2021 Chopin piano Academy Students
Stephanie Draughon
Stephanie Ding Draughon studies with Jean Saulnier. She received 1st prize from Leon Fleisher at the 2011 Protsman Competition. She performed the 3rd movement of Haydn’s D Major Concerto with the 2012 Orfeo Music Festival orchestra in Italy. She has performed at Carnegie Hall twice, the US State Department, and the Polish Embassy. She won the 2015 Peabody Preparatory Concerto Competition and performed Beethoven’s Concerto Op. 15 with the Peabody Youth Orchestra. In 2017 and 2018, she attended the Gijon Piano Festival in Gijon, Spain, where she studied with Alex Kobrin, Robert McDonald, Logan Skelton, and Douglas Humpherys. In 2018, she won the Woodmere Music Club Competition. In 2018 and 2019, she attended the Frost Chopin Academy in Coral Gables, Florida, where she studied with Dang Thai Son, Margarita Shevchenko, Ewa Poblocka, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydron, and Kevin Kenner. She also won the Concerto Competition at the 2018 festival and performed the second and third movements of Chopin's Concerto in F minor with the Amernet String Quartet. In December, she performed the entire concerto with the Sound Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, she attended the Porto Pianofest in Porto, Portugal, where she studied with Nuno Marques, Oscar Colomina i Bosch, Pedro Burmester, and Jose Ramon Mendez. She won the Chopin Prize at the Claudette Sorel Competition. She will compete in the Preliminary Round of the International Chopin Competition in July 2021.
Yun Chih Hsu
Yun Chih Hsu, was praised as “One of the most potential young pianists” as well as “The mature performance and stage charm is beyond her age”. “Her control over pianissimo is astonishing. She has and absolutely precocious sense of duration and keyboard geography ” (Drimitry Bashkirov), award wining-pianist Yun Chih Hsu performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, North America and Asia, at venue such as Taiwan National Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, Barcelona Palau de la Música Catalana. Hsu was the youngest first prize winner of the 12th Taipei International Chopin Piano Competition, the semi-finalist of the 11th International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland, and the Medalist of the 63rd Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona, Spain. After wining the 12th Taipei Chopin Piano Competition, she was invited to give concert in the great Braunschweig International Music Festival and Grotrian Steinway in Germany, and Kulturkontakt Eppan in Italy. In 2011, Yun Chih won the IMA music award in JAPAN and she was invited to perform in the IMA Rising Star Concert. In 2014, she was the first prize winner of the Norman Piano Competition and Bachauer Piano Scholarship Competition in United State, and was invited to perform in the “From the Top Radio Station” in Jordan Hall, at New England Conservatory, Massachusetts. In 2015, Yun Chih was awarded the Juilliard Commencement Award with honor and was accepted to the Juilliard School music division with full scholarship, in the same year, she was the winner of the Young Artist Concert Competition and was honor to be invited to perform with Forth Worth Symphony Orchestra in Texas, United State. 2016, Hsu was awarded as outstanding artist and performed in the Prize winner concert of Salzburg Music Festival and Leipzig International Felix Barthody Mendelssohn Music Festival. In 2017, was honor to be the winner of the Music Star Concert in Taiwan. 2019, Hsu was honored to be the finalist of Bachauer Scholarship Competition. 2020, Hsu was invited by the New Taipei City government to be the endorser of 2020 Music Rising Star
Xiaoxuan Li
Born on 21 December 2001 in Zhejiang, China. After graduating from Shanghai Conservatory, he studied with Gary Graffman, Dang Thai Son and Robert McDonald in Philadelphia. He has also had lessons with Andrzej Jasiński. He has worked with such ensembles as the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Soloists and The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra–Ashdod. He has appeared at such major festivals as the Shanghai International Piano Festival and Osaka International Piano Festival. He has won first prize in the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists and the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, as well as many prizes at the Hilton Head and Ettlingen competitions.
Jaeyoon Lee
Born in 1997 (Seoul, Korea). She received piano education at the age of four. She studied at Seoul Arts Center Prodigy Music Academy, Seoul Yewon Arts School, Korea National University of Arts and is currently studying with Prof. Pavel Gililov at Mozarteum University Salzburg. She is winner of international competitions including First prize in 1st International Robert Schumann Competition (Düsseldorf 2017), Grand-Prix in International Khabarovsk Piano Competition “Heirs of Tradition” (Russia 2018), Top prize in 56th International Arcangelo Speranza Competition (Italy 2018), Third prize in 20th International Piano Competition “Composers of Spain, Juan Duran” (Spain 2019), First prize in International Costiera Amalfitana Competition (Italy 2015), Third prize in International Antonio Napolitano Competition (Italy 2015) and International Asia Chopin Competition in Japan. She received Audience Prize in Junior Academy Eppan, also Korea Open Piano Forum of Mozart Hall selected her as “Junior Mozart”. Her achievements include First prizes in Korea Chopin Competition, Korea Beethoven Competition, Korea Mozart Competition etc. She holds a scholarship from Liechtenstein. She played as soloist with Torun Symphony Orchestra (Poland), Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea), Khabarovsk Philharmonic Orchestra (Russia), International “Virtuosos de Madrid” Orchestra (Spain). Also she played with Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra in Alpenklassik Festival. Recently her concert was broadcasted by RTS-ESpace in Switzerland. She has been invited to world-famous festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, Leipzig, Köln, Liechtenstein, Brescia, Malta, Holland, Marbella and Seoul. She has been admitted to the 18th Chopin Competition in Warsaw, 2021.
