2025 Competition Winners

William Wu
First Prize; Best Performance of a Solo Work

William Wu, 16, is a sophomore at St. Albans School in Washington D.C. and has been studying piano at Levine Music with Marina Alekseyeva since 2018. He has won numerous state and national level competitions, including being the Virginia State Winner in the 2024 MTNA Senior Piano competition, a National YoungArts Award winner in Classical Music/Piano in 2025, 1st place in the Piano Star International Competition, Division E (16-18) in 2024, and 1st place in the VMTA Concerto Competition in 2024. He made his orchestral debut with the Levine Chamber Orchestra in 2023. He has had masterclasses with notable musicians such as Simone Dinnerstein, Emanuel Ax, Anna Geniushene, Stephen Drury and Tiffany Poon. He has attended Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) for the past two summers, and this summer he will be attending the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) in the Solo Piano Program. William’s favorite composer is Ravel, but outside of classical music, he enjoys listening to pop and k-pop. Besides music, William loves going on walks, swimming, getting boba with his friends, and reading about Chinese history.
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Benjamin Luo
Second Prize; Best Performance of a Contemporary Work Written since 1990

Benjamin Luo, a tenth grader who hails from Apex, North Carolina, began his piano study with Florence Ko at age five. Since then, he has garnered first-prize awards in a myriad of piano competitions. Benjamin won first-place in the Music Teacher National Association (MTNA) Piano Competition in both Junior and Senior Solo categories in the state round for five consecutive years, beginning in 2019. He was also a two-time MTNA Junior Piano National Finalist. In addition, along with his brother Brandon, Benjamin placed second nationally in the 2022-2023 MTNA Senior Piano Duet Competition. Recently, Benjamin was named a 2025 National YoungArts Award Winner in Classical Music/Piano. Benjamin has performed with the Hampton Roads Philharmonic, the Chapel Hill Philharmonia, and the Tar River Orchestra. In 2023, Benjamin played the full Rachmaninoff No. 2 Piano Concerto with the Long Bay Symphony of South Carolina as the 2022 East Carolina Piano Festival Competition winner. Benjamin has been invited to present solo concerts across North Carolina, including by Arts Society and the Fourth Friday Concert Series.
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Eddison Chen
Third Prize

Eddison Chen, 15, is in ninth grade at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas. He started playing the piano at age 4 and has been working with Sean Chen since 2020. Edison previously studied with Steven Spooner and Jung Spooner. He was selected as a competitor in the 2025 National Chopin Competition. In 2024, he made his debut with the Kansas City Symphony, playing Saint Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor. He has also been selected as a quarterfinalist in the 2023 Van Cliburn Junior competition, a participant in the 2023 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, and has won top prizes at many major competition, including third prize at the 2022 MTNA National Piano Competition Junior Division and Honorable Mention at the University of Minnesota School of Music’s e-Piano Junior Competition. Eddison has appeared on NPR’s From the Top, Classical KC’s 91.9, and KPR 91.5. He has also had masterclasses with Bob McDonald, Marc-Andre Hamlin, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Alexander Korsantia, Marina Lomazov, Angela Cheng, and Logan Skelton. Aside from piano, Eddison also enjoys studying math, playing the violin, and chess.
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Jonathan Mei
Young Jury Award; Discretionary Award

Jonathan Mei, fifteen, is a tenth-grader at Academic Magnet High School in Charleston, South Carolina. He currently studies piano under the guidance of Dr. Marina Lomazov. Johnny has won multiple scholarships and awards, including the Charleston Music Club Lancaster-King Piano Award, John Wohlstetter Piano Scholarship, the Music Matters! Award, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League (CSOL) summer study scholarship, Chopin International Piano Competition (Hartford), first place at the statewide South Carolina Music Teachers Association Piano Competition, and first prize at the 2019 South Carolina Steinway Junior Piano Competition. He won the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) State Piano Competition and 2022 MTNA Southern Division Piano Competition, where he was a 2022 MTNA Junior Piano National Finalist. Johnny and his sister, Angela Mei, were national finalists in the 2020 and 2021 MTNA Senior Piano Duet Competition and national third place winners in the 2021 MTNA Senior Piano Duet Competition. Grand Prize winner of the 2024 MostArts Festival Young Pianist Competition, Johnny will return to Alfred University in 2025 to perform under the baton of Conductor Yuval Zaliouk with the MostArts Festival Orchestra.
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Claire Tong
Discretionary Award

Claire Tong is a junior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. She began her musical studies with Professor Natalia Harlap at the at the age of four. In recent years, her notable achievements at the regional, national, and international levels have included top prizes in the Paderewski International Piano Competition, MMTA Bay State Piano Competition, Steinway Piano Competition, Chopin International Competition in Hartford, CT, NEPTA Mildred Freiberg Competition, and the NEC Prep's Concerto Competition. Claire has appeared at venues such as Boston's Jordan Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, and New York's Carnegie Hall among others. She has also worked with many great musicians, including Alexander Korsantia, Pavel Nersessian, and Haesun Paik. Claire enjoys spreading music to greater audiences, and she is a proud member of her school's Andover Lawrence Strings program which teaches music to members in the underserved community of Lawrence. Aside from piano, Claire also enjoys playing viola in her school’s orchestra, traveling the world, and hanging out with her friends.
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Oliver Corro
Discretionary Award

Oliver Corro is in 12th grade at Irvington High School in Fremont CA. He started learning piano at age 3 with his mother and has been studying under John McCarthy since 2022. He has won first place in many competitions including the 2025 Ghiglieri Piano Competition in CSU Stanislaus, Celia Mendez Beethoven Competition in San Jose State University, CAPMT (California Professional Music Teachers) State Finals, KAMSA (Korean American Music Association) Music Competition, Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, 2024 East Bay Music Foundation Piano Competition and United States International Music Competition. He was invited to play Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 with Peninsula Symphony in April 2025. He has also received top prizes at the San Francisco International Piano Competitions, the Henry and Carol Zeiter Piano Competition, and the MTNA Solo Competition and MTAC Concerto Competition. He was selected as an MTAC Panel Honor in 2023, 2024 and awarded to play in the Panel Master Class in 2025 at the MTAC Convention. He has received lessons from Huan-Kuan Chen, Jerome Lowenthal, Alexander Korsantia, John Perry, Steven Spooner, and Armen Babakanian. In summer 2024, he participated in the Piano Texas Junior Program and Tanglewood Music Festival. In Summer 2025, he was accepted to participate in the Juilliard Summer Piano Program in New York, Aspen Music Festival, and Southeastern Music Festival (Arthur Fraser Piano Competition). Besides solo piano, he is an active chamber musician and enjoys performing at local concerts and events with his piano trio. He is fluent in Japanese and Spanish and can also play the guitar and the violin. He also enjoys running and skateboarding with his siblings.
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