Winners of the 2021 Arthur Fraser International
Piano Competition

First Prize | Second Prize | Third Prize
Young Jury Award | Best Solo Award 1
Best Solo Award 2
Discretionary Awards Best Work Written Since 1990

Picture of Solomon GeSolomon Ge
First Prize; Young Jury Award; Best Solo Award


Solomon Ge is a pianist and composer from San Jose, CA. He currently studies piano with Prof. Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In the summer of 2019, Solomon won fourth prize in the International e-piano Junior Competition and top prizes in the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, and the Los Angeles International Piano Competition. He is the winner of numerous local and state competitions, including the Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Competition, California Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, Mondavi Young Artists’ Competition, Ross McKee Competition, and Emory University Young Artists’ Piano Competition, among others. He has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Peninsula Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Round Rock Symphony Orchestra and California Youth Symphony. This summer, he has been invited to join the San Jose Youth Symphony on tour to Europe as a soloist.
Back to Top

Picture of Nathaniel ZhangNathaniel Zhang
Second Prize


Nathaniel Zhang started learning piano at the age of 5. He currently studies with Dr. Sasha Starcevich and previously studied with Tien Hsieh.

Nathaniel had his first piano solo recital at the age of 10. He made his orchestral debut with Florence Conservatory Orchestra at Music Festival Perugia, Italy. Nathaniel is the 1st place winner of the 2018-2019 MTNA National Junior Performance Competition and Chopin Award, 2019 Waring International Junior Solo Competition and Junior Concerto Competition. His other achievements include 1st place winner of 2018 Pacific Musical Society Competition, 2019 CAPMT Concerto Competition State Final, and 2018 & 2015 CAPMT Honors Competition State Final. He is the gold medalist of the 2019 Chopin Foundation Northwest Council Competition.

Nathaniel loves sharing music with all ages and enjoys public performance. He participated in the Junior Bach Festival in 2017 and 2018. He played piano for first-graders in the elementary school during lunchtime and his story was featured on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, segment “America Strong”. Nathaniel loves playing chamber music too. He appeared in the “Rising Stars of Chamber Music” concerts in 2018 and 2019.
Back to Top

Picture of Andrew GuAndrew Gu
Third Prize; Best Solo Award


Andrew Gu hails from Milton, Massachusetts. He started piano lessons with mom Helen Jung at age 6. He is currently a student at Roxbury Latin School and New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School where he studies under the direction of world-renowned master pianist Alexander Korsantia and Hitomi Koyama.

In 2015, he won 1st Prize at the 61st Grotrian-Steinweg International Piano Competition. More recently, he won 1st Prize at the 2017 Rosalyn Tureck International Piano Competition, and was awarded Grand Prix at the 2019 Chopin International Piano Competition Hartford. He made his orchestra debut at age 8 performing Haydn's Keyboard Concerto in D major. In 2020, as the winner of the Ehlers Young Artist Competition and Eleanor B. Nelson Concerto Competition, he performed Prokofiev’s Concerto No.1. He was featured in Classical King FM’s NW Focus Live Shows, Ten Grands Seattle and Ten Grands Florida Concerts. He has attended masterclasses of Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Bernhard Goetzke, Peter Lang, Gary Graffman, and Dang Thai Son. Over the years, he has performed at Seattle's Benaroya Hall, New York's Merkin Hall and DiMenna Center for Classical Music, as well as the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West.
Back to Top

Picture of Malvyn LaiMalvyn Lai
Discretionary Award Winner

Malvyn Lai started piano at age 5 and currently studies with Prof. Ning An. At age 10, he made his orchestral debut with the Kostroma Symphony Orchestra in Russia. He has since performed with the Danube Symphony in Hungary, ToruĊ„ Symphony Orchestra in Poland, Culver City Symphony in California, Grossmont College Symphony in San Diego, Temecula Valley Symphony in California and Concert Festival Orchestra in NY. Malvyn has won many awards and scholarships; his recent competition accomplishments include the 2021 National YoungArts Foundation Finalist in Classical Music: Piano, first prize in piano of the 2020 Walgreens National Concerto Competition, the Milton H. Saier. Memorial Award as the winner of the 2020 La Jolla Symphony Young Artist Competition, 2020-2021 Chopin Foundation of United States Scholarship recipient, the winner of the 2020 California Music Center Spotlight Merit Award, the OC International Steinway & Sons Competition, the Lee Piano Festival Competition, and many other scholarships and competitions.
Back to Top

Picture of Andrew ShiAndrew Shi
Discretionary Award Winner


A student of Rufus Choi, Los Angeles native Andrew Shi has won numerous awards in state, national, and international piano competitions. Andrew was the first prize winner of the San Jose International Piano Competition and the recipient of the “Most Promising Young Talent” award. He was also a three-time first place winner of the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC) State Piano Solo and Concerto Competitions and was newly inducted to the 2021-2026 Young Artist Guild of California.

