2015 Emilio del Rosario

Piano Concerto Competition

International Young Artist Division
June 12 - 14, 2015
Chicago, Illinois

New Millennium Orchestra

Orchestra Hall
Chicago Symphony Center
More Information:
www.edrfoundation.org

ChiCago performs. so Will you.

Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and diploma

programs in classical performance, jazz and
contemporary music studies, music composition,
music education, opera, and orchestral studies.
Study with accomplished faculty, who include Chicago
Symphony and Lyric Opera orchestra members,
Metropolitan and Lyric opera sensations, renowned
soloists, Grammy-winning jazz musicians, and awardwinning composers. Enjoy opportunities to perform in
professional venues.

Live, learn, and perform in downtown Chicago.

Piano Faculty:
Winston Choi, Head of Piano
Wael Farouk
Kuang-Hao Huang
Yeeseon Kwon, Piano Pedagogy
Ludmila Lazar
Adam Neiman
Jorge Federico Osorio

roosevelt.edu/CCPA
(312) 341-6735
[email protected]

he Emilio del Rosario Music Foundation was established in 2010 to honor the legacy of Emilio del
Rosario, a master pianist and teacher who dedicated his life to developing young pianists into successful
performers, educators, and lifelong supporters of classical music.
The Foundation provides performance opportunities for young pianists with Chicago-area community and
professional orchestras, and fosters appreciation of classical music by connecting student musicians with local
communities.
Since 2010, the Emilio del Rosario Piano Concerto Competition has provided gifted, young pianists with the
rare opportunity to perform with an orchestra. Each year, six finalists from the Junior and Senior divisions are
selected to perform one movement of a piano concerto with the Harper College Symphony Orchestra.
With your support, we hope to expand our programs to include music scholarships, commissions of new works
for the piano by young composers, and extensive performance engagements for our concerto competition winners.

he International Young Artist Piano Concerto Competition builds on the success of the general
competition,and gives top young classical pianists at the international level the opportunity to perform a
complete piano concerto with the New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago at Symphony Center.
For this years competition, twenty-six pianists from Asia, Europe and the United States, and ranging in age
from 12 to 20, each submitted an application which included a recorded performance of a complete piano concerto.
Twelve applicants are selected to compete in the Semifinal Round on June 12nd at PianoForte Chicago. Three
pianists are then selected to perform in the Final Round on June 14th at Symphony Center, and compete for the
following prizes:
First Prize - $2500 Cash Award - Sponsored by Juliet Abon and Family
Second Prize - $2000 Cash Award - Sponsored by John Huddleston and Family
Third Prize - $1500 - Sponsored by Jay and Un-Hui Noh
Honorable Mention(s) - $500 Cash Award

Competition Event Schedule

Friday, June 12, 2015
Semi-Final Round
9:30am - 5:00pm
PianoForte Studios
1335 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60605

www.edrfoundation.org

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Final Round
2:00pm - 5:00pm
Symphony Center
220 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60604

REMEMBERING EMILIO DEL ROSARIO

It all began in an audition.

I was five then, and I wasnt scared of performing for an audience. In the front by the piano, Emilio del
Rosario -- an internationally acclaimed Filipino pianist and teacher was hunched over in his chair. Mr. D, as his
students lovingly called him, for his last name was a bit long, was one of the most desirable teachers in the world.
Students from other countries would take monthly flights just to study with him.
He was short, round, and dark-skinned, and had a serious elderly face. As I walked onto the stage, he smiled at
me. I could never forget his smile. I prepared to play the two movements of a Beethoven sonata. After I finished
the first movement, he stopped me and told everybody, I want to teach him.
I loved going to his lessons. Everyday, Mr D would go through the same routine: scales, arpeggios and chords
first, then pieces. He would stop me whenever I made a mistake, but whenever I played something right, he would
give me a silly smile and say in a very heavy Filipino accent, you played perpect. If I happened to play a difficult
passage exceptionally well, he might pop a peanut into my mouth. At the end of a lesson, he would always give me
a Chessman cookie, which I gladly accepted.
One aspect of Mr. D that made him so lovable was his quirky sense of humor. He nicknamed me popsie
and whenever he saw me while walking down the hallway, he would roll his eyes back into his sockets, which as
hard as he tried, would never scare me. Sometimes while popping food into my mouth during the lesson, he would
pretend that I bit his finger and yelp in pain. He almost always had a twinkle in his eye. All of his students adored
him.
Another one of Mr. Ds shining qualities was his devotion to music and his students. He was passionate about
music, as his studio was immersed in messy stacks of music books, all of which he knew by heart (he also somehow
always knew the exact location of every music book he owned). Whenever I started playing, he would close his eyes
and listen attentively, feeling everything I felt and hearing everything I heard.
He loved his students as much as he loved music. His students were his family for he had no wife nor children.
Many times he would extend my lesson for an additional hour for free. Whenever he wasnt teaching, he would be
practicing, eating food in his studio, or drinking coffee. He would rarely get home before midnight.
I had lessons with Mr. D for three years. Then he got cancer.
I remember the last lesson I had with him before he left for treatment. I told him with tears streaming down
my cheeks that I was going to miss him very much. I asked if he would come back healthy so he could teach me
again. He told me that he would come back and that I shouldnt worry about him because his doctor said he had a
98% chance of survival. I think he said that just to make me feel better.
I visited him many times during the next two years. Regardless of his health condition, he always kept his sense
of humor (he never lost his ability to roll his eyes behind his sockets). Once, I visited him with a Band-Aid on my
ring finger. Is that your wedding ring? he joked in a raspy voice. He would constantly demand that I play him
Moskowskis Etude Opus 72 #6, one of his favorite pieces which happened to be extremely tiring for the pianist.
All the while, his health steadily declined. His memory had deteriorated so that he forgot many people. He had
trouble recognizing his siblings. He never forgot me. Or music.
As I walked through the hospital to his room one day, his sister-in-law quietly told me that he hadnt opened his
eyes in two weeks. Entering the room, I saw him lying on a hospital bed, his eyes open. One of his sisters told me
that he woke up after she told him that I was on my way to visit.
There was a piano in the room, so after I tenderly greeted him, he motioned towards the piano. Opus 72
#6?, I asked. He nodded. After I played that piece multiple times, I had to leave. While giving him a goodbye
hug, I noticed that tears were streaming down his cheek. I immediately remembered the time when he told me he
was leaving -- it was as if we had switched places. I promised that I would visit him again in a few months. I wiped
his eyes and kissed his cheek.
I never got to visit him again. Instead, I received a beautiful silk tie with music engraved on it, a tie that was his.
To this day I wear it in every concert I perform.
by Andrew Guo

