Olivia Larco
First Prize; Best Performance of a Solo Work

Fourteen year old pianist Olivia Larco studied piano at the Colburn School with Fabio Bidini, at Aspen Music Festival for four summers with Veda Kaplinsky, and her mother, Soojin Ahn, and is currently a ninth grader at Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena, California. Last year, Olivia was chosen as one of fourteen Festival Artists for the Cliburn Junior, 2023, where she was also invited to collaborate with the members of Fort Worth Symphony in a per formance of Chopin E minor concerto with Maestra Valentina Peleggi. She was also invited to participate at Piano Cleveland Festival as a Lang Lang scholar, and performed in the final gala concert. In July, 2023, she won First Prize at the Colburn Piano Seminar Steinway Competition, where she was the youngest participant at age 13. In March, 2020, at the age of ten, she performed on NPR’s From the Top, live at the Wallis An nenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, CA. Following her performance, she was immediately engaged by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce as a guest artist for their annual gala, Innovate Beverly Hills, featuring some of the nations’s brightest thought-leaders and innovators in fields of science, medicine, business, and arts, to perform at The Wallis the following week. Olivia was accepted that same year to Juilliard Pre-College. Olivia is also a 2022-2024 Lang Lang Young Scholar, and was invited to perform at the Segerstrom Theatre for their gala concert. In May of 2019, Olivia made her national television debut on the ABC’s hit sitcom “Modern Family” on their grand finale episode “ A Year of Birthdays” as a ‘piano prodigy’, and was cast as “Maria” (Nannerl) Mozart in a very short film, to have been featured at the Cannes Festival in 2020, which was canceled due to the Covid pandemic. Olivia has studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School, in 2018 and 2019, and 2022 on a full scholarship. This year, she will return to Aspen as a New Horizons Fellow, a full scholarship and a stipend award. During her studies there, she was selected to perform in the Spotlight Recital at Harris Hall, as well as other venues. This year, she will be featured in the Overture Concert series, performing Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableau, Op.39. She has worked in masterclasses with Mikhail Voscressensky, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kevin Kenner, Angela Cheng, Alvin Chow, Boris Slutsky, among others. She is also closely mentored by Stephen Kovacevich. Among Olivia’s interests are writing, reading, and history. She has written three novels- “The Girl with a Bionic Leg”, “Sweet Salt”, and a historical novel yet to be titled, as well as many short stories and poems. During her free time, Olivia loves to read, take photos of nature, bake, watch anime, spend time with her friends, and play with her dog, Lulu.
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Andrew Gu
Second Prize

Andrew Gu started taking piano lessons with his mother, Helen Jung, at the age of 6. He has been under the tutelage of Alexander Korsantia at NEC since 2018. Over the years he has won numerous accolades. Some of his notable wins include 1st Prize at the 61st Grotrian-Steinweg International Piano Competition, 1st Prize at the 2017 Rosalyn Tureck International Piano Competition, Grand Prix at the 2019 Chopin International Piano Competition Hartford, 3rd Prize and Best Solo Prize at the 2021 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition. In 2022, he was awarded 3rd Prize at the Ettlingen International Piano Competition and the Salzburg Music Festival Competition. Andrew made his orchestra debut at the young age of 8, performing Haydn's Keyboard Concerto in D Major. He has also been featured at the NPR From The Top Show. When he's not playing the piano, Andrew enjoys coding, reading, gourmet food, and good humor.
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Matthew Liu
Third Prize; Young Jury Award

Matthew Liu, 16 yrs., studies piano with Professor Jack Winerock at the University of Kansas. He was recently named a 2024 National YoungArts Winner in Classical Music Piano. In 2023, he won a gold medal in Rubato International Piano Competition, the first prize in MTNA senior piano regional and third prize in the national final. He was selected to represent Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation in Salt Lake City Annual Show. In 2022, he won the first prize in concerto competitions by Kansas City Symphony, Topeka Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Heritage Philharmonic, the Best Solo Performance at the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, SC, and the first prize in solo and single concerto movement divisions at the International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, CO. In 2022 and 2023, he performed with Kansas City Symphony and Fort Collins Health and Wellness Community Orchestra. His performance with Midwestern Chamber was commended by KC Start as “dazzling, …, the music played expressively, … a joy to hear”, and “was phenomenal”.
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Justin Sun
Best Work Written Since 1990

