2023 Spring Competition Winners - Piano, Group A-F

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 Leah is the first grader at Lakeview elementary and started learning  piano under Eunjung Lee's direction about 1 year and half now. Recently,  she won the first place for the Diamond Bar Spring Festival 2023.  Beside of playing piano, she enjoy dancing, drawing, and crafting.   

 Irene Gao is a 7 year old girl from Medina Elementary, Washington. Irene began learning piano in December 2020 with Dr. Qian Yin. Since  then she has been very passionate about music. Irene has won many International  awards, among which are: First Prize in Vienna Virtuoso Festival 2023, First Prize in  Crescendo International Competition 2023, Gold Prize in Golden Classic music 2022, First Prize  in International Mozart Competition Vienna 2023, Gold Prize in Canadian International  Music Competition 2023, Gold Prize in WPTA Singapore 2022, First Prize in Chicago  International Music Competition 2022, Gold Prize in Quebec International Music Competition  2022, Gold Prize in Music and Star Competition, Best Romantic Composer Award & Second  Prize in WPTA Spain 2022, Second Place in Tokyo International Youth Music Competition  2022, Bronze Prize in International BTHVN WIEN Competition 2022, Silver Prize in  Global Genius Music Competition 2021, and so on.  She has performed at the Carnegie Hall in New York, John Knowles Paine  Hall in Harvard University, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music In  Singapore, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Meydenbauer Theater in Bellevue,  and was named Gold Star performer at Seattle International Classic  Viennese Festival 2022. She was interviewed by the Music and Star  Magazine and Quebec International Music Competition in August 2022 and  will be featured on Greet West Bellevue Magazine in May 2023. 

 Caden Chan is six years old and a native of San Francisco, USA. He  started learning piano at the age of four with his current piano  teacher, Ms. Min Chao.  In 2023, Caden was awarded first place in the US Open Music Competition,  the American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition, the  International Gloria Artis Music Competition, the Grand Prize Virtuoso  International Music Competitions, the Elevato Piano Competition (Chopin  Edition), and the Orbetello Piano Competition.  Caden has performed publicly at the NOSPR Concert Hall in Katowice,  Poland, the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, and the Royal Albert Hall  in London. 

 Hi, my name is Alex. I am 5 years old and I am from Australia. I enjoy  playing piano with my teacher and Daddy. My favourite piece is Prokofiev  No.2 Concerto  

 Allison is 4th grader at Golden ES, CA and she started piano about 3  years ago. She is started participate competition since last year, and  she won 2nd place at SYMF 2022 spring festival last year. Beside Piano,   She enjoys swimming, drawing and crafting. 

 Kei Horie, aged 9, was born in Japan and currently resides in Northern  California. He has been taking piano lessons from Ms. Yuiko Ohoka since  the age of 4. In addition to playing the piano, Kei also enjoys tennis  and plays the trumpet as a member of the school band. 

 My name is Robert. I am 13 years old and live in Switzerland. I go to  Bürgli School in Wallisellen (ZH). I have been playing piano since I was  6 years old. I like playing classical music but also modern music  especially from video games. My piano teacher is Milosz Sroczynski.  Beside music I like hiking, cycling and basketball.  

 Qingxin Wei, 12 years old, is a year 7 student in Abu Dhabi and she  passed ABRSM Grade 8 Piano practice with distinction in 2022 and ABRSM  Grade 6 music theory in 2023. Qingxin really enjoys playing the piano  and she has participated lots of competitions to improve her  performance. 

  Adrien RAULINE is a young French pianist, who graduated with a double  DEM in piano and in piano accompaniment, currently studying at  Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt. Awarded notably a 3d price at  Genève Musicale competition, judged especially by Rena Shereshevskaya,  Akiko Ebi and Till Fellner, a 2nd price at the International Mozart  Vienna competition, a 2nd prize given by Aristo Sham at Northern Lights  Piano Festival for an interpretation of Bach’s prelude and fugue, a 3rd  prize in Piano Competition Online, a special prize in Euterpe Music  Awards 2022, and as a finalist in contests like Eurovision Young  Musicians France 2022 or International Artists Competition, he was  selected for the Tiziano Rossetti Career Project, which is designated to  prepare young musicians to start an international career. Adrien  particularly cares about practicing various fields of interest outside  his musical work: national 1st Prize of Writing in the Etonnants  Voyageurs competition, awarded a national special prize in Concours  National de La Résistance et de la Déportation, a history academic  competition, he will also validate an American baccalaureate with Ais  Dualdiploma this year. Adrien has been trying to be a musician as  completely as possible, by beginning musicology studies at the French  university of La Sorbonne this year; by practicing the organ; by  creating his own compositions like his own piano concerto, or by  frequenting music masters in academies like Jean-François Zygel, Jerome  Lowenthal,  Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Marie-Josèphe Jude or François-René  Duchâble. 