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SEMI-FINAL ROUND SCHEDULE

Time

Contestant

Composer

Work

9:30 AM

Min-Chieh Lee

Mozart

10:00 AM

Jiaqi Long

Tchaikovsky

10:40 AM

Tianxu An

Saint-Sans

Concerto No.12 in A Major, K.414

I. Allegro

II. Andante

III. Rondeau. Allegretto
Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23

I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso

II. Andante semplice- Allegro vivace assai

III. Allegro con fuoco
Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.22

I. Andante sostenuto

II. Anllegro scherzando

III. Presto

11:10 AM
11:20 AM

Break
Nathan Kim

Prokofiev

11:40 AM

Alex Yuill

Beethoven

12:10 PM
12:40 PM
1:30 PM

Gregory Hartmann
Break
Kimberly Han

Rachmaninoff

1:50 PM

Alice Zhang

Chopin

2:25 PM

Yijia Wang

Rachmaninoff

3:05 PM
3:15 PM

Break
Keiju Takehara

Prokofiev

3:35 PM

Aaron Kurz

Rachmaninoff

4:20 PM

Christopher Richardson

Beethoven

7:15 PM
7:30 PM

Announce Finalists
2014 EDR YA Winner Chaeyoung Park Recital

Liszt

Concerto No.1 in D-flat Major, Op.10

I. Allegro brioso

II. Andante assai

III. Allegro scherzando
Concerto No.3 in C Minor, Op.37

I. Allegro con brio

II. Largo

III. Rondo. Allegro-Presto
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43
Concerto No.1 in E-flat Major, S.124

I. Allegro maestoso

II. Quasi Adagio

III. Allegretto vivace. Allegro animato

IV. Allegro marziale animato
Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21

I. Maestoso

II. Larghetto

III. Allegro vivace
Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.18

I. Moderato

II. Adagio sostenuto

III. Allegro scherzando
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major

I. Allegro brioso

II. Andante assai

III. Allegro scherzando
Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op.30

I. Allegro ma non tanto

II. Intermezzo: Adagio

III. Finale: Alla breve
Concerto No.1 in C Major, Op.15

I. Allegro con brio

II. Largo

III. Rondo. Allegro.

Music Instruction
for all ages in a
university setting
Private instruction on all instruments for children
and adults
Suzuki Instruction violin, viola, cello, piano, flute,
guitar and voice
Early Childhood: Music Together classes,
ages Newborn-4
Prelude Choir, grades 1-2
The Chicago Childrens Choir at DePaul, grades 3-9
DePaul Youth String Orchestra, ages 8-15
Theory classes
DePaul Community Chorus
New Horizons Band and Orchestra

