Young Artist Competition for Pre-College Pianists

2024 Competition

Junior Division

1st prize: Mingze Li (student of Yury Shadrin)
2nd prize: Emily Tang (student of Tian Lu)
3rd prize: John Slaughter (student of Teddy Robie)

Senior Division

1st prize: Samuel Han (student of Dmitri Vorobiev)
2nd prize: Yuanduo Li (student of Florence Ko)
3rd prize: Eric Sun (student of Clara Yang)

Judges:
Dr. Shuai Wang (Cleveland Institute of Music)
Dr. Melinda Baird (Chair, Levine Music)

2023 Competition

Junior Division

First Prize: Irena Gao (student of Florence Ko)
Second Prize: Olivia Li (student of Florence Ko)
Third Prize: Iris Wang (student of Olga Urick)

Senior Division

First Prize: Brandon Luo (student of Florence Ko)
Second Prize: Samuel Han (student of Dmitri Vorobiev)
Third Prize: Abhishek Shah (student of Teddy Robie)

Judges:
Dr. Heather Conner (Vanderbilt University)
Dr. Larry Weng (Wake Forest University)

2022 Competition

Junior Division

First Prize: Benjamin Luo (student of Florence Ko)
Second Prize: Olivia Li (student of Florence Ko)
Third Prize: Abhishek Shah (student of Teddy Robie)

Senior Division

=First Prize: Minseong Joo (student of Moonhyuk Choi)
Second Prize: Brandon Luo (student of Florence Ko)
Third Prize: Cristian Makhuli (student of Dmitri Vorobiev)

Judges:
Dr. Hsiang Tu (Virginia Tech)
Dr. Alan Woo (University of Georgia)

2021 Competition

Junior Division

First Prize: Brandon Luo (student of Florence Ko)
Second Prize: Olivia Li (student of Florence Ko)
Third Prize: Benjamin Luo (student of Florence Ko)

Judges:
Dr. Heather Conner (Vanderbilt University)
Dr. Hsiang Tu (Virginia Tech University)

Senior Division

First Prize: Sage Sasaki (student of Heather Conner)
Second Prize: Luke Turner (student of Heather Conner)
Third Prize: Norris Blackburn (student of Dmitri Shteinberg)
Honorable Mention: Jonathan Song (student of Florence Ko)

Judges:
Dr. Sookkyung Cho (Grand Valley State University)
Dr. Hyeyeon Park (University of Nevada, Reno)

2019 Competition

Junior Division

First Prize: Adrian Cheung (student of Oxana Titova)
Second Prize: Zhu Zihan (student of Tian Lu)
Third Prize: Olivia Li (student of Florence Ko)

Senior Division

First Prize: Eric Wang (student of Olga Urick)
Second Prize: Lily Lassiter (student of Irina Pevzner)
Third Prize: Hrishikesh Ram (student of John Herrmann)

Judges:
Ms. Ieva Jokubaviciute (Shenandoah University)
Dr. Paul Nitsch (Queens University)

2018 Competition

Junior Division

First Prize: Gabriel Crist (student of Mimi Solomon)
Second Prize: Thomas Kim (student of MiHyang Joo)
Third Prize: Benjamin Li (student of Karen Allred)

Judges:
Dr. John O’Brien, Chair, Keyboard Department at East Carolina University
Dr. Yi-Yang Chen, Assistant Professor of Piano, East Tennessee State University

Senior Division

First Prize: Andy Dai (student of Teddy Robie)
Second Prize: Eric Wang (student of Olga Urick)
Third Prize: Hrishikesh Ram (student of John Herrmann)

Judges:

Dr. Keiko Sekino, Associate Professor of Piano, East Carolina University
Mr. Yury Shadrin, Piano Faculty at Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University

2017 Competition

Junior Division

First Prize: Kimberly Liu (Student of Olga Urick)
Second Prize: Andrew Zhen (Student of Karen Allred)
Third Prize: Kyler Chen (Student of Margaret Evans)
The Carlin Prize for American Music: Jose Fernando Gomez (Student of Frank Pittman)
ECU Keyboard Alumni Prize: David Niu (Student of Florence Ko)

Judge: Bradley Hunnicutt

Senior Division

First Prize: Christopher Saba (Student of Pamela Mullins)
Second Prize: Kevin Xu (Student of Florence Ko)
Third Prize:  Kasey Stokes (Student of Rodney Reynerson)
ECU Keyboard Alumni Prize:  Kevin Xu (Student of Florence Ko)

Judge: Derison Duarte

2016 Competition

Junior Division

First Prize: Angelina Ning (Student of Marina Lamazov and Joseph Rackers)
Second Prize: Kevin Xu (Student of Florence Ko)
Third Prize: Christopher Saba (Student of Pamela Mullins)
American Music Prize: David Niu (Student of Florence Ko)
ECU Keyboard Alumni Prize: Angelina Ning (Student of Marina Lamazov and Joseph Rackers)

Judge: Dowell Idol

Senior Division

First Prize: Bethany Brinson (Student of Derison Duarte)
Second Prize: Grace He (Student of Teddy Robie)
Third Prize: Christopher Tavernier (Student of John Cobb)
ECU Keyboard Alumni Prize: Bethany Brinson (Student of Derison Duarte)

Judge: Kent Lyman