Katherine Liu
Katherine Liu, 16, is a 10th grader from Wellesley, MA. She started her musical journey at age three and performed publicly at Boston's Steinway Hall one year later. She has received top prizes in numerous piano competitions, including Grand Prix at the VI Chopin International Piano Competition in Connecticut, and First Prizes at the 2020 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, the III Krystian Tkaczewski International Piano Competition, the Steinway Society Piano Competition, and the Rosewood Fanning International Piano Competition, among many others. Over the past few years, Katherine has performed as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Rivers Symphony Orchestra and the Brockton Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she performed and worked with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in a concerto masterclass, where Katherine was one of 14 selected pianists chosen to participate in the Cliburn Junior Festival. Katherine is also the bronze medalist at the 2019 Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition and a 2021 National YoungArts winner in Classical Music. Having made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2015, Katherine has performed in the Cartoon Festival at Boston’s Symphony Hall several times and appeared on NPR's From the Top at Jordan Hall in 2016. Katherine has been invited to appear at venues around the world, including performances at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center and the “Lato z chopinem” festival in Poland. Katherine is a second-year recipient of the Chopin Foundation scholarship and was accepted into the 2020 Morningside Music Bridge Festival. Katherine has worked with many great musicians such as Alexander Ghindin, Sean Chen, Valery Kuleshov, Wha Kyung Byun, Christopher O’Riley, and Maestro Ruth Reinhardt. Katherine currently studies with HaeSun Paik at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. In her free time, Katherine loves to read, swim, dance, and explore the art of mathematics.
Angelina Ning
Angelina Ning, 16, is a junior at American Heritage School and currently studies with Professor Kevin Kenner and Professor Tian Ying of University of Miami. Her past awards include top prizes at the Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition, East Carolina University Young Artists Competition, Peter Perret Youth Talent Search Concerto Competition, MTNA Southern division competition, David Dubois Piano Competition, Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, and the Steinway Piano Competition in Miami. In June 2019, she was featured on NPR’s From the Top with host Simone Dinnerstein. Most recently, Angelina has received first prizes in the Ocala Young Artist Competition and the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. She has performed with the Alicante Symphony Orchestra, the Winston Salem Symphony Orchestra, the Alhambra Symphony Orchestra, and the FIU Symphony Orchestra. She has also participated in masterclasses with many esteemed musicians, including John Perry, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Jerome Lowenthal, Boris Slutsky, Yoheved Kaplinsky, and Ilana Vered. She has attended the Southeastern Piano Festival, the Colburn Music Academy Piano Festival, the Texas State International Piano Festival, and Music Fest Perugia. Outside of music, Angelina enjoys reading and journaling and is also on her school’s scientific research team.
Arisa Onoda
Arisa Onoda has performed extensively throughout Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Japan with major orchestras and chamber musicians including the Polish Silesia Orchestra, Torun Symphony Orchestra, Panocha Quartet, Nash Ensemble and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. She gives recitals in major concert halls and festivals including Wigmore hall, Steinway Hall, Lincoln Centre, Merkin Concert Hall, Frost Chopin Festival and Aspen Music Festival. Born in Japan, Arisa Onoda began playing the piano at the age of two and the violin at six. After studying at the Juilliard School under Choong Mo Kang, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree with first class honors at the Royal Academy of Music, and is currently studying for Advanced diploma under Christopher Elton. Arisa has also been a private student of Pascal Roge since 13 years old. Arisa has been active in the international competition world since 2007, when she won first prize at the Chang Jiang Cup International Music Competition in Japan. Other first place performances were at the at the PTNA Piano Competition, the Juliusz Zarebski International Piano Competition and the Chopin International Piano Competition in Asia, among others. She has performed and received diplomas in more than a dozen competitions in Japan, Russia, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, the United Kingdom and United States, including major international competitions such as Geneva competition in 2014, Chopin competition in 2015 in Warsaw, Busoni competition in 2017, Dublin competition and New Orleans competition in 2018. Most recently, she became a medalist and a Gorodnitzki memorial prize winner in Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2019. She is proud to have been supported by Philharmonia Orchestra, Help Musicians UK, Hattori Foundation and Rohm Music Foundation. She was awarded the Elton John Mortimer Award in 2015 and Myra Hess award (Best pianist award) in 2018 in the UK.