For more information about our programs

for children and adults, please call 773.325.7262
music.depaul.edu/cmd

CONTESTANTS

Sixteen-year-old Tianxu An was born in China. At age 9 he began piano

studies with Hua Chang at the middle school of the Central Conservatory of
Music. He was recently admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music where he will
study with Meng-Chieh Liu.
Tianxu has won numerous awards including second prize in the Wiesbaden
4th International Piano Competition, grand prize in the 3rd Helen Cup
Shanghai International Piano Competition, second prize in the Third National
Youth Piano Competition of Beijing Concert Hall, second prize in the Thomas
and Evon Cooper International Youth Piano Competition (China Trials), second prize in the 7th Beijing
International Piano Festival Young Artists Concerto Competition, the Zhou Guangren Young Pianist Award, silver
prize at the 2011 Lotto Cupo CCTV Piano and Violin Competition (Youth Group), and third prize in the 2015
Theodore Leschetizky International Piano Concerto Competition.
Kimberly Han, pianist and violinist, is an 8th grader from Deer Path Middle School of
Lake Forest, Illinois, USA. She started piano lessons when she was five and a half and has
been studying with Brenda Huang for 8 years. Besides piano, she studies violin with Sonia
Hadar at Music Institute of Chicago (MIC) and chamber music under Rami Solomonow at
Midwest Young Artists (MYA).
Kimberly has won numerous awards, including first place in the 2015 Chicago Symphony
Orchestra (CSO) Youth Auditions and the CSO Carnival of the Animals Concerts
Audition, which resulted in several performances with the CSO at the Chicago Symphony
Center under Maestro Vladimir Kulenovic. She was also a top prize winner at the 2014
Roberta Savler Piano Competition, 2014 11th DePaul Concerto Festival, 2014 19th (Open
Division) and 2013 18th (MYA Division) Walgreens National Concerto Competition, 2013
15th Chopin Youth Piano Competition, 2012 EDR Concerto Competition and many others.
As a solo pianist and chamber musician, Kimberly has performed in Chicago Symphony Center, Preston
Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, DePaul Concert Hall and Ravinias Bennett-Gordon Hall. She had her
concert debut in February 2014 with the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra performing Mendelssohns Piano Concerto
No. 1. For the 2014 2015 season, Kimberly was featured on WFMTs Introductions and performed in the
Young Steinway Concert Series. In her free time, Kimberly loves playing tennis, reading and traveling around the
world with her family.
Greg Hartmann, 20, is a Piano Performance major at the Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music, where he studies with Michael Chertock. Greg began
playing piano at the age of 5, and has had success at various piano competitions.
Last season he performed Liszt?s Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major with the New
Albany Symphony Orchestra as winner of their concerto competition.
In addition, he was recently a finalist in the 2015 Jefferson Symphony
International Young Artist Competition and the 2015 G. Gershwin International
Music Competition. He also placed second in the Concord Chamber Orchestra
Concerto Competition in Wisconsin and second in the senior division of the
Ohio Music Teachers Association (OMTA) statewide piano competition, won first place in the Wisconsin Music
Teachers Association (WMTA) senior piano competition (2012) at the state level, and won first place in the Music
Teachers National Association (MTNA) senior piano competition at the state level in Wisconsin (2012). Greg has
performed in many masterclasses with renowned artists including James Tocco, Daniel Shapiro, Eugene Pridonoff,
James Giles, and Douglas Humpherys.
In addition to his piano performance degree, Greg is captain of the University of Cincinnati Table Tennis team
and is pursuing a minor in Physics.

Nathan Kim studies piano with Dr. Renato Fabbro of the University of
Portland and is a freshman at Newberg High School in Oregon. He has performed
in prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Mondavi Center, and Arlene
Schnitzer Concert Hall. He made his orchestral debut in 2011 at the Newmark
Theatre followed by a performance in the Soreng Theatre with the Oregon Bach
Festival Orchestra. He won First Prize in the 2013 Central Oregon Symphony
Young Artists Competition followed by the 2014 American Protg International
Piano Concerto Competition and American Fine Arts Festival International
Concerto Competition where he was chosen Grand Prize winner. In 2015, he won First Prizes in the Coeur dAlene
Symphony Orchestra National Young Artist Competition and the Vancouver (WA) Symphony Orchestra Young
Artist Competition and recently performed two concerts with both orchestras, while winning the 2015 Portland
Youth Philharmonic Piano Concerto Competition to perform with their orchestra during their 2015-2016 season.
Nathan has also won First Prizes in the 2015 American Association for Development of the Gifted and
Talented International Young Gifted Musicians Festival Competition, 2014 Wiscarson Young Artist Competition,
2013 Mondavi Center National Young Artist Competition, and is a four-time Winner of the Oregon MTNA,
2015 MTNA NW Division Winner, and 2015 MTNA National Finalist in the Junior Piano Competition. He has
performed live on KPBX 91.1 FM and was featured on 89.9 KQAC FM.

Nineteen-year-old Aaron Kurz began his piano studies at the age of three with
Ethel Fang at the Suzuki Institute and later was taught by Carol Leone at SMU. He has
participated in many international festivals and has also taken masterclasses from Earl Wild,
Jerome Rose, Alexander Braginsky, Boris Slutsky, Yong-Hi Moon, Hans Boepple, Julian
Martin, Rebecca Penneys, Nelita True, and Alessio Bax.
Aaron has won prizes in many competitions and is a 2013 and 2014 National Young
Arts Foundation Winner. He is a two-time National Finalist in the MTNA Solo Piano
Competition and has won the Texas state title in his last three entries. He has also won
prizes at three international competitions: the Virginia Waring IPC, the Bradshaw and
Buono IPC, and the Viardo IPC. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Salle Cortot in
Paris, and at the Grand Opening of the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas. He has
also been a guest pianist with the Van Cliburn Foundation in its Musical Awakenings Program, a program which
introduces young students to classical music through a series of visits to elementary schools in the region. Aaron
currently attends the University of Michigan as a student of Logan Skelton.
Min-Chieh Lee, 15, was born in China and began studying piano at the age of 5. She has
been awarded many honors including the top prizes at the 4th Kawai Asia Piano Competition
(2013), 21st Century Young Musician, International Competition Citta di Barletta (2011) and
the Star & Torch talented young artists competition (2008, 2009). She was also a silver prize
winner at the 15th Chopin International Piano Competition in Asia (2014) where the jury
recognized her has an extraordinary talent for her musical imagination and versatility.
She was accepted to the Shenzhen Arts School in 2008 as a student of Chen Guangquan.
Since 2012 she has continued her piano studies with the renowned Professor Dan Zhaoyi.
Min-Chieh has also participated in masterclasses with Jeno Jando, Zhou Kang, Li Mingqiang,
Tamas Ungar, Guillermo Gonzalez, Christopher Elton, and Pierre Reach. She intends to
pursue a career as a concert pianist and devotes most of her time to her studies and the piano.

