |
| Grace Luo, violin | 11 | Potomac, MD |
| Student of Karin Kelleher | ||
| Anthony Somers, violin | 12 | Plymouth Meeting, PA |
| Student of Larisa Odlyvanska | ||
| Hanna Saifzadeh, piano | 13 | Short Hills, NJ |
| Tara Saifzadeh, piano | 13 | Short Hills, NJ |
| Calvin Zhang, violin | 15 | Woodhaven, NY |
| Student of Joan Plana and Joseph Tamosaitis | ||
| Rachel Nam, violin | 15 | East Brunswick, NJ |
| Student of Sharon Cho | ||
| Alyssa Wu, piano | 16 | Irvine, CA |
| Student of Emily Hung | ||
| Henry Mruz, euphonium | 16 | Morristown, NJ |
| Student of David Gallagher and Rich Barrieres | ||
Other applicants received Diploma of Participation
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!
1. Each participant will be notified about the Competition results after the Chairwoman releases the Competition placements. Each Winner will perform at one Recital. Recital date and time will be offered to the Winner based on the Competition results.
2. Only ONE piece from the audition repertoire within a time limit will be performed at the Winners Recital.
3. Extra performance time of up to 1 minute can be accepted for the Winners Recital with an additional fee of $100.
4. Only piano accompaniment can be used at the Winners Recital. Only one grand piano will be available at the Weill Recital Hall. No acoustic system will be provided.
5. Participants must bring their own piano accompanist. American Protégé does not provide piano accompanist, but can recommend one after enrollment into the program.
6. Photo or video recording during the recital is strictly prohibited per the Carnegie Hall policy. A professional photographer will be taking pictures of the performers.
7. Recital and Photo Fees are not refundable.
8. During the COVID-19 Health Crisis, U.S. participants, who are unable to or unwilling to take a risk to travel to NYC for the Recital, may request a Competition Winner’s Package with a non-refundable $300 fee. The Package includes online recognition, Winner’s Certificate, Teacher’s Diploma, four Booklets with biographies and photos, and participation Plaque Trophy. International participants may arrange a Package pickup or request a shipment to the friends or relative residing in the U.S. We do not mail packages internationally.
9. All participants are responsible for their own expenses (travel, housing accommodations, etc.).
10. Detailed Winners Recital Guidelines will be emailed to the participants.