Caleb Borick
Caleb Borick, fifteen, studies with Dr. Joseph Rackers. Caleb has won numerous awards and scholarships including the grand prize in the 2014 Philadelphia International Music Festival's Concerto Competition, third place in the 2017 MNTA Nationals Junior Division, first place in the 2017 Ronald Sachs International Music Competition, second place in the 2017 International Institute for Young Musicians Piano Competition, first place in the SCGSAH Junior Artist Piano Competition, first place in the 2018 NC Steinway & Sons Junior Piano Competition, and first place in the MTNA Senior Piano Competition for SC. Caleb has been the featured soloist with the Fountain Inn Symphony Orchestra, The Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra for their 20th Anniversary East Coast Tour to Carnegie Hall, the Alicante Symphony Orchestra, the Southcoast Symphony Orchestra, the Tidewater Intergenerational Orchestra, and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared on WPR's "The Midday" with Norman Gilliland, KPR's "Classical Music in the Morning" with Michael Keelan, and on NPR's "From The Top" Episode # 320. He has participated and soloed in numerous music festivals including Southeastern Piano Festival, International Institute for Young Musicians, Green Lake Festival of Music, and Music Fest Perugia in Perugia, Italy.
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Jadis Chen
Sixteen-year-old pianist Jadis Chen is a junior at Los Gatos High School and studies piano with Ms. Rose Chen. She was recently invited to perform at the Music for Minors Benefit Concert, J’adore: Gift of Music Foundation Concert, and the Peninsula Symphony Concert. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2016 as a winner of the AADGT International Young Gifted Musicians Competition and the American Protege International Competition. She has won top prizes in the CAPMT Honors Competition, Gavilan College Piano Competition, Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, US International Piano Competition, MTAC State Solo Competition, Sylvia M. Ghiglieri Piano Competition, ENKOR International Music Competition, US New Star Piano Competition, US Open Music Competition, and the Western Regional CA State Competition. She is the President of the Music for Millions Leadership Program and the Tri-M Music Honor Society. In the past summers, she participated in the Curtis Young Artists Program, the John Perry Summer Academy, and the University of Pacific Senior Piano Camp with scholarship. She has also played in masterclasses with Corey McVicar, John Perry, Sharon Mann, Ruth Slenczynska, Dmitry Rachmanov, Mack McCray, Inna Faliks, and Sarkis Baltaian. In her spare time, she enjoys jewelry making.
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Josephine Chou
Josephine Chou is a sophomore at Saratoga High School and currently studies with Professor Hans Boepple. She has won numerous competitions prizes including the Seattle International Piano Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Pacific Music Society, CAPMT Concerto Competition and Honors Audition, San Francisco Chopin Competition, the MTAC Concerto Competition and Solo Competition. At the age of nine, she made her debut performing the 1st movement of Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D Major with the Winchester Orchestra. In 2016, she performed the first movement of the Chopin Concerto No. 1 with the El Camino Orchestra. She also received an invitation to the World Piano Talents Concert at the 2016 International Chopin Piano Festival in Poland. Outside of solo performances, she also enjoys chamber music. She has been to Music@menlo for three summers. She currently runs Hope of Music, a Bay Area organization dedicated to spreading music to those in nursing homes. In addition, she has served as an accompanist for her school’s choir. Besides music, she enjoys writing poems and spending time with her family and friends. Her poems have received publications in several states and literary journals across the country.
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Andy Dai
Andy Dai, a sophomore from East Chapel Hill high school, NC, has been studying piano since age 5. Andy received his early training under teachers Julia Yu and Zena Ilyashov in Missouri, where he won first prize multiple times in MMTA and top honors in other regional and state competitions. After moving to North Carolina in 2015, Andy has studied piano with Greg McCallum and Margaret Evans and is currently taught by Teddy Robie. In North Carolina, Andy has won many prizes - some of which include: first prize and lyrical award of Nakarai/Withers Piano Competition, first prizes in the UNC-School of the Arts Classical Competition, in both King and Prince divisions of the Young Artist Auditions (YAA), in the East Carolina University Young Artist Competition, in Chapel Hill Philharmonic’s Concerto Competition, and top prizes throughout the years in MTNA and the Steinway Jr. Competition. In 2016, Andy performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall as a winner of the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition. In addition to music, Andy likes science, reading, and video games.