 Shiho Yanagawa, 16, is a junior from Fremont, CA. She began playing the  piano at the age of 5 and is currently studying under Dr. Betty  Woo. Shiho has won top prizes in multiple regional, national, and  international competitions, including 1st place and 2nd place in U.S  Open Music Competition from 2017 to 2022, 1st place in 2020 Alameda East  Piano Competition, and 2nd place with PTG Special Prize in 2022 East  Bay Piano Competition. In 2023, she was selected to perform at the  Junior Bach Festival, won cash prize at Memorial Scholarship Foundation  Festival, and received MTAC Certificate of Merit  Panel Final Honors award. Besides music, Shiho enjoys baking, learning  new languages, and serving in student government. 

 Tam Git Mei Cherry is a born and raised pianist in Hong Kong, who  started learning piano at the age of 2 and debuted at the age of 7.  Double majoring in music in The University of Hong Kong, Tam is studying  piano performance with Ms. Nancy Loo under full scholarship, previously  studying with Dr. Chang Tao, Dr. Cherry Tsang, Dr. Yap Man Shan etc.  Being the winner of several piano competitions, both locally and  internationally, some notable awards are the Champion of Franz Schubert  International Music Competition , Osaka International Music Competition  (HK regional round), Amigdala International Music Competition (HK  regional round),  Asia-Pacific Music Competition etc.  Tam has performed in masterclasses with Evelyn Chang, Rachel Cheung,  David Greilsammer, Alexander Paley, Rhythmie Wong etc. Tam is currently  active in performing at recitals through the Advanced Music Performance  courses in HKU and attending international piano competitions, at the  same time starting to develop her interest in composition under the  tutelage of composer William So. 

 Hedvig Orsovai was born in 2003 in Sombor, Serbia. She played piano  four-hands with her brother at the age of four, and when she was five  she was admitted to the local music school. Hedvig composed her first  piano piece aged nine, and the following year her hometown issued a CD  recording of her work. She has composed 80 pieces so far. She has won  several first prizes, among others at the Slavenski International Piano  Competition in Újvidék (Novi Sad) and the National Piano Competition in  Belgrade. In 2017 she was admitted to the class of outstanding talent at  the Liszt Academy. She received the first prize at the 2018 National  Composition Competition of Mezőtúr. In 2019 she got the first prize at  the Danubia Talents international piano competition, and in 2021 she got  a first price too at the 1. International Piano Competition of  Carpathian Basin. She has graduated in piano and composition at the Béla  Bartók High School of Music last year. From 2022, she is studying piano  at the Liszt Ferenc Academy. 

 Michelle Jiang, 11 ans, écolière dans Lycée Français de Shanghai.  Excellentes notes à l’école. Apprendre le français,l'anglais, l'espagnol  et l'allemand. Apprendre le piano dès l’âge de quatre ans et le violon  dès l’âge de cinq ans. 

 Kylie is a fifth grader from Chino Hills, California. She has been  studying piano with direction of Eun Jung Lee since she was 6 years old.  Under her direction she has been able to explore her passion for piano  and received multiple awards.  Among others, she received 1st place at the 2022 MTAC Diamond bar winter  festival, 1st place at the 2022 Southwestern youth music festival in  the category of Baroque open solo and Mozart complete sonata and 2nd  place at the 2022 MTAC Diamond Bar spring festival. In previous years,  she received 3rd place at the 2020 Southern California youth music  festival in the category of open solo ages under8, 3rd place at 2020  MTAC Diamond Bar Winter festival and 1st place at the 2021 MTAC Diamond  Bar spring festival. Through the musical training, Kylie firmly believes that music can  connect and remove barriers between people despite the different  languages spoken, and someday in future, she wishes to give back to  community what she has learned from music.  Besides piano, she loves to explore nature, travel through national  parks and rivers, plays with her dog, reading books about dragons and  warriors and fishing at the lakes. 

