First Prize
Second Prize
Third Prize
Discretionary Awards
Young Jury Award
Dong Yeon Kim, First Prize and Young Jury Award Winner
Dong Yeon Kim is an eleventh grader from Idyllwild, CA. At age twelve, he performed with the Plano Symphony Orchestra (TX). In 2010, he was the grand prizewinner of the Lake Lewisville Competition, performing with the Lake Lewisville Symphony. He received first place in the 2010 Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition and performed with the Dallas Symphony under Jaap van Zweden. He also has received top prizes in the New Orleans International, Dallas Symphonic, National Young Artist Institute, MTNA, Wysong-Joplin, and Denton Bach Society competitions. He attended Summer at New Paltz and the Texas State International Piano Festival, coaching with Vladimir Feltsman, Susan Starr, Robert Hamilton, Alexander Korsantia, Julian Martin, and Lev Natochenny among others. He currently studies with Dr. Andrew Park.
Kevin Ahfat, Second Prize Winner
Kevin Ahfat is a twelfth grader from Centennial, CO. He was born in Canada and began study at the age of seven. He will attend Juilliard in the fall, studying under Choong Mo Kang. He was a Silver Medallist at the Fifth Schimmel USASU International Piano Competition, a finalist at the 2010 IIYM International Piano Competition, and first prize winner in the Boulder Philharmonic, Steinway & Sons, SITV Young Artists, and 2009 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competitions, subsequently performing at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. He has performed with the Colorado Symphony, Arapahoe Philharmonic, and the Symphony in the Valley, and will perform with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra in August as first prize winner of the 2012 Schmitt Music Competition. He studies with Dr. Lei Wang.
Evelyn Mo, Third Prize Winner
Evelyn Mo is an eighth grader from Herndon, VA. Her awards include first prizes at the 2012 Blount- Slawson Young Artist Concerto Competition, 2011 Chopin International Piano Competition (Hartford, CT), 2011 MSMTA Beethoven Sonata Competition, and the International Young Artist Piano Competition in Washington, DC in 2008 and 2010. She is also a national finalist in the 2012 MTNA Junior Piano Competition. She has been invited to appear on NPR’s ”From the Top’‘ and has performed at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, National Gallery of Art, and Department of State, and will perform the Chopin E Minor Concerto with the Montgomery Symphony. She currently studies with Thomas Mastroianni.
Vanessa Meiling Haynes, Discretionary Award Winner
Vanessa Meiling Haynes is a ninth grader from Shrewsbury, MA. Her awards include first prize at the Cleveland Intl. Piano Competition for Young Artists and Bradshaw & Buono Intl. Piano Competition, second prizes at the 2012 David D. Dubois Intl. Piano Competition and 2010 Burgos Intl. Music Festival (Spain), third prize at the 2010 Seattle Intl. Piano Competition, and finalist in the 2010 Ettlingen Intl. Competition for Young Pianists (Germany). She has performed with the Bela Bartok Orchestra and Muenster Orchestra of Germany in several Italian cities; in Burgos, Spain; the Beijing Concert Hall, China; and with the South Carolina Philharmonic, in Carnegie’s Weil and Merkin Halls and Mixon Hall (Cleveland). She studies under Hung Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at the New England Conservatory.
Michael Lenahan, Discretionary Award Winner
Michael Lenahan is a twelfth grader from Rossford, OH. He has participated in the BGSU Summer Music Institute, the Brigham Young University Summer Music Festival, and the Brevard Music Center, and in master classes with Craig Nies, Irene Peery-Fox, Douglas Humpherys, and Logan Skelton. In 2009, he won the Toledo Symphony Young Artists Concerto Competition, performing with the orchestra. In 2010 and 2012 he won the Regional OMTA Buckeye Auditions, and in 2011, at the Brevard Music Center, second place in the International Zimmerli Piano Competition. Michael won the Toledo Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition two years in a row, was alternate in the 2011 MTNA State (OH) and first place in the 2012 Graves Piano Competitions. He currently studies with Dr. Robert Satterlee at Bowling Green State University.
Rieko Tsuchida, Discretionary Award Winner
Rieko Tsuchida is an eleventh grader from Mill Valley, CA, youngest prizewinner of the Chopin International Piano Competition in Asia (2003) and in 2011 one of eight international pianists in the Verbier Festival, studying under Stephen Kovacevich and Ferenc Rados with master classes by Gabor Takács-Nagy and Lawrence Power. She has performed with the California Symphony, Rochester Phillharmonic, and San Domenico Orchestra, and in 2009 played in Carnegie Hall as first prize winner of the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition. She also appeared in a joint program with Placido Domingo and in another with Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica Von Stade (San Francisco) and won first prizes in the San Francisco Young Pianists’ Competition, Ross McKee Competition, and third prize in the IIYM International Piano Competition. She studies with John McCarthy.
The Southeastern Piano Festival is grateful to the many generous individuals and businesses that help our festival become a reality. Steinway and Sons is the official performance piano of the festival. The Symphony League of the South Carolina Philharmonic sponsors the Arthur Fraser International Concerto Competition.
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