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Solomon Ge
Solomon Ge, age 16, is a pianist and composer from San Jose, CA. He currently studies piano with Prof. Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Solomon has won numerous awards in the 2017 and 2019 Zeiter Piano Competition, 2018 MTNA Senior Piano Competition, 2019 Diablo Symphony Competition, and is the winner of the 2019 Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, 2019 Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Competition, 2019 CAPMT Honors State Competition and 2019 California Youth Symphony Concerto Competition. He has performed with the Peninsula Symphony and will perform with the Palo Alto Philharmonic in May, 2019, the Round Rock Symphony in June, 2019, and the California Youth Symphony in March, 2020. He has also participated in the 2018 Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival in Italy and the 2019 International Maestro Piano Festival in Taipei, playing in master classes for Dang Thai Son, Boris Slutsky, John Perry, Ilana Vared, and Chun-Chieh Yen. As a composer, he has won the 2018 CMS Young Composers Competition, 2018 MTNA Composition Competition, and is a finalist in the 2018 NextNotes Composer Awards, 2018 National Young Composers Challenge, and ASCAP Young Composers Competition. In 2016 and 2017, he attended the Young Artists’ Composition Program at Tanglewood.
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Jasper Heymann
Jasper Heymann, a junior at Horace Mann School in NYC, is a multi-award-winning Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. The Chicago Music Report haled his “impassioned delivery” and “dazzling performance [at Millennium Park] that brought the audience to their feet,” while New York Concert Review lauded his Steinway Hall recital for his “astounding lyricism” and “deep emotional bond with the music.” During his recent residency at the Leeds Piano Festival, Jasper was invited to give recitals at LSO St. Lukes and Leeds College of Music, and has been a featured performer at galas and fundraisers at Carnegie Hall, the Royal College of Music and other prominent venues. Jasper has garnered top prizes in national and international piano competitions leading to more than twenty performances at Carnegie Hall, including AADGT, NYSMTA, American Protégé, Bradshaw & Buono, American Fine Arts, Golden Key, and finalist in The American Prize and National Public Radio’s “From the Top.” He has also received scholarships to piano festivals in Europe and the United States, including Andermatt Festival in Switzerland, Vianden International Piano Festival in Luxembourg and the Málaga International Music Festival in Spain. Jasper studies piano with Elena Rossman.
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Ben Hoang
Ben Hoang, age 15, had his first debut with the Austin Symphony orchestra at age 9 playing the 3rd movement of Mendelssohn piano concerto No 1. At age 12 in 2016, Ben performed the complete Grieg concerto with the Houston symphony. Among his awards are 1st place at the 2018 Walgreens National Concerto Competition senior piano division, 2nd place at the 2018 Ohio international piano duet and duo competition, 2018-2019 MTNA senior piano duet National Finalist, 2017-2018 MTNA Junior piano performance National Finalist, 2nd place and youngest winner at the 2017 HartFort Chopin International piano competition, 1st place at the 2016 San Jose International Piano competition junior category, Gold medal at the 7th and 10th International Chopin Youth Competition in Houston, 1st place at 2017 TMTA Performace contest and 2016 Baylor/Waco Young Artist piano competition. Ben was a frequent 1st place winner of the Texas State Young Artist Piano Competition and was awarded full scholarship to the 7th,8th and 9th Texas State International Piano Festival. Ben started playing piano at age 5 and is currently a student of Alexander Malikov and Saida Kafarova.
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Marco Jimenez
Marco A. Jimenez is in 10th grade and is currently homeschooled. Marco plays piano, organ, and violin. As the winner of the 2019 Justine LeBaron Young Artists Competition, Marco will play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major with the Florida Orchestra in 2020. He was also the winner of the 2017 Edward and Ida Wilkof Young Artists Concerto Competition and played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor with the Sarasota Orchestra. Marco has given numerous public performances on the piano, organ, and violin, including performances for the Steinway Society of Sarasota and with the Pops Orchestra of Bradenton and Sarasota, where he performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto in 2016. Marco also composes classical music. His composition Tapestries received Honorable Mention for the 2019 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. His composition Four Programmatic Preludes of Minimalism on one Motif was the winner of the John and Margaret Pierson Award for the 2018 National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest. TrevCo Music Publishing has published two of his compositions: Suite No. 1 in E minor for unaccompanied bassoon (2017) and A Russian Fantasy (for woodwind quintet) (2017). Marco attended Interlochen Center for the Arts for piano (2016) and violin (2017) during the summer. This past summer (2018), Marco attended Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) for piano and will be attending BUTI this coming summer (2019).