Justin Sun began piano studies at age 6 and is currently studying piano under the tutelage of Prof. Robert Roux. He has been the prize winner of many international and state piano competitions. He won Gold Medal of Twelfth International Chopin Youth Competition, senior division in 2021 and was awarded 2022-2023 Scholarship of Chopin Foundation of the United States. He performed in many recitals and concerts, such as the house concert at The Home of Mr. Joe Heusi and the Concert for Celebration of his teacher Robert Roux’s Career in Teaching at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, etc. Justin also participated in PYPA Festivals from 2020 to 2022 and 5th Frost Chopin Academy and Festival with scholarship in June 2023. He performed the masterclasses for Prof. Gary Graffman, Prof. Jerome Lowenthal, Prof. Kathryn Brown, Prof. Alexander Korsantia, Prof. Marina Lomazov, Prof. Bruce Brubaker and Prof. Douglas Humpherys, Prof. Edmond Auer, Prof. Kevin Kenner, and Prof. Dang Thai Son etc. He has been offered the admission to the Juilliard Summer Program 2024 and will take lessons with Juilliard piano faculty and perform Master classes with internationally renowned guest pianists and public recital performances at Juilliard.
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Jacob Rockower
Discretionary Award Winner

Jacob Rockower is a sophomore at the Nueva School in San Mateo, California. He began playing piano at the age of three, and currently studies with Professor Hans Boepple. Jacob has been a prizewinner of regional, national, and international piano and chamber music competitions, including Coltman Chamber Music Competition (2024), Music Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC) VOCE Competition, Instrumental Ensemble, State Finals, ENKOR Int'l Music Competition, Chamber Music (2024), National YoungArts in Classical Music Piano (2023), Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Performance Competition, California and Southwest Division (2022, 2021), MTAC Concerto Solo Competition State Finals (2022, 2021), California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT) Contemporary Music Competition State Finals (2020, 2017, 2015), CAPMT Honors Competition State Finals (2022, 2021), Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Annual Competition (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019), Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition Junior Division (2022), Seattle International Piano Competition (2022), Chicago International Online Music Competition (2022, 2020), Franz Liszt Center International Piano Competition (2022), Steinway & Sons Junior Piano Competition Northern California Regionals (2020), ENKOR International Piano Competition (2022), and San Francisco Chopin Foundation Competition (2016). In his free time, he enjoys ultimate frisbee, golf, math, and physics. He is also an enthusiast in aviation and geography.
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David Gatien
Discretionary Award Winner

David Gatien is from Bellevue, WA, and studies piano with Professor Yoshikazu Nagai from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. David has received numerous First Prize awards in competitions such as the Golden Classical Music Awards International Music Competition; the AADGT (American Association for the Development of the Gifted and Talented) International Young Gifted Musicians Competition; the U.S. Chopin Foundation Northwest Chopin Competition; the Central Washington University Pianofest Sonata/Sonatina Competition; the American Protégé International Music Competitions (with Judges’ Distinctions); and the Artciál International Piano Competition, among others. At age 12, David was the youngest competitor in the Concerto Division of the 2022 Northwest Chopin Competition and won Gold. A full grade level above same-aged peers, David has also received top prizes in grade-based competitions among older peers, such as First Place awards in the Washington State Music Teachers’ Association (WSMTA) Scholarship Competition. He has been designated as a WSMTA State Recitalist in 2022 and 2023, and is the recipient of the 2023 Ida Zelikovsky Green Award for Outstanding Talent (Best Performer, Grade 5-11). David is also a selected pianist for The Academy for Chamber Music at the Seattle Chamber Music Society, a pre-college chamber music program for talented young musicians.
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Meining Wu
Discretionary Award Winner

Meining Wu, age 14, is a freshman at Valley Christian High School, San Jose, California, and studies piano with Professor Hans Boepple. In 2023, Meining made her debut with the renowned Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya at Fort Worth, Texas. She has won top prizes in many prestigious competitions such as Henry and Carol Zeiter, Bay Philharmonic Young Artist Concerto, Marilyn Mindell, CAPMT, MTAC, USIMC, Champion’s Keyboard, Young Verona, Chicago, Franz Liszt Center, Artcial, Aloha, Pacific Musical, Weatherford College and Seattle International Piano Competitions. Meining was selected performer at 2022 Vivace Music Festival, TexasState (TSIPF) and PianoTexas International Piano Festivals in both 2023 and 2024. As a concerto winner at this year’s TSIPF, she will perform with Central Texas Philharmonic at Finale Concert. Meining is a Superior Awardee in Music Performance of 2024 Creative Youth Awards by Bay Area Creative Foundation.
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