CONTESTANTS

Jiaqi Long is enrolled in The Juilliard School where he is studying piano with Yoheved
Kaplinsky and Julian Martin and pursuing his bachelor?s degree in Music. He was born
in December 1996 in Guangxi, China and moved to Colorado to study piano. While in
Colorado he won numerous competitions including first prizes in the Steinway Concerto
Competition, Colorado Piano Festival Competition, Kawaii Piano Competition and
Yamaha Piano Competition. Jiaqi has performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra,
Breckenridge Symphony Orchestra and Littleton Symphony Orchestra. In his spare time he
enjoys lifting weights, eating a variety of cuisines and listening to electronic music.

Christopher Richardson, age 16, has been the featured soloist with several
orchestras including the Minnesota Orchestra, Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, Federal
Way Symphony, Pacific Orchestra and Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. He is a top
prizewinner in many national and international piano competitions, including the 2013
International e-Piano Competition, 2011 Lennox International Young Artists Concerto,
2011 Virginia Waring Concerto Junior Division, Tureck International Bach, 2012 LA
Liszt International Competition, 2011 Seattle International Piano, and the 2012 and 2013
International Russian Competitions. Christopher has also attended the Aspen Music
Festival, Sejong International Music Festival, and Oberlin International Artists Recital
Series Festival. He has performed in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Field Concert
Hall, the Gould Rehearsal Hall, the Harris Concert Hall, the Music Tent and McCallum
Theater. He has also performed on NPRs From the Top?, TV program PIE on KCTS 9,
and King FM 98.1.

Keiju Takehara, 17, has been studying piano since he was 4 years old. Previously a
student of Pamela Sverjensky, he is now under the tutelage of Martin Labazevitch at the
Levine School of Music in Washington, DC. He is a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke
Foundation Scholarship and the Phillip A. Hughes Foundation Scholarship. Keiju has
performed in many Washington, DC venues, including the Kennedy Centers Millennium
Stage and Concert Hall, the International Piano Archives, the Kosciuszko Foundation,
as well as the Mexican, Dutch, French, and Italian Embassies. He was a finalist at the
National Symphony Orchestras Concerto Competition, a participant of the Hamamatsu
International Piano Academy, and the 1st Place winner of the Friday Morning Music Club
High School Competition. He has also performed in masterclasses with many prominent
musicians, including Horacio Gutierrez, Joseph Kalichstein, Alexander Korsantia, Julian
Martin, and Lambert Orkis. An experienced chamber musician, Keiju is a member of
the John S. Martin Piano Trio and has performed in masterclasses for the Emerson String Quartet and the Imani
Winds.

Yijia Wang, 19, is a sophomore student at The Curtis Institute of Music where she
studies with Meng-Chieh Liu. Born in China, Yijia began to study piano at the age of 8 with
Jia Xie at the Shanghai Music Middle School. In 2011, she moved to New York and entered
The Juilliard School Pre-College Division where she studied with Victoria Mushkatkol for
two years before being accepted at Curtis.
Yijia has won numerous prizes including second prize at the Fifth International
Frederick Chopin Competition For Young Pianists, fourth prize at the 2008 Gina Bachauer
International Junior Piano Competition, first prize at the 2012 MTNA national competition,
as well as many competitions in China. Yijias international performances have included
piano concerti with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra Atelier
Ostinato of Paris. She has also participated in many music festivals including the Shanghai
International Piano Master Class Series, Hotchkiss Summer Portals and Aspen Music

Festival.
Yijia intends to pursue a multi-faceted career as a concert pianist, chamber musician, jazz musician, and piano
teacher. Besides piano she loves painting, fashion/jewelry designing, cooking, and walking her dog around the city.

Alex Yuill, 20, is entering his junior year at the Eastman School of Music under Dr.
Enrico Elisis tutelage. Before college, he had been a student of Alexander Djordjevic
at Music Institute of Chicago for four years. He is the first place winner of the 2012
Emilio del Rosario Piano Concerto Competition, Senior Division, and winner of the 2012
DuPage Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Concerto Competition. In addition, Alex
participated at the Keys to the City Piano Festival in May of 2012, where he performed
one of his pieces at the Symphony Center for the Young Artists Showcase hosted by
renowned pianist Emanuel Ax. Between school years, he participated in numerous summer
camps including Interlochen (2011), Jacobs School of Musics summer program (2012),
Tanglewood (2013), and the Montecito International Music Festival (2014).
Alex is also a self-taught composer, entering his very first composition into the 2011
ISMTA for young composers, where he was awarded honorable mention at the state level. He also won the 2012
CAMTA Composition Competition (senior level), and was the first place winner of the Music Institute of Chicagos
Composers Lab in 2013.
Alice Zhang, 13, is an 8th grader at Hawthorn Middle School North in Vernon Hills,
Illinois, USA. She began studying piano with Brenda Huang at age four. Alice is an active
performer and competitor throughout the Chicago area as well as nationally. She recently
won Second Prize in the G. Gershwin International Music Competition Young Artist
Catergory ages 13 to 18 in New York on May 1, 2015. In March of this year, she was
selected as one of seven finalists in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Youth Auditions.
In the end of 2014, she was named as the Overall Winner of the MYA junior division
of the National Walgreen Concerto Competition held in Ravinia. In May of 2014, she
won Second Prize in the Junior Division of the Emilio del Rosario (EDR) General
Piano Concerto Competition and performed Chopins Concerto No. 2 with the Harper
Symphony Orchestra.
Alice is also the pianist for Trio Pochettino and a violinist for the Concert Orchestra of the Midwest Young
Artists. Trio Pochettino advanced to the Quarterfinals at the 2015 National Fischoff Chamber music competition.
Besides music, she loves mathematics and is a member of her schools math team.

Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra

& Lang Lang International Music Scholars

IN CONCERT

Thursday, August 20
1:00pm
Ravinia Festival

tickets available online

at www.ravinia.org

Sunday, August 23

4:00pm
Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park
free and open to the public

Learn about the

National Concerto Competition
at www.mya.org/competition.php
Accepting all soloists through grade 12
Application deadline: December 1

Department of Music
MAJORS AND MINORS AVAILABLE
TO PIANO STUDENTS
Bachelor of Music in Applied Music
Bachelor of Arts in Music
Music Minor
Bachelor of Music Education
Bachelor of Music with
Elective Studies in Business

Scholarships are available for piano

majors and minors.

At Drake University, youll find a music department large enough to support a vast
range of musical activities, but small enough for you to receive highly personalized
instruction and individual mentorship.
Students who pursue an Applied Piano degree leave Drake prepared for full-time or
part-time work as performers, leaders of community choral or instrumental groups,
studio teachers, or teachers of applied music in private schools or colleges.
Graduates of the Drake Department of Music are well-trained and well-rounded
musicians who are highly competitive in today's complex and fluid musical world.

Visit www.drake.edu/music to
learn more about the Department
of Music at Drake University.

J UDGES
Final Round
BENJAMIN LOEB
Executive Director
Quad City (Iowa) Symphony Orchestra
Though since 2013 Benjamin Loeb serves primarily as the Executive Director
of the Quad City (Iowa) Symphony Orchestra, he is also an accomplished
soloist, accompanist, conductor, arranger, educator, and administrator. His piano
performances has been heralded by the Boston Globe: [his] vigorous, cogent playing
signaled the kind of equally weighted partnership, plus competition, plus mutual
quest, etc. that [makes] this music live. Last May, he performed Morton Goulds
Interplay with the Boston Pops Orchestra at the invitation and under the direction
of New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert. He has also collaborated as
concerto soloist with many other conductors including JoAnn Falletta, Carl St. Clair,
and Rossen Milanov. His widely varied projects range from concerts of Beethoven
and Bruckner Symphonies to recordings with Yo-Yo Ma of Italian 16th century
madrigalists to tours with popular rock musicians to world premieres of the most
cutting-edge avant-garde contemporary music.
He recently served as Executive Director of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony
and as Music Director of the 2011 New Hampshire Music Festival. As Associate Conductor of the El Paso
Symphony Orchestra, Loeb founded and served as both Executive and Music Director of the El Paso Symphony
Youth Orchestras - El Pasos only national-level, NEA-recognized, multiple-orchestra system serving the best young
musicians in the El Paso, southern New Mexico and Juarez region. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of
the International Conducting Workshop and Festival, now in its thirteenth year, hosted by orchestras around the
world, most recently the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic in Zlin, Czech Republic.
He lives in Davenport, Iowa with his wife, Quyen, his 9-year-old daughter, Anna Sofia Uni, his 6 1/2-yearold, Lulu Ladybug, and 4-year-old son Ryan Taco. He continues occasionally to concertize worldwide as pianist,
conductor, educator and arts advocate. Loebs far-ranging interests do not limit him to music; he has directed plays,
cooked gourmet meals for 65, tutored over 500 people in test preparation for the Princeton Review, and played
and enjoyed almost every sport. He is also an active member of the Rotary. Moreover (or most important), he is a
lifetime Dallas Cowboys fan.
www.benloeb.com/
LAWRENCE JOHNSON
Writer and Arts Media Entrepreneur
Music Critic for Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Lawrence A. Johnson is a writer, music critic and arts media entrepreneur. He
worked as a regular freelance music critic for the Chicago Tribune for a decade, later
serving as staff music critic for the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
He started the South Florida Classical Review website in 2008 and Chicago
Classical Review the next year, followed by Boston Classical Review and New
York Classical Review. In 2013, he was named by Newcity as one of Chicagos 45
most influential people in music. The same year he received the Ruth D. And Ken
M. Davee Excellence in the Arts Award for exceptional commitment and major
contributions to music and the arts.
In 2014, Johnson founded the American Music Project (AMP) to promote,
present and selectively commission American classical works. In October of 2014,
AMP presented its first commission, Amy Wurtzs Piano Quintet, at Ganz Hall. The
projects second commission, Geoffrey Gordons Clarinet Quintet, will be premiered by the JACK Quartet in New