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Charlie Li
Charles Li, age 15, is a sophomore at Lakeside High School in Evans, Georgia. He started playing piano at the age of 5 and studies with Dr. Elena Cholakova. After winning the Augusta Symphony Concerto Competition in 2013, he made his orchestral debut with the Augusta Symphony playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453. He was a prize-winner of the Emory University Young Artist Piano Competition in 2019, was awarded first-place prizes in the Georgia Music Teachers Association (GMTA) and Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) statewide auditions since 2013, was a recipient of the Atlanta Music Club scholarship award and was a prize-winner of the Atlanta Romantic and Impressionistic Piano Competition in 2018. In October of 2018, Charles was chosen as the senior division representative of the state Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA) piano competition and represented Georgia in the Southern Division. Over the past few summers, Charles has attended the Augusta University Chamber Music Intensive and performed various chamber works. This summer, he attended the Brevard Music Festival and studied under Dr. Jihye Chang. Charles has performed in masterclasses for renowned artists such as Pascal Rogé and Laurent Boukobza.
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Regina Lin
Regina Lin, age 15, currently a student of Dr Alex McDonald and Marcy McDonald, began her piano studies at age 5. She has been a top prize winner at numerous competitions for the past 7 years, including first prize at 2019 Baylor University Piano Competition Senior Concerto division; 2nd prize at Emory University Young Artist Piano Competition in Atlanta, Georgia; first prize 3 years in a row at Texas State Young Artist piano competition in 2017, 2018 and 2019; first prize at 2016 TMTA state convention solo competition; and first prizes multiple times at Dallas Symphonic Festival, Dallas Piano Solo competition. She was also a top prize winner at Collin County Young Artist Competition in 2015 and 2016. Regina made her orchestra debut with Round Rock Symphony Orchestra when she was 12, performing Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 1st movement, as a winner of 7th Texas State International Piano Festival Young Artist Concerto Competition. She was also featured as a Rising Star for 2017 Basically Beethoven Festival and performed a program of chamber and solo program by Beethoven, Shostakovich and Gershwin at Dallas City Performance Hall. In 2016, she was the Grand prize winner in the United States of CCTV Super talent show organized by the most famous TV station in China. Regina also has performed in master classes and lessons with John Perry, Julian Martin, Nelita True, Enrico Elisi, Marina Lomazov, Boris Slutsky, Pamela Paul and Krassimira Jordan. Besides of being a passionate pianist, she also loves reading, writing, art, and science.
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Anna McCargow
Anna McCargow was born in Moscow in July 2001. She started studying piano at the age of five with her music teacher Irina Razheva. From 2008 until 2017 she continued her musical education at Gnesina's school, Моscow. Since 2016 Anna has been studying at the Talent Music Master Courses in Brescia, Italy, with Professor Andreas Frölich. Since September 2017 Anna McCargow has been studying at the Central Music School of the Moscow State Conservatory, named after P.I. Tchaikovsky, in M. A. Marchenko's class.She is a winner of several international piano competitions, including 1st Prize at the International Piano competition «Concorsi Internazionali di Musica della Val Tidone», category B, June, 2016, 1st Prize at the International Piano competition «Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte» , Usti nad Labem, the Czech Republic, November, 2016; 2nd Prize at the Leganes International Piano Competition (Concurso Internacional de Piano Ciudad de Leganes), Spain, April, 2018. June 2018 – 1st Prize at the 7th International Musical Competition in Citta di Penne (Concorso Internationale di Esecuzione Musicale “Incontri d’Estate”), where Anna was also awarded two concerts: a solo piano recital and a concert with the orchestra of Pescara Conservatory, Italy, Abruzzo.
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Leonid Nediak
Fifteen-year-old pianist and composer Leonid Nediak had his orchestra debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at age 10. He has been a soloist in more than a dozen orchestra concerts including with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Canada, and with the Canton Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Contemporary Youth Orchestra in the USA. Nediak was featured in the BRAMS symposium “Musicians: Born or Made?” and the Miami International Piano Festival Discovery Series 2017. Nediak has been invited to perform in numerous international piano festivals including the Cleveland International Piano Competition and Festival (as artist and young jury), Golandsky Institute International Piano Festival, and La Fête de la Musique de Tremblant. Nediak has taken numerous masterclasses including with John O’Conor, John Perry, Anton Nel, Robert McDonald, and Andrea Bonatta. Nediak received numerous awards in piano and composition including the audience prize and second place at the 2015 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, the grand prize at the 2013 and 2014 Canadian Music Competitions, and first prize at the International 2014 Hal Leonard Carol Klose Composition Competition. In 2015, Nediak was selected as the youngest of the “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30” by CBC Music. Nediak currently studies with Marina Mdivani. In addition to music, Nediak enjoys Mathematics and Computer Science. Recently, Nediak was a national student champion in the 2019 International Fermat Mathematics Contest, which had 17047 contestants.
