International Piano and Strings Competition 2017

The American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition 2017 was open to school students and adults of all nationalities and countries.

All instruments, including piano, strings, voice and winds are welcome to participate in the Competition.

Participants were required to submit video/audio recording materials for the audition.  Multiple winners were chosen in each age category.

Musicians from 19 countries applied for this year’s Competition: different U.S. States, Canada, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Italy, Germany, Spain, Finland, Bahrain, Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Australia.

We invite school students and adults to participate in the Competition. There is no age limit for the adult participants.

Eligibility

Multiple winners will be chosen in each of the following age groups:

18 year old school students must enter in the Intermediate Category. 18 year old college students must apply under the College Students/Professionals Category.

Awards

Winners will perform at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Winners Concerts took place on

Friday, April 14, 2017 at 7:30 PM at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 11:30 AM and 7:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 11:30 AM, 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Sunday, May 14, 2017 (Mother’s Day) at 7:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Saturday, May 27, 2017 (Memorial Day Weekend) at 7:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Monday, May 29, 2017 (Memorial Day) at 11:30 AM, 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 1:00 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Saturday, July 1, 2017 (Independence Day Weekend) at 11:30 AM, 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

Judges’ Distinction Award and other Special Awards were granted based on the judges’ recommendations.

Judges

Four qualified judges evaluated audition materials. All judges were independent; their students are not allowed to apply in the same season. Dr. Sophya Genis was invited as a Chairwoman of the Competition 2017. A graduate of the Moscow Gnessin Academy of Music, Mrs. Genis holds a Doctor of Music Arts Degree. She studied piano with such renowned professors as Alexander Yoheles, Yakov Milstein and Yakov Zak.

American Protégé

 International Piano and Strings Competition 2017 Results

American Protégé Judges Distinction Award (Plaque Trophies) Winners

Charissa Ooi, 5-year old from Singapore, started her formal training with Karen Wong at the Forte Musicademy when she was four and a half. With her passion and an astonishing aptitude for music, Charissa mastered a wide range of repertoire within a year, which won her a Gold award at the 6th Singapore Performer’s Festival & Chamber Music Competition and Silver at the Kingsburg International Piano Competition. In December 2016, she performed solo at Victoria Concert Hall as 1st Prize winner of the Piano and Strings Competition as well as Top Scorer of the school. She is also actively involved in chamber music and performed at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. Charissa has attended masterclasses with Adam Gyorgy and Seho Lee. An enthusiastic student with a love for performing, she enjoys experimenting with music. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, reading and cycling.

Born in 2011, Sophie Keong started learning piano at the age of 4. She eventually found her love on music after six months of learning the instrument. Sophie won the Gold with Excellence Award for Junior Category at Kingsburg International Piano Competition 2016, which was the highest award given for the competition despite she was the youngest participant. At that same year, Sophie also received Gold Award from 6th Singapore Performers’ Festival & Chamber Music Competition 2016 performing Kabalevsky Variations on a Russian Folk Song op.51 no.1 that took her only a week to learn the piece. Recently in December 2016, Sophie also won 2nd prize for internal Forte Musicademy binual Piano and Strings Competition. She had a debut in Singapore famous Victoria Concert Hall as part of the Winners’ Concert Recital. Besides playing the piano Sophie also enjoys reading, travelling, dancing and singing.

Daniel Alter, age 9, began studying piano when he was 3. He’s won multiple ‘best of class’ and age achievements awards, and In the past year was awarded the North York Music Festival “Best Grade 8 Piano” trophy, the CCC “Best Young Artist” trophy, and first place for under age 11 at the Ontario Music Festivals Association Provincial Finals in the category of Piano Concertos. He also performed at the 2016 CCC Gala Awards Concert, the Toronto Auto Show, and a 90 minute program with his brother as “The Alter Boys” at a fundraising Gala for the Paul Penna DJDS. He has played violin at the National Music Camp, is in grade 4 at the Toronto Claude Watson School for the Arts, and studies piano with Dr. Michael Berkovsky at the Taylor Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory. His greatest passions, outside of music, are art, dance and tennis.

Henry Li, 10 years old, started piano at the age of five with Ms. Qi Ding. Ever since, his prestigious musical talent has only flourished. He has won numerous piano competitions and has been awarded first place at the American Protege International Competition of Romantic Music of 2015, The Ninth International Chopin Youth Competition, HMTA Annual piano Competition, and The International KAWAI-SNG. At age six, Henry was selected to perform for Houston Young Artist Outreach concert. Last year, Henry was invited to perform at the winner’s concert in Isaac Stern Auditorium and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall New York. As a team leader of MDG Volunteer group, Henry also performs for local community. Henry has captured his audiences with colorful tones, sensitive musicality and emotional depth in his music. Aside from music, Henry enjoys horse riding, he is a Greater Houston region Championship horse rider.