Andrew’s other recent accolades include the first prize winner of the 2020 ENKOR International Music Competition, the 2020 and 2021 National YoungArts winner, the 2019 and 2020 Spotlight winner, and two-time first prize winner at the Los Angeles International Piano Competition. He has received top prizes in more than a dozen music competitions, including the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, American Fine Arts Festival, Kathryn Gawartin Chopin Piano Competition, among many others. He has performed in master classes with Oxana Yablonskaya, Vadim Monastyrsky, Sergey Schepkin, Lucinda Carver, and Eugene Alcalay.

As the first prize winner of both the Gail Newby Concerto Competition and Robert Turner Piano Concerto Competition, Andrew performed with the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra and the Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Andrew received top prizes in the MTAC State VOCE Competition. He was accepted by prestigious competitions and music festivals such as the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Southeastern Piano Festival and Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, and the Tanglewood Music Festival.

Andrew currently is a junior at Diamond Bar High School (DBHS), where he is the vice president of the DBHS Performing Arts Academy. He started playing piano at the age of five and, at six, performed at Carnegie Hall. His passion for music has driven him in all aspects of his academic studies and extracurricular activities. Andrew is a two-time silver medalist of the British Biology Olympiad and an American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) qualifier. To help younger kids continue learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, he founded and served as the president of Aerovate-DB. In December 2020, he successfully fundraised for students in remote areas of the Philippines. He hopes to not only impart his passion for music and academics but also spread optimism and character for life.
Back to Top

Picture of Adrian ZaragozaAdrian Zaragoza
Discretionary Award Winner


Adrian Zaragoza has taken piano lessons since age four. He is a student of Professor Richard Cionco at California State University, Sacramento, and Professor John McCarthy at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has previously studied the piano under Mrs. Marjoree McBee, Mrs. Lara Downes and Dr. Lino Rivera. Adrian has also studied the harpsichord with Dr. Lorna Peters and Dr. Phoebe Craig. He has won top prizes at several local and international competitions, such as the Orfeo International Music Competition, Sylvia M Ghiglieri Piano Competition, Singapore International Piano Competition, Henry and Carol Zeiter Piano Competition, Golden State Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, American Protege International Piano Competition, United States Open Music Competition, and the Solano Symphony Concerto Competition. He was honored to perform Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor Op.16 with the Solano Symphony Orchestra. Next year, Adrian is scheduled to perform as a soloist with the Golden State Youth Symphony and at Carnegie Hall. Outside of music, Adrian also speaks French and Spanish fluently, enjoys swimming, biking, going to amusement parks, and spending time with his family, friends and his two dogs Sachi and Sia.
Back to Top

Picture of Katherine LiuKatherine Liu
Best Work Written Since 1990


Katherine Liu has received top prizes in numerous piano competitions, including Grand Prix at the VI Chopin International Piano Competition in Connecticut and the Soloists of New England Competition, and First Prizes at the III Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition, Steinway Society Piano Competition, NEC Preparatory Concerto Competition, Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, and Lowell Philharmonic Concerto Competition, among many others. Katherine has performed as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Rivers Symphony Orchestra and the Brockton Symphony Orchestra. Katherine is also the bronze medalist at the Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition and a National YoungArts winner in Classical Music.

Since her Carnegie Hall debut in 2015, Katherine has performed in the Cartoon Festival at Boston’s Symphony Hall several times and was featured on WCRB 99.5. Katherine appeared on NPR's From the Top at Jordan Hall in 2016 and performed at the “Lato z chopinem” festival in Poland. Katherine is a second-year recipient of the Chopin Foundation scholarship.

Katherine has worked with great musicians such as Alexander Ghindin, Valery Kuleshov, Krzysztof Jablonski, Alexander Kobrin, Piotr Paleczny, Ewa Poblocka, and Sean Chen. She currently studies with HaeSun Paik at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.
Back to Top