  Andrew Lee, age 12, has been playing piano since he was six years old  and currently studies with Yi-Fang Wu. Andrew has had numerous piano  competition wins and finalist awards, concert positions and state  honors.  He is a Pre-College Academy student at the San Francisco  Conservatory of Music.  In his free time, Andrew enjoys playing  competitive tennis, golf and sometimes video games. 

 Lucas Ou is passionate about playing the piano. Since age 6, he has been  learning piano taught by Dr. Renpeng Peter Dong. Since then, he has  participated in several international piano competitions and won several  awards. On July 27th, 2021, he won 1st prize of the 2021 “Golden  Classical Music Awards” International Competition, Junior Category, and  was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall during the Christmas in 2021. On  Feb 22nd, 2022, he won 1st Prize Winner at 2022 International Music  Competition “London '' Grand Prize Virtuoso, selected to perform at the  Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall on Wed, April 20, 2022. In 2022, He passed  the ABRSM Grade 8 Piano Exam. Lucas is also committed to serving the  community. He volunteered to play the piano for his middle school’s “6th  grade end of year celebration” and local community’s “Celebrating the  Mid-Autumn Festival and United Nations Peace Concert”. He received  overwhelmingly positive responses from his audience.  

 Hi! My name is Dhevan Lotama.

I am 11 years old. I love music, especially the piano.

I have been studying piano since I was 6 years old at Aretha Music School.

While in music school, I have learned from several teachers with different personalities.

This is an interesting experience for me in developing my musical abilities.

Apart from music school, I started to learn playing classical and pop songs outside of music school material.

My goal is to become a famous musician and be able to inspire many people.

It is very important for me to manage the time between school lessons and playing music to achieve my goals. 

 Ukrainian-American pianist Daniel Beal has been performing many years.  He has been a guest artist with two orchestras, and participates in  local and regional competitions, becoming a national finalist in the  2022 MTNA Piano Performance Competition. He has won state MTNA  competitions two years in a row, the 2020 SMTA State Recitalist  Competition, and has numerous 1st place awards in the Spokane Piano  Competition. Daniel has been awarded over a dozen gold medals at  Musicfest Northwest at Gonzaga University, including gold medals for  concertos at ages nine and ten. He is grateful to his long-term  instructor Ms. Miller for her support. Daniel volunteers at retirement  centers and the public library, and has been heard on Spokane Public  Radio many times. He believes classical music is an irreplaceable part  of our culture today. 

 Veronica Kuo started playing the piano from the age of 5 and decided to  learn the cello when she was 8 years old. She is currently a freshman in  high school and has participated in many competitions such as the 2022  IMAS Competition 9th Annual Talented Young Musician Olympia Competition  for piano(Gold prize) and the 2021 Pelican International Music  Competition(1st prize in both piano and cello). She has also passed the  Certificate of Merit Level 10 piano Level 9 cello exam and won State  Honor. Veronica has also won first place in the Kings Peak 2022 spring  competition. She has participated in her school orchestra since middle  school and is currently the principal cellist at her high school and  performed at Midwest with her school orchestra in December 2022.  

 Reina Hewes began piano lessons at the age of five and currently studies  with Dr. Deborah H. How.  Reina has been a winner at many  international, state and local piano competitions.  As a winner of the  Elite International Music Competition and the Golden Classic Music  Awards, Reina had the honor of performing at Weill Recital Hall at  Carnegie Hall in 2019 , 2020 and 2022.  Reina has also performed with  the Los Angeles Doctor Symphony Orchestra on two occasions, first, as  the  winner of the Robert Turner Piano Concerto Competition and second,  as a guest soloist.  Reina participates in the RCM Certificate Program  and the MTAC Evaluations for both piano and flute and plays on her high  school tennis team. 

 I am very happy to be able to participate in this competition, it is my honor, I will continue to improve and work hard 

 Hello everyone, my name is Liu Yixuan. I am from Hunan, China. I studied  at the Belarusian State Academy of Music. I am very happy to be in the  finals. This is a great experience for me.