Contestants

Angelo Arciglione
Italy

Born in Cosenza (Italy) in 1982, Angelo Arciglione began studying piano at seven years of age with Angelo Guido, with whom he studied until graduation from the Music Conservatory of Cosenza in 2002.

Winner of numerous national piano competitions, he has also won major prizes in international piano competitions including the 2008 José Iturbi Competition in Valencia, the 2006 European Union Piano Competition Arcangelo Speranza, the 2005 Competition Ettore Pozzoli, and the 2002 Competition Sergio Fiorentino in Morcone. He was also a semifinalist in the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition in 2006, and in 2007 participated in the final phases of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and of the Sendai International Music Competition in Japan. He has performed in Italy and abroad in prestigious concert halls and for important festivals including Festival dei 2 Mondi in Spoleto. 

He has a keen interest in chamber music and has collaborated with the Ensemble Le Musiche of Simone Bernardini and with violinists of the Pavel Vernikov’s school in the performance of Mozart’s (2006) and Beethoven’s (2007) complete Sonatas for violin and piano. Angelo Arciglione lives in Firenze where he teaches piano in the Academy of Music in Firenze and in Montespertoli and works as assistant to Maria Tipo in the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.


Christopher Atzinger
USA

Christopher Atzinger, a native of Jackson, Michigan, has performed in Austria, Italy, France, Spain, and Canada in addition to performances throughout the United States highlighted by concerts in New York at Carnegie Hall, in Chicago at the Dame Myra Hess Series and PianoForte Salon Series, and in Washington, D.C. at the Phillips Collection.

A medalist of the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, and the Nina Plant Wideman International Piano Competition, Atzinger has been praised by critics for his “personal interpretive vision” and “virtuoso aplomb”.  He was also winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Competition and the Premio Città di Ispica prize at the IBLA Grand Prize Competition in Ragusa-Ibla, Italy.

His debut recording was recently released on the MSR Classics label. In addition to degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, Atzinger earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory.


Yoonjung Han
Korea

The gold medalist at the 2008 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, Yoonjung Han has appeared worldwide in such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Juilliard Theater, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Myra Hess Concert Series and Finlandia Hall.

Han has won First Prizes at the Gina Bachauer and the Friedrich Nordmann Competitions at Juilliard as well as the Samick, Kosciuszko Chopin, MTNA and Wideman Piano Competitions. She has also won top prizes at the Helsinki Maj Lind International Piano Competition, the Concorso Pianistico Ettore Pozzoli and the Gawon International Music Award.

She received the Most Promising Young Artist award from the Korean Minister of Culture as the grand prizewinner at the Korea National Music Competition.  Yoonjung Han graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, and Juilliard School as a pupil of Eleanor Sokoloff and Robert McDonald. She is a DMA candidate at SUNY Stony Brook.

Ran Jia
China

Born in 1988 in Chengdu, China, Ran Jia began studying piano at the age of three.  She made her solo debut in 1995, and has since performed publicly in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Fuzhou and Xiamen in China. In 2005, Ms. Jia performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with her teacher, Gary Graffman, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

Highlights of 2006 included a sold-out concert at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and a performance of two Mozart concerti with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.  She gave her recital debut at Rockefeller University in New York and was the only classical pianist invited to perform for a celebration concert in New York City in honor of Thelonious Monk’s 90th Birthday.  In 2008 Ms. Jia made her recital debut at the Klavierfestival Ruhr in Germany, and she recently made her debut at Indiana University.

Her playing has been broadcast on WFMT Chicago and worldwide on WQXR New York. Ran Jia is currently studying with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.  Her father, Professor Daqun Jia, is one of the leading composers in China and Dean of the Graduate Study Programs at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Andrea Lam
Australia

Andrea Lam began her musical training at age five, and at thirteen won the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Quest Competition Viewer Choice Award, which led to debuts with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.