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Janet Phang
Janet Phang has studied with Dr. Peter Mack at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle since 2012. She has won the first places at numerous competitions and festivals including the 2015 WA-State MTNA, the 2016 NW Division MTNA, 2016 National MTNA, 2018 Music Festival- Northwest Young Artist, and 2019 CDA National Young Artist. Janet’s footprints has been expanded from regional to national participating in many events hosted by renowned organizations such as Chopin US/NW Council, Russian Chamber Music Association, Seattle Music Teachers Association, Seattle International Competition, Bluthner International Competition, and so forth. Her achievement has led her to various opportunities of performance through media, colleges and orchestras. Janet has been invited to perform at King’s Classic Music FM -Seattle, KPBX Radio, KHQ-Spokane TV and more. Janet was invited to play Ravel piano concerto in G with Eastern Washington University orchestra in 2014 followed by the Saint Saëns concerto No.2 with Spokane Symphony Orchestra and Rachmaninoff concerto No.2 with Coeur d’Alene Symphony in 2019. Janet is musically open-minded and versatile. She enjoys playing music with other musicians in various forms, such as in jazz sessions, chamber groups, ensembles school music and community service.
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Yejin Song
Yejin Song, 14, is a ninth grader at The Harker School in San Jose, California. She currently studies piano with Professor Hans Boepple. Yejin won first place at the 2018 MTAC State Piano Solo Competition after winning the 2018 northern regional competition. She placed second in the 2018 SF Chopin Competition and third as a finalist in the 2018 Pacific Musical Society Competition. Yejin has also won first place at the Korea Times Youth Music Competition, first place at the 2019 KAMSA competition, and other top prizes at MTNA, Sylvia M. Ghiglieri Piano Competition, USIMC, and USOMC. She has taken lessons and master classes from notable pianists including Ann Schein, John Perry, and Dmitry Rachmanov. Yejin attended the 2018 John Perry Academy of Music Summer Festival and will attend the 2019 Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Pianists Program. She also enjoys playing chamber music, and her piano trio won first place at USOMC. Aside from piano, Yejin likes to play percussion in her school orchestra and watch baseball.
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Junhao Wang
Junhao Wang, a high school senior, studies piano with Dr. Jack Winerock. Some of his recent accomplishments include taking Second Prize in 2018 Blüthner International (IIYM) Piano Competition and Third Prize in the 2018 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition for Young Pianists. Previously, he also won Second Place in the 2015-16 National MTNA Piano cha2013 and 2015 Utah Music Teachers Association Piano Concerto Competitions, and First Prize in the 2013 American Fine Arts Festival Concerto Competition (AFAF). He has also competed in some of the most well-known international piano competitions, including the 2017 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the 2016 Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition, and the 2015 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists. Junhao has had concerto performances with the Kansas City Symphony, Heritage Philharmonic, Midwest Chamber Ensemble, American West Symphony of Utah, and the Salt Lake Symphony. As an AFAF winner, he performed at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall. Also, resulting in his placement in the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition, Junhao was invited to perform in the 2018 Puerto Rico International Piano Festival.
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Charlotte Wong
Charlotte is a Junior at Aragon High School in San Mateo, CA and a Pre-college scholarship student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), studying with Professor Corey McVicar. She began her piano journey at five. Charlotte has won top prizes in the Sonata Competition at Colburn Music Academy Piano Festival, the MTAC Concerto Competition, the US Open Advanced Group Concerto Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Los Angeles Young Musicians International Competition, the Los Angeles Liszt International Competition, the Vancouver International Music Competition, and the Henry & Carol Zeiter Piano Competition. She has also been invited to perform at the XXIII International Chopin Festival in Poland, SFCM Centennial Gala Concert, Young Artists Play Liszt Concert, SFCM North Bay Wildfires Benefit Concert, and at the Concert of San Francisco Presidio. In 2018, she performed Liszt Paganini Etude No.6 on NPR's "Live from Here" with Chris Thile, broadcast nationally from Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. Last summer, Charlotte attended the Curtis Summerfest Young Artists Program. Through her study of piano, Charlotte had the pleasure to work with Garrick Ohlsson, Edward Auer, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, James Giles, and Jeffrey Kahane in masterclasses.
