Winners of the 2014 Arthur Fraser International
Piano Competition

First Prize   Second Prize   Third Prize
Best Solo Award   Discretionary Awards   Young Jury Award

Picture of Dong Yeon KimElisabeth Tsai, First Prize
Elisabeth Tsai, 15, is from Birmingham, AL. She made her orchestral debut with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra in April 2014. Elisabeth has been awarded prizes at numerous local, regional, and national level competitions. Most recently, she was awarded the first prize in the 2014 Blount-Slawson Young Artists Competition, and was named a national finalist in the 2014 MTNA Junior Piano Competition. Other awards include first prizes in the Lois Pickard Scholarship Competition, the Indian Springs Piano Competition, and the Zelpha Wells Piano Competition. Elisabeth has also been a frequent state winner in the Alabama Music Teacher’s Association in both solo and concerto categories, and has performed at state conferences for the past five years. She has an upcoming appearance on NPR’s From the Top, and currently studies with Ronald Shinn.


Picture of Aleksandra KasmanAlex Chien, Second Prize
Alex Chien 16, is from San Jose, CA. He is the winner of the 2014 Mondavi Center National Young Artists Prize in Piano and Bouchaine Young Artists Award, the 2013 San Francisco Young Pianists' Award, Marilyn Mindell, and Henry and Carol Zeiter Piano Competitions and the Palo Alto Philharmonic 2013 Concerto Movement and Celia Mendez Young Pianist's Beethoven Competitions. He won first prizes in the 2012 Los Angeles Int’l Liszt Competition, 2011 Virginia Waring Int’l Piano Competition, and the Int’l Russian Piano Competition's Young Musician category, and Grand Prize in the 2009 Mondavi Young Artist Competition. Alex has performed throughout the US and England and as soloist with the California Youth Symphony in six major cities of Argentina and Uruguay. He has also performed with the Palo Alto Philharmonic and the Peninsula, Diablo, Fremont and Temple Hill Symphony Orchestras.  He studies with Kai Chi Zhu.


Picture of Eric LuSeho Young, Third Prize Winner
Seho Young 16, is from Dedham, MA. He attended the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and has studied piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky, and Wha Kyung Byun. He has played in master classes with Jeffrey Kahane, Piotr Paleczny, and Andrea Bonatta. Seho has played with numerous orchestras, including the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Brockton Symphony, and the Toruń Symphony. He was invited to perform in Moscow as a winner of the Vladimir Spivakov’s International Charity Foundation Award. In New York, he was awarded first place at the Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition. He has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Ishikawa Music Academy in Japan, and the Paderewski Piano Academy in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He studies with Wha Kyung Byun.


Picture of Anna HanElisabeth Tsai, Best Solo Work
Elisabeth Tsai, 15, is from Birmingham, AL. She made her orchestral debut with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra in April 2014. Elisabeth has been awarded prizes at numerous local, regional, and national level competitions. Most recently, she was awarded the first prize in the 2014 Blount-Slawson Young Artists Competition, and was named a national finalist in the 2014 MTNA Junior Piano Competition. Other awards include first prizes in the Lois Pickard Scholarship Competition, the Indian Springs Piano Competition, and the Zelpha Wells Piano Competition. Elisabeth has also been a frequent state winner in the Alabama Music Teacher’s Association in both solo and concerto categories, and has performed at state conferences for the past five years. She has an upcoming appearance on NPR’s From the Top, and currently studies with Ronald Shinn.


Picture of Anna HanChaeyoung Park, Discretionary Award Winner
Chaeyoung Park, 16, from Lawrence, KS, was awarded the Gold Medal by the National YoungArts Foundation and First Place at the Emilio Del Rosario Int’l Young Artists Piano Concerto Competition in 2014. In 2012, she won first place in the IIYM Int’l Piano Competition as well as Audience Prize, and was youngest finalist at the Eastman Young Artists Int’l Piano Competition. She was a Kansas State and West Central Division MTNA winner in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. She has performed in Orchestra Hall (Chicago), Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall, New World Center (Miami), the Eastman School of Music, and Lied Center (KS), and with the Rochester Philharmonic, New Millennium Symphony and the Topeka Symphony among others. She performs with the Kansas City Symphony in 2014, and has played frequently on KANU/KPR radio. She studies with Jack Winerock and Scott Smith.


Picture of Evelyn MoMaria Parrini, Discretionary Award Winner
Maria Parrini 17, is from Greenville, SC. At the age of 13, she played first movement of Schumann’s Concerto with the Carolina Youth Symphony. She has since performed the entire concerto with the GCYO Young Artist Orchestra; the first movement of Brahms’ First Concerto with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra; and the first movement of Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 with the GAMAC Orchestra. She will be representing the Southern Division at the MTNA Senior Piano Competition in March, and will perform Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos with Fabio Parrini and the Clemson University Symphony Orchestra in April. Maria has attended Brevard Music Center, SEPF, and the Lee University Piano Festival, and has played in masterclasses for Russell Sherman, Sergei Babayan, Natalya Antonova, and Christopher O’Riley. She studies with her father, Fabio Parrini.


Picture of Rieko TsuchidaAgata Sorotokin, Discretionary Award Winner
Agata Sorotokin 16, is from San Jose, CA. In 2013, she participated in the Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Studio program (Aspen Music Festival). In the summers of 2009-2012, she studied in the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute and also with pianist and composer Ivan Sokolov at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She has played in master classes with Gilbert Kalish, Ann Schein, John Kimura Parker, Inon Barnatan, Bruce Adolphe, Laurence Lesser, and the Pacifica Quartet, and has performed with pianists Wu Han and Ivan Sokolov. She is the winner of the 2014 San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition and won first prizes in the 2013 MTAC Concerto Competition, 2013 and 2010 El Camino Youth Symphony Concerto, 2012 Ross McKee Foundation Piano, 2012 Pacific Musical Society’s Scholarship and 2010 Marilyn Mindell Junior Competitions. She studies with John McCarthy.


Picture of Rieko TsuchidaKadar Qian, Discretionary Award Winner
Kadar Qian 16, is from Westford, MA. He made his Boston Pops debut at the age of fifteen, performing Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3 in Symphony Hall. He has appeared as a soloist over ten times with orchestras, six as winner of their Young Artist Competition. In addition, Kadar won the Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, along with special prizes for the Best Bach and Best Chopin Performances, and first prize at the Steinway Society of Massachusetts piano competition. For the past two years, he has been a recipient of the Chopin Foundation of the United States Scholarship, and more recently, he was the winner of the Harvard Music Association High School Achievement Award. He has been heard on NPR’s From the Top, and in 2013 released an album for Naxos Records. He is currently Assistant Conductor of the Melrose Symphony Orchestra and studies piano with Angel Ramón Rivera.

 


Picture of Rieko TsuchidaChaeyoung Park, Young Jury Award
Chaeyoung Park, 16, from Lawrence, KS, was awarded the Gold Medal by the National YoungArts Foundation and First Place at the Emilio Del Rosario Int’l Young Artists Piano Concerto Competition in 2014. In 2012, she won first place in the IIYM Int’l Piano Competition as well as Audience Prize, and was youngest finalist at the Eastman Young Artists Int’l Piano Competition. She was a Kansas State and West Central Division MTNA winner in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. She has performed in Orchestra Hall (Chicago), Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall, New World Center (Miami), the Eastman School of Music, and Lied Center (KS), and with the Rochester Philharmonic, New Millennium Symphony and the Topeka Symphony among others. She performs with the Kansas City Symphony in 2014, and has played frequently on KANU/KPR radio. She studies with Jack Winerock and Scott Smith.