Parker Van Ostrand
Parker Van Ostrand began studying piano at the age of four. He performed at Carnegie Hall three times and has performed in numerous recitals throughout the United States, Singapore, and Japan. As a competition winner, he performed with the Merced Symphony, the Central Valley Youth Symphony, the California Youth Symphony, the Auburn Symphony, and the Frost Symphony Orchestra, and was invited to perform with the Symphony Parnassus in 2017 and the Camellia Symphony in 2019. In 2017, he won the MTAC Concerto State Finals Competition and in 2018, the Mondavi Center National Young Artists Competition. During the summer of 2018 he was invited to tour with the California Youth Symphony with performances in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries, performing the Gershwin Concerto in F. In the summer of 2019, he attended the Frost Chopin Piano Festival and Academy in Miami, and the Philadelphia Young Pianists’ Academy, where he won first place and the Best Concerto Prize in the Philadelphia International Piano Competition. In February 2020, he participated in the 10th National Chopin Piano Competition, where he received 3rd place along with the Best Sonata Prize. He was also a 2021 National YoungArts Finalist in Classical Music, 1st Place winner of the 2020 National Steinway Virtual Piano Competition, and recently selected as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts nominee. Parker will participate in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2021. Parker has participated in masterclasses with Lydia Artymiw, Emanuel Ax, Andrei Baumann, Wha Kyung Byun, Sarah Cahill, Hung-Kuan Chen, Alon Goldstein, Gary Graffman, Ching-Yun Hu, Kevin Kenner, Paul Lewis, Robert McDonald, Ewa Pobłocka, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Margarita Shevchenko, Dang Thai Son, and Frank Wiens Parker currently studies with Garrick Ohlsson and Linda Nakagawa. He is a senior at C.K. McClatchy High School.
Sohgo Sawada
Sohgo Sawada is a participant of 18th Chopin Competition preliminary round. He was the youngest quarter finalist in the Geneva International Music Competition in 2018. He participated in 7th Sendai International Music Competition in 2019 and was recommended to Piano Academy Eppan by Andrea Bonatta, where he was selected to perform at Gustav Mahler Hall in Toblach. He was invited to play at Aloha International Piano Festival & Competition in Hawaii in 2016 & 2019. He takes private lessons of Shohei Sekimoto. He took masterclasses of Krzysztof Jabłoński, Alexander Kobrin, Piotr Paleczny. Furthermore, for the last 5 years he has taken master lessons of Joaquin Achucarro, Matti Raekallio, Lilya Zilberstein, Andrea Bonatta, William Grant Naboré, Michael Lewin, Jan Jiracek von Arnim, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Michel Dalberto, Gilead Mishory, Véronique Bonnecaze, Erik T. Tawaststjerna, Ronan O’Hora, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Dag Achatz, Jon Nakamatsu, Eugine & Elizabeth Pridonoff, He performed with Polish Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Chubu Symphony Orchestra, and Obu Gakuyu-Kyokai Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave many solo recitals since he was 18 years old. Now he is a medical student at Nagoya University in Japan.
Mikołaj Seroka
Mikołaj Seroka was born in 2003 in Warsaw and began his training in piano performance at age 5. He is presently a student of professor Krzysztof Jabloński at the Zenon Brzewski Music Secondary School in Warsaw. Seroka is laureate of many national and international piano competitions, among others 1st Adam Harasiewicz National Piano Competition for Young Talents in Rzeszów (2020, 1st prize), Emma Altberg National Piano Competition in Łódź (2012, 1st prize), Rocky Mountain Piano Competition (2020, 1st prize), 2nd Kosciuszko Foundiation Piano Competition (2020, 2nd prize and audience prize), Centre for Artistic Education National Piano Auditions for Music Primary School Pupils in Warsaw ( 2015, 2nd prize), Juliusz Zarębski International Piano Competition in Łomianki (2010, 3rd prize; 2015, 2nd prize), 14th Karol and Antoni Szafranek National Forum for Instrumentalists in Rybnik(2018, 2nd prize), 23rd Halina Czerny-Stefańska National Piano Tournament in Żagań (2018, 2nd prize), 5th International Chopin Piano Competition for children and youth in Rzeszów (2019, 3rd prize), 27th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Children in Szafarnia (2019, 3rd prize and prize for the best performence of Chopin's mazurka), 9th Gyorgy Ferenczy International Piano Competition in Budapest (2019, 3rd prize). Since his earliest youth, Mikołaj Seroka has successfully concertized at many prestigious venues, including the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Łódź Philharmonic Hall, Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio S-1 