Since then she has played with all of Australia’s major orchestras, and has also performed in Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States, collaborating with such conductors as Michael Christie, Edo de Waart, Alan Gilbert, and Christopher Hogwood. A graduate of Yale University and the Manhattan School of Music, she has also been a winner of the Young Performer of the Year Award (Keyboard) in Australia, the Audience Prize recipient at the 2007 Louisiana Piano Competition, a winner of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and was a semi-finalist of the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition where she performed with the Takács Quartet.

Highlights of the 2009-10 season include a recording for ABC Classics and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra of two Mozart Concertos and performances with the Queensland Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria.


Hanchien Lee
Taiwan

Since her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age sixteen, Hanchien Lee has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician in the US and abroad at venues such as the Steinway Hall in New York, Verizon hall in Philadelphia, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, Centro Cultural del Antiguo, Colegiata de San Juan Bautista in Spain and Convention Center in Taipei.

She was accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music at age eleven where she studied with Eleanor Sokoloff and Claude Frank.  Following graduation from Curtis, Ms. Lee continued her studies at Yale University with Claude Frank, earning both a Master’s Degree and an Artists’ Diploma.  She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University where she is working with Boris Slutsky.

Hanchien Lee is the recipient of the prestigious Chi-Mei Scholarship and has won top prizes at the Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition, first prize at the Russel C. Wonderlic Piano Competition and the Yamaha Piano Competition.


Weiwen Ma
China

Weiwen Ma was born in Shanghai, China and had her first piano lesson at the age of 5.  From a very young age, she performed numerous concerts at China’s most prestigious venues, notably Shanghai Concert Hall and Shanghai Great Theater Hall.

In 2002, she submitted a recording to the Youth Piano Competition of the 21st Century” and won the prize of Best Pianist. She has participated in master classes with such renowned artists as Emanuel Krosofsky, Rusell Sherman, Fu Tsong, and Vladimir Viardo.

She studied with Robert Shannon at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, under the guidance of Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Emanuela Friscioni.


Alberto Nosè
Italy

Alberto Nosè was born in Villafranca di Verona, Italy in 1979 and won the First Prize, Gold Medal and Audience Prize of the Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition in Santander (Spain) in 2005. Alberto Nosè first gained recognition at the age of 11, winning First Prize in the Jugend für Mozart International Competition in Salzburg.

He subsequently won prizes at prestigious international piano competitions such as the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Busoni in Bolzano, Maj Lind in Helsinki), Long-Thibaud in Paris, Vendôme in Paris and World Piano Competition in London. He has performed throughout Europe and all over the world for major festivals and in numerous prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall in New York, Royal Festival Hall in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Mozarteum in Salzburg, and BeethovenFest in Bonn.

He performs with the Ysaÿe Quartet and has appeared as soloist with the London Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonique Radio France, Warsaw Philharmonic, RTVE de Madrid, Mexico State Symphony and New Japan Philharmonic.


Ryo Yanagitani
Canada

Ryo Yanagitani has distinguished himself as one of Canada’s most promising young concert artists.  He recently garnered the silver medal at the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano Competition in Vina del Mar, Chile, where he was also awarded the audience prize.  In addition, he is a laureate of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, and the Hugo Kauder International Piano Competition.

Currently working towards the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, Ryo has obtained a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist.

He is also a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association.  Ryo has been broadcast on numerous occasions over National Radio in Canada.


Dizhou Zhao
China

Born and raised in China, Dizhou Zhao started piano study at age four in his hometown of Shanghai.  His talent was evident at a young age with his winning first prize at a competition in Shanghai as well as performing his first public concert at age seven.  One year later Dizhou was invited to record five piano sonatas by Mozart.

At the age of eleven he enrolled in the preparatory Music School of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studied for six years. In 1999 Dizhou received a full scholarship award from New England Conservatory in Boston, MA where he studied with Russell Sherman and later on with Patricia Zander for his Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance. He received his Master’s degree in music with “Distinguished Honor” in 2005.

In 2007 he won first prize in the Southern Highland International Competition in Australia, and first prize in the Louisiana International Competition which included concerts in France, Russia, and Australia and a solo performance at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in November, 2007. Dizhou is currently studying with American pianist Victor Rosenbaum at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge MA.