2019 Finalists
Young Pianist Competition
LiYuan Byrne
Verona, NJ
Sixteen-year-old LiYuan Byrne of Verona, New Jersey, won her first gold prize and performed on stage at Carnegie Hall at age five. A passionate and competitive piano performer, LiYuan won first place in 2018 for the Senior category of MTNA New Jersey Competition and was the 2018 recipient of Suburban Music Study Club Grace Gimbel Young Artist Scholarship Competition. Read full bio...
Carey Byron
Los Angeles, CA
Carey Byron, Grand Prize winner of the 2019 MostArts Festival Young Pianist Competition, returns to Alfred University on July 23, 2023 to perform with the MostArts Festival Orchestra under the direction of Conductor Yuval Zaliouk. Carey will perform Saint-Saens’ Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22.
Sora Hoppo
Sewickley, PA
Sora Hoppo, age fifteen, is a freshman at the North Allegheny Intermediate High School, Wexford, Pennsylvania. She started playing the piano at the age of five, and currently studies with Professor Luz Manriquez at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, Preparatory School. Sora has won several prizes at regional and international competitions, including Cincinnati World Piano Competition, Duquesne Young Artists National Competition and many more. Read full bio...
Kaelem Michel
Fayetteville, NY
Kaelem Michel, fourteen, resides with his family in Fayetteville, New York. Kaelem began playing the piano at age eight. He has been studying with Patricia DeAngelis since 2015 and more recently with Steven Heyman. He has been actively participating in masterclasses with Spencer Myer and Jon Nakamatsu. He attended Summer@Eastman Camp at Keuka College and Lyra Music Festival and Workshop at Smith College, where he received pre-professional training in piano and chamber music. Read full bio...
Hyeonuk Park
Chestnut Hill, MA
Fourteen-year-old Hyeonuk Park, a student at Baker School in Massachusetts, studies piano at New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston. Formerly, he studied piano in his native Korea, where, in 2012 and 2013, he took first prize at National Music Contests with Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra and, in the following year, gained three first prizes at National Student Music Competitions. Read full bio...
Maxine Park
Hanover, NH
Maxine Park, fourteen, of Hanover, New Hampshire, is a ninth-grader at Phillips Exeter Academy. She has been a student of Mila Filatova since age seven and also studies regularly with Alexander Korsantia. Maxine has received top prizes at numerous competitions, including first prizes at the Steinway Society of Massachusetts Piano Competition, International Chopin Piano Competition, and International Paderewski Piano Competition. Read full bio...
Ethan Yuen
Palo Alto, CA
Ethan Yuen, seventeen, is a junior from Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. He started learning piano when he was five and is currently a student of Professor Hans Boepple at Santa Clara University. Ethan won his first competition at age seven. As the winner at Texas State International Piano Festival, Peninsula Symphony Concerto Competition, American Fine Arts Festival International Concerto Competition, and El Camino Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, he has performed as soloist with various orchestras. Read full bio...
Shuheng Zhang
Canton, MI
Seventeen-year-old Shuheng Zhang, a junior at Washtenaw International High School in Ypsilanti, studies piano With Dr. Logan Skelton of University of Michigan. He is proud to be a Young Scholar of the prestigious Lang Lang International Foundation. Shuheng has won top prizes in many competitions, such as Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, David Dubois Piano Competition, Lee University International Piano Competition, and MTNA. Read full bio...