HENRY FOGEL
Dean of Chicago College of Performing Arts
Former President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Henry Fogel is Dean and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at Roosevelt
Universitys Chicago College of Performing Arts. He is also festival director
of the New Hampshire Music Festival, and continues his work as a consultant
for orchestras, working with the Catherine French Group. Mr. Fogel was senior
advisor to the League of American Orchestras from June 2008 through June
2009, and for five years prior to that served as the Leagues president and CEO.
In 2009 the League presented Mr. Fogel with its highest award, the Gold Baton.
Mr. Fogel was president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
for eighteen years beginning in 1985. Under his leadership, the Associations
endowment increased from $19 million to over $160 million, and attendance
at classical subscription concerts increased by over 20 percent. Also during his tenure, the CSO undertook a
massive program of community engagement and considerably strengthened its educational programs, in addition
to completing the award-winning Symphony Center project, a $120 million dollar renovation and expansion of
Orchestra Hall.
Mr. Fogle has received honorary doctorate degrees from Roosevelt University, Northwestern University, the
Curtis Institute, and Columbia College. In 1999 Mr. Fogel received a Cultural Leadership Citation from Yale
University for service to the cultural life of the nation. In 2003 he was named an Illinois Arts Legend by the Illinois
Arts Alliance. In 1997 he received the Top Chicagoan Award from Chicago Magazine, and in 1990 was named by
Business Week magazine as one of the five best managers of cultural organizations in the United States. He has also
received the Dushkin Award for his service to music by the Music Institute in Chicago.
Mr. Fogel has served on non-profit boards virtually without interruption since 1967, and currently serves on the
Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program, the Institute for the Study of Black Music at Columbia
College, the Chicago Opera Theater, the WFMT Committee of the WTTW Board in Chicago, and the Chinese Fine
Arts Society. He currently chairs the Board of the Chicago Classical Music Recording Foundation.
Mr. Fogel has also served as a consultant to many orchestras, on labor, governance, and artistic issues, as well
as on strategic planning. In 2009, he was the President of the Jury for the Music Competition of the Montreal
Symphony Orchestra.

Semi-Final Round
STEVEN SPOONER
Concert Pianist
Professor of Piano, University of Kansas
Critics and audiences have unanimously hailed the distinctive and
compelling performances of Naxos recording artist Steven Spooner
describing him as a pianist in the tradition that many believe died with
the likes of Horowitz, Arrau, Bolet, Cziffra, and Wild. His talent, to my
ears, is easily the equal of most major pianists of today (FANFARE
MAGAZINE). Passionately devoted to the solo recital, Steven has been
engaged and often re-engaged at prestigious venues all over the world and
this past season has daringly reinvented the solo recital format by allowing
audiences to vote for one of several programs he has prepared. Steven is a
star on the new XOTV show called A Life of Music.
Steven has been unusually successful in the limited number of international piano competitions in which
he participatedhe is prizewinner at each of the seven international piano competitions he has entered and
top prizewinner at both the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the Artlivre International Piano
Competition. He captured First Prize and was recipient of the Niekamp Career Grant as most outstanding pianist

J UDGES
in French music at the Paris Conservatory. His performances and recordings of works by Liszt have garnered
particular attention worldwide.
Steven has released 15 recordings on the Naxos,TMG, EMR Classics, Everythingmusic, and IU recording labels.
He studied at Paris Conservatory, Moscow and Tbilisi Conservatories in the former Soviet Union, and Indiana
University, Bloomington. In 2008 he was the final recipient of the Ivory Classics Foundation prize that enabled him
to study with the legendary virtuoso Earl Wild. He serves as guest artist at several international music festivals each
year and is increasingly in demand for his engaging masterclasses at major music institutions. Steven currently serves
on the piano faculty at the University of Kansas and is a Steinway Artist. Further info: www.stevenspooner.com.
DANIEL HORN
Professor of Piano and Chair of Keyboard Studies
Wheaton College Conservatory of Music
An active and versatile pianist, Daniel Paul Horn is Professor of Piano and Chair
of Keyboard Studies at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, where he was
honored with a 2009 Senior Academic Achievement Award for sustained excellence
in scholarship.
As a solo recitalist, he has appeared at colleges and universities throughout North
America, at the American Liszt Society Festival, and in live broadcasts over WFMTFM, on its Pianoforte Foundation Fazioli Salon Series and 2010 Beethoven Piano
Sonata series; he has also appeared with various Midwestern orchestras, including the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra; this past April, he made his European concerto debut
with the Sarajevo Philharmonic, playing Lumen (2008, revised 2015) by American
composer Jacob Bancks. An avid chamber musician, he regularly collaborates with
members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. With the MasterWorks Ensemble, he has played in Bermuda and at
the 2010 Beijing Modern Music Festival; in addition, he has performed with the Ying String Quartet, the Rembrandt
Chamber Players, cellist Stephen Balderston, pianist Alexander Djordjevic, and Guarneri Quartet violinist John
Dalley. He also works with noted singers, including sopranos Michelle Areyzaga and Sylvia McNair, baritone Gerard
Sundberg, and basses Stephen Morscheck and Kenneth Cox; with soprano Carolyn Hart and mezzo-soprano
Denise Gamez, he has performed recitals in Chicago, New York, and Paris. Working with living composers, he
has premiered music by George Arasimowicz, Jacob Bancks, David M. Gordon, Neal Harnly, Patrick Kavanaugh,
Daniel Kellogg, and Max Raimi.
As an early keyboardist, he was harpsichordist in performances of Handels Messiah under the baton of John
Nelson, has twice performed on the Historical Piano Concert series at Frederick Collection in Ashburnham,
Massachusetts. In 1997, he recorded the critically praised disc Wanderings for Titanic Records on an 1829 Graf
fortepiano, and in 2010 released Sehnsucht: Music of Robert Schumann; he also recorded for the Centaur label with
CSO cellist Donald Moline, and for the Canadian Music Centre with soprano Carolyn Hart.
www.wheaton.edu/Academics/Faculty/H/Daniel-Horn
CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR
Concert Pianist
Professor of Piano at U. of Wisconsin at Madison
Hailed by critics as frighteningly talented (The New York Times) and a great pianist (The Los Angeles
Times), Christopher Taylor has distinguished himself throughout his career as an innovative musician with a
diverse array of talents and interests. He is known for a passionate advocacy of music written in the past 100 years
- Messiaen, Ligeti, and Bolcom figure prominently in his performances - but his repertoire spans four centuries
and includes the complete Beethoven sonatas, the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Bachs Goldberg Variations, and a
multitude of other familiar masterworks. Whatever the genre or era of the composition, Mr. Taylor brings to it an
active imagination and intellect coupled with heartfelt intensity and grace.
Mr. Taylor has concertized around the globe, with the most recent international tours taking him to Korea,

