Jessica Zhang
First Prize

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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Caleb Borick
Second Prize; Young Jury Award; Best Solo Work

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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Solomon Ge
Third Prize

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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Josephine Chou
Discretionary Award Winner

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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Ben Hoang
Discretionary Award Winner
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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Shiv Yajnik
Discretionary Award Winner; Best Contemporary Work (after 1990)

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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