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Shiv Yajnik
Shiv Yajnik, 16, is in tenth grade at St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas, Texas. He has studied classical piano for twelve years. Shiv is very passionate about music and studies piano with Mrs. Marcy and Dr. Alex McDonald. Shiv also composes music and writes for piano as well as other instruments. Shiv’s composition, "Ondine", written for a piano trio, was premiered at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and he later performed it with a violinist and cellist at the Basically Beethoven Festival. Shiv recently composed a Fantasia for Cello and Piano. Shiv has attended several festivals for piano, including the Kansas University International Institute for Young Musicians, the Cooper Piano Festival, the Pianists Academy at the Jacobs School of Music, and the Summer Sonata at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has won first-place awards in the Dallas Symphonic Festival in the Junior and Senior divisions for sonata and concerto, the Texas Music Teachers Association state concerto competition, and a grand prize from the Collin County Young Artists Competition. Shiv performed with the Baylor Symphony in 2018 the Plano Symphony in 2019.
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Elizabeth Yang
Elizabeth Yang, 15, receives lessons from Grace Junghee Yang and is a ninth grader attending Montgomery High School. She has won numerous competitions such as the New Jersey Music Teachers Association Young Musician Competition, the Music Teachers National Association New Jersey Junior Division Piano Competition (Alternate), the MTNA Senior Duet Piano Competition Eastern Division with her brother, the spring NJMTA Audition, the National League of Performing Arts Showcase Competition, the Greater Princeton Steinway Piano Competition, the Steinway Society of South NJ Piano Competition, the Cecilian Music Club Young Artist Competition, and the Camerata Artists International Competition. Along with these accomplishments, Elizabeth had the honor of performing in Merkin Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. She has also been featured on WWFM’s Kids on Keys radio program several times as well as the WRTI Radio Station and live stream. Using her abilities as a musician, she spends many hours volunteering at local churches, senior centers, and choruses.
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Jessica Zhang
Jessica Zhang, age 16, is a 10th grader at Hamilton High. She has studied piano with teacher Fei Xu since the age of 6 and was the 1st Place Winner in the Arizona Musicfest Young Musicians Piano Competition Division I in 2016 and Division II in 2018. Jessica was the winner of the 2017 PYS Junior Division Piano Concerto Competition and the winner of the 2019 PYS Senior Division Piano Concerto Competition and the 2019 PYS Grand Prize winner, performing with the Phoenix Symphony. In March 2015, Jessica won 2nd Place in the Music Teachers National Association Junior Piano Competition finals, along with the Chopin Prize from the National Chopin Foundation. Jessica has also won second place and the Audience Prize at the 2016 International Institute for Young Musicians International Piano Competition and third place at the 2016 Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Competition. She has been the 1st Place Winner of many local piano competitions as well: 2014 East Valley Music Teachers Competition, 2013 Arizona Young Artists Piano Competition, and 2013 Arizona Future Stars Piano Competition. At age 11, she made her orchestral debut with the MusicaNova Orchestra.
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Shuheng Zhang
Shuheng Zhang has been passionate about music ever since he started piano lessons. He is a proud Young Scholar of The Lang Lang International Foundation and joined the Young Scholar Program which is aimed to identify and offer mentorship, tutelage, and unique opportunities for performance to limited number of exceptionally talented young pianists from around the world. Chicago Music report lauded Shuheng’s performance of Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 with Midwest Young Artists Orchestra as “invigorating, incisive, and note-perfect account”. Shuheng has won top prizes in many competitions such as Thousand Islands International Competition, David Dubois Piano Competition, Lee University International Piano Competition, MTNA and MMTA Competitions. He has been featured as soloist and performed concerti with orchestras, from Alfred, NY to Saarlouis, Germany. A frequent participant in prestigious music festivals, Shuheng attended Lang Lang International Foundation 2016 Allianz Junior Music Camp held in Poland, 2017 Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival at Salt Lake City, USA, 2018 Emil Gilels International Piano Festival in Freiburg, Germany. In the past Summer, he participated the 6th Emanacja International Music Festival in Lusławice, Poland and performed a highly acclaimed recital at The Krzysztof Penderecki European Center for Music.
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