8th YOUNG ARTISTS CONCERTO COMPETITION 2015
Chairperson: Wendy Wu
Co-Chairperson: Ellen Fisher-Deerberg
The 8th Young Artists Concerto Competition was held on February 15, 2015 at the College of New Jersey. There were 54 magnificent contestants, including 4 flutists, 1 clarinetist, 1 saxophonist, 2 percussionists, 1 oboist, 1 vocalist, 3 cellists, 18 violinists, and 16 pianists. The judges were Chiu-Tze Lin, Dr. Eric Fung, and Kevin Cheng-Chih Tsai. The level of the performances was extremely high, and the following winners were chosen.
(All winners are listed in alphabetical order)
Gold Prize Winners (4)
Jodie Chiou, age 16, Chaminade Concertino, Op. 107
Iris Kwak, age 15, Grieg Piano Concerto
Sarah Ma, age 12, Saint-Saens Introduction to Rondo Capriccioso for Violin
Dylan Shih-Wu, age 11, Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations for Cello
Silver Medalists (3)
William Chen, age 11, Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2
Marie Louise James, age 16, Mozart Oboe Concerto in C major
Kae Otake, age 16, Lalo Cello Concerto in D minor
Bronze Medalist (5)
Alex Liu, age 15, Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Paul Liu, age 17, Kreisler Tambourine Chinois arranged for marimba
Zoe Lonsinger, age 9, Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 2
Emily Wang, age 15, Dvorak Violin Concerto
Grace Xiong, age 15, Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2
2015 Young Artists Concerto Competition Judges
Chiu-Tze Lin, music director and conductor of the award-winning Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, is a versatile and multifaceted musician - conductor, pianist, and teacher. She had served as the conductor of the Manalapan Battleground Symphony, and received the 2004 Victor Grossinger Award for Innovative Programming. Ms. Lin was selected as a “Hottest Artist in New Jersey” in 2001 by the Asbury Park Press. As a concert pianist, Ms. Lin has been acclaimed by the New York Times for her “strong technique, a hearty tone that sounded big and unforced [which] provides the greatest musical pleasure.” She is a Steinway Artist who has performed in Asia, Europe, and across the United States. Ms. Lin has appeared as a touring soloist with the Chicago Symphony, and was a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony. Her second CD featuring works of J. S. Bach for solo piano has been described by New York Concert Review magazine as a ".... most satisfying performance .... with eloquence and sensitivity." Her recordings have been broadcast from stations across the country. Ms. Lin was a director and faculty member of the 2004 Beijing Music Festival, the first international summer music festival sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. Ms. Lin also conducted the Shanghai Musicians Chamber Orchestra at the Sino-American Cultural Exchange Concert. The performance was broadcast on the Chinese Central Television English Channel that transmits across China and around the world.
Dr. Eric Fung, second-prize winner at the Thirteenth International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany, is an active solo and chamber performer. He has appeared at international festivals and collaborated with orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Asia. As an educator, he has been invited to conduct master classes by East Tennessee State University, Hope College (Michigan), University of Illinois, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He has also been invited by the Greater Princeton (NJ) Steinway Society, the New Jersey Music Teachers Association, Westminster Choir College, and the Music Teachers National Association to adjudicate competitions. The New York Times praised his pianism for being “mature, refined, and elegant.” He was also described by the New York Concert Review as a pianist with a musical persona akin to Rudolph Serkin. The Hong Kong Economic Review called him “unique among the contemporary Chinese pianists, for the aesthetic of his music can be traced back to the study and passion for Bach’s works.” Dr. Fung is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM, MM, MA) and the Juilliard School (DMA). He is an Associate Professor of Piano at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, USA. He is a Steinway Artist.
Violinist Cheng-Chih Kevin Tsai is the concertmaster of the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, has been described by The Strad magazine as a violinist “with admirable facility.” Mr. Tsai earned his Doctoral degree of Musical Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University as a student of Arnold Steinhardt, as well as Glenn Dicterow and Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard School. He also studied chamber music with Felix Galamir and members of the Tokyo, Emerson and Guarneri String quartets. He was the first violinist and founding member of the Killington String Quartet. A native of Taiwan, Mr. Tsai is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including winner of both the Chi-Mei and the Taiwan National Violin competitions and was also the first recipient of the Darrow Prize from the Killington Music Festival. He has given solo recitals, master-classes and performed as a soloist and in string quartet in many major cities in North America, Taiwan and European countries such Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France. He has appeared in concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall and Collaborated with artist such as Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree and Pinchas Zukermann. Kevin Tsai is a member of the Opera New Jersey, Princeton Symphony orchestra and Princeton ProMusica Orchestra. He had served as the concertmaster in the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra (Canada) and Sinfonietta Nova.