China, Singapore, Italy, and Venezuela. At home in the U.S. he has appeared with such orchestras as the New York
Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Houston
Symphony, and the Boston Pops. He recently toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, premiering Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies Sea Orpheus with only six weeks of advance notice in which to learn it. As a soloist he has
performed in New Yorks Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls, in Washingtons Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
the Ravinia and Aspen festivals, and dozens of other venues. In chamber settings, he has collaborated with many
eminent musicians, including Robert McDuffie, Robert Mann, and the Borromeo,
Shanghai, Pro Arte, and Ying Quartets. His recordings have featured works by
Liszt, Messiaen, and present-day Americans William Bolcom and Derek Bermel.
Apart from concertizing and recording, Mr. Taylor has undertaken various
unusual projects. Recent examples include: the commission and premiere of a
piano concerto by Derek Bermel with the Indianapolis Symphony, made possible
by a Christel Award from the American Pianists Association; performances and
lectures on the complete etudes of Gyorgy Ligeti; and a series of performances
of the Goldberg Variations on the unique double-manual Steinway piano in
the collection of the University of Wisconsin. He has actively promoted the
rediscovery and refurbishment of the latter instrument and is in the process of
developing a modernized version of it.
Numerous awards have confirmed Mr. Taylors high standing in the musical world. He was named an American
Pianists Association Fellow for 2000, before which he received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1996 and the
Bronze Medal in the 1993 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In 1990 he took first prize in the William
Kapell International Piano Competition, and also became one of the first recipients of the Irving Gilmore Young
Artists Award.
Mr. Taylor owes much of his success to several outstanding teachers, including Russell Sherman, Maria CurcioDiamand, Francisco Aybar, and Julie Bees. In addition to his busy concert schedule, he currently serves as Paul
Collins Associate Professor of Piano Performance at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He pursues a variety
of other interests, including: mathematics (he received a summa cum laude degree from Harvard University in this
field in 1992); philosophy (an article he coauthored with the leading scholar Daniel Dennett appears in the Oxford
Free Will Handbook); computing (recent projects include topographic mapping software and a novel system of text
entry for Android phones); linguistics; and biking, which is his primary means of commuting. Mr. Taylor lives in
Middleton, Wisconsin, with his wife and two daughters. Christopher Taylor is a Steinway artist.

Preliminary Round
SOOJIN AHN
Concert Pianist
Performing throughout the United States, Europe and Asia to unanimous critical
acclaim, SOOJIN AHN is recognized as one of the finest pianists of her generation.
Soojin Ahn is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes from international
competitions, most notably the Gilmore Young Artist Award and the audience
prize at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Subsequently, she has
been the guest soloist with The Boston Pops, Colorado Springs, Jupiter (NYC),
Kalamazoo and Omaha symphony orchestras and the Chicago and New England
chamber orchestras. In 2001, she was invited by David Robertson to perform
Messiaens Turangalila Symphony with the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Her recitals have
been heard in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Alice Tully Hall, Bostons
Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall and in Philadelphia, presented by The Philadelphia
Orchestra. She stunned the music community when, for her debut at Koreas Sejong
Cultural Center, she performed the twenty-four Etudes of Chopin at the age of 15.

J UDGES
An avid chamber musician, Soojin Ahn has performed with the Manhattan String Quartet and collaborates
frequently with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and cellist Wendy Warner.
Soojin Ahns performances have been broadcast frequently on WMFT in Chicago. Her November 2006 recital
on the Fazioli Salon Series was voted Best Performance of the Year, and was re-broadcast before the end of that
year.
Soojin Ahn began playing the piano at the age of three in her native Korea. At ten, she moved to the United
States to continue her musical studies. Over the years, her principal teachers included Menahem Pressler, Russell
Sherman and Yoheved Kaplinsky. Ms. Ahn holds B.M and M.M. degrees from the New England Conservatory, as
well as the Advanced Certificate from The Juilliard School.
INNA FALIKS
Concert Pianist
Head of Piano, Associate Professor of Piano, UCLA
Founder/Artistic Director, Music/Words
Adventurous and passionate (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born pianist
INNA FALIKS (www.innafaliks.com) has established herself as one of the most
passionately committed, communicative and poetic artists of her generation. Faliks
recently relocated from NYC to Los Angeles, after being named the new Associate
Professor of Piano at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the worlds great stages, with
numerous orchestras, in solo appearances, and with conductors such as Leonard
Slatkin and Keith Lockhart. Critics call her A concert pianist of the highest order
(Chicago WTTW), praise her courage to take risks, expressive intensity and technical
perfection (General Anzeiger, Bonn), remarkable insight (Audiophile audition)
poetry and panoramic vision (Washington Post), riveting passion, playfulness
(Baltimore Sun) and signature blend of lithe grace and raw power (Lucid Culture.)
Her October 2014 all-Beethoven CD release on MSR classics is drawing rave reviews: the discs preview on
on WTTW called Faliks High priestess of the piano, pianist of the highest order, as dramatic and subtle as a
great stage actor. Her previous, critically acclaimed CD on MSR Classics, Sound of Verse, was released in 2009,
featuring music of Boris Pasternak, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Her discography also includes a recital recording for
the Yamaha Disklavier library. Recording projects in the works include a Chopin solo and cello sonatas recording
with cellist Wendy Warner, and a disc of commissioned piano works for her poetry-music series, Music/Words, with
music of Clarice Assad, Ljova Zhurbin, and other living composers.
She was the winner of many prestigious competitions, including the Hilton Head International Competition
and the coveted International Pro Musicis Award 2005. Ms. Faliks is the founder and curator of the LMCC award
winning interdisciplinary series Music / Words - www.musicwordsnyc.com. This poetry-music series goes into its
6th NYC season, and has been described as surreal, impactful, and relevant...she played with her signature blend
of lithe grace and raw power (Lucid Culture). Her long standing relationship with WFMT radio has led to yearly
broadcasts of Music/Words, which she produces, and has been seen in Chicago in collaboration with Poetry
Foundation. It debuted at Royce Hall at UCLA, with the best selling Russian poet Vera Pavlova.
www.innafaliks.com/
www.musicwordsnyc.com/
www.youtube.com/user/practice78/

SUMMER 2015

SUMMER CAMPS & CLASSES

EARLY CHILDHOOD
JUNE 19 AUGUST 8
Movers & Shakers
Music Masters I
Recorders Rule!
Shake, Rattle & Roll

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
JUNE 22 AUGUST 6
Childrens Choir
Guitar
Piano
Strings
Summer Band

SUMMER CAMPS
JUNE 22 - 26

Guitar Camp
Trombone Camp
Tuba/Euphonium Camp

JUNE 27 JULY 2

Chamber Music Camp

(no class June 28)

JULY 6 JULY 10

Horn Camp
Introduction to Band Instruments
Piano Camp, Session 1
Saxophone Camp
Trumpet Camp

JULY 7 AUGUST 13
Summer Conservatory
Wind Ensemble

JULY 13 17

Flute Camp
Jazz Camp
Percussion Camp
Piano Camp, Session 2

JULY 20 31
Band Camp
String Camp

AUGUST 3 7

Summer Conservatory Choir

Summer String Orchestra
Voice Camp

AUGUST 10 14

Solo String Workshop

AUGUST 17 21

Conservatory Solo Voice

REGISTER ONLINE
www.meritmusic.org

Merit School of Music | Joy Faith Knapp Music Center

38 South Peoria Street, Chicago Illinois 60607 | 312.786.9428 | www.meritmusic.org

CHAEYOUNG SOLO RECITAL

Chaeyoung Park

Time: Friday, June 12, 2015 7:30pm

Location: PianoForte Studios
Program:
Mozart - Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 333
Chopin - Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35
Intermission
Brahms - Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118
I. Intermezzo
II. Intermezzo
III. Ballade
IV. Intermezzo
Crumb - Dream Images from Makrokosmos Vol. 2
Prokofiev - Sonata No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 28

Smith.

eventeen-year old Chaeyoung Park, from South Korea and Lawrence, KS, has been studying with Dr. Jack
Winerock of University of Kansas piano faculty for seven years. She also studies with Dr. Scott McBride

Chaeyoung was awarded Gold Medal in Music by the National YoungArts Foundation in 2014. She received
First Place at 2014 Emilio Del Rosario International Young Artists Piano Concerto Competition and received
Young Jury Award and Discretionary Award at the 2014 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition. She won
Third Prize in the 2015 Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition and First Place in the 2012 International
Institute for Young Musicians International Piano Competition, as well as the Audience Prize. She was the youngest
semifinalist and finalist at the 2012 Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition. She was awarded First
Place in the Junior Level of the Louisiana International Piano Competition in 2011.
She received First Place from the American Protg International Competition and the Fite Family Young
Artists Competition. She won First Place in Junior Division in Missouri Western Young Artist Piano Competition.
She has won First Place and also Audience Prize at the Kansas City Symphony Concerto Competition. She was
the Overall Winner at the MYA Walgreens Concerto Competition Open Senior Division and at Topeka Symphony Youth Concerto Audition. She was the Kansas State and West Central Division MTNA Junior Piano winner in
2010-2011 and 2011-2012. Her chamber group was the Grand Winner of the National Young Artists Chamber
Music and Ensemble Competition. She has performed in such halls as Orchestra Hall at Chicago Symphony Center, Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center in New York, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New World Center in
Miami, Helzberg Hall at Kauffman Center for Performing Arts, Kodak Hall at Eastman School of Music and Lied
Center of Kansas. She has performed with the Kansas City Symphony with Maestro Michael Stern, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Neil Varon, New Millennium Symphony with Frencesco Milioto and the
Topeka Symphony Orchestra with Robert Olson among others. She has participated in masterclasses with renowned
teachers and musicians such as Leon Fleisher, Jorge Osorio, Michael Stern and John Perry.
Aside from playing piano, she likes playing with her cats, baking and cooking, and reading books. She will be
attending the Juilliard School in the fall.

STEINWAY & SONS

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