Isabel (Coco) Mavrides, 11, from New York City, has been playing the violin since she was 2.5 years old. She studies violin at Lucy Moses School and the studio of Olga Popova. She is the Concert Master at the ISO Carnegie Hill Orchestra, plays at the Horace Mann Strings Orchestra and is part of the New York Virtuosos Ensemble. Isabel has competed and won several awards in re-known Concerto Competitions; including American Protege (2015 and 2016), Fine Arts Festival (2015 and 2016) and the Concert Festival (2013, 2014 and 2015). Isabel has performed solo concerts at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space and the Kaufman Center. Isabel is part of the Concerts in Motion program and has performed in Nursing Homes and Hospitals around New York City. When Isabel is not practicing violin, she attends the 6th Grade at Horace Mann School in NYC, is an avid debater, has an on-line business and plays and composes music on the piano.

Jonathan Alter,11, has played piano since he was 3 and has won many first place and “Best of Class” awards at Toronto Kiwanis, CCC and North York Festivals, and was awarded the 2016 “Best of Grades” trophy by the CCC. In the past year he also performed at the 2016 Toronto Auto Show, the CCC Gala Awards Concert, and with his brother as “The Alter Boys” at a fundraising Gala for Paul Penna DJDS, where he is in grade 6 and also serves as school president. He has played jazz piano at the National Music Camp, and currently studies with Dr. Michael Berkovsky at the Taylor Performance Academy of the RCM. Outside piano he particularly enjoys science and history, performing musical theatre, and avidly plays baseball, basketball, tennis and chess.

Phoebe Wang was born in Colorado in 2003. She began her piano study at age three and her cello study at age seven. Her current cello teacher is James Todd. She is a member of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra (DYAO) Conservatory Orchestra and has performed as principal cellist for the DYAO String Ensemble and the DYAO Conservatory Orchestra. She was the winner of the 2014 DYAO String Ensemble Concerto Competition. In 2015 Phoebe was featured on Colorado Public Radio’s “Spotlight” program where she performed Saint-Saëns’ Allegro Appassionato in B Minor. She was also the winner of the 2016 DYAO Conservatory Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. She has held a solo piano and cello recital annually since 2008. Phoebe is the co-founder of the chamber music duo Non Sibi and has performed at multiple fund raisers in the Denver area.

Matthew Hong, 14, from Montvale, New jersey. He has been attending Manhattan School Of Music for 3 years. Matthew is the pupil of Dr. Maria Radicheva who is a pupil of Dorothy DeLay. He has played violin with a passion since he was 4 years old and now plays viola with an even greater passion. He has participated in many competitions and recently won 1st place in  Romantic Music Competition and was a winner in KRB (Korean Radio Broadcast international music competition), and music Fest. He also performed In Carnegie Hall(NY). Outside his music life, Matthew has a great interest in science and sports. He plays basketball as a hobby and participated in Science Olympiad and has gone to the National Competition with his team in Orlando Florida and in Lincoln Nebraska.

James Zheng is 14 years old and attends Garden City High School in Garden City, New York. He started playing piano at the age of 7, and has been taking private lessons since then. James has begun participating in competitions recently. The competitions he has attended were the 2016 Crescendo International Competition and the Forte International Music Competition. James received first place in the Crescendo competition and will be performing at Carnegie Hall in April. As for the Forte competition, James has been selected to enter the final round, which will be held at Carnegie Hall in February. James enjoys playing the piano and music in general, as he also plays the violin for his school orchestra.

Lauren Jiang, 16, has been playing piano for 10 years in Boston, MA, studying under Mrs. Dorothy Shi. She attends Boston Latin School, where she also plays the flute. Along with several state and regional competition awards (MMTA Bay State Contest, Steinway Society of Massachusetts Piano Competition), in 2016 she received 1st place in the annual Russian Music Festival and the Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition, both of which also included a Winners’ Recital in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Christine Yang, 17, from Atlanta, Georgia, studies piano under Dr. Elena Cholakova and has been playing piano since age 5. As a freshman, she co-won the 2015 Atlanta Music Club Scholarship for the high school keyboard division. During summer of 2015 she studied piano at the prestigious Brevard Music Center and was subsequently invited to perform at several high profile events including a fundraising gala with platinum sponsors and served as a student ambassador of the program’s piano division. Since then, she has won 1st place at GMEA Allstate and is a finalist in the Emory Regional Young Artists Competition. Christine has performed at Carnegie Hall twice, in the American Protege Winners Recital for both the International Piano and Strings Competition in 2013 and International Competition of Romantic Music in 2016. Last summer she attended Lee University’s International Piano Festival and participated in masterclasses with Mack McCray and Shen Lu.

Haemaru Chung, a 16 year-old native New Yorker, began his violin studies at the age of five. He currently studies with Dr. Ann Setzer. Haemaru was a grand-prize winner of the Concert Festival International Competition, a first place winner in Rondo Young Artist Festival in 2016 and a first place winner in American Protégé International Music Talent Competition in 2015. In addition, he has received numerous awards and recognitions nationally and internationally including VIVO-Youth International Music Competition, International Grande Music Competition, Rondo Vanguard Competition, Associated Music Teachers League Scholarship Award. He has performed at varies venues including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Concert Hall, the Dimenna Center for Classical Music, Advent Lutheran Church and Rutgers Presbyterian Church in New York City. He has participated in various orchestras and chamber music groups at the Mannes School of Music, Trinity School, Meadowmount School of Music, Interlochen Center for the Arts and Suzuki Institute.

International Piano and Strings Competition 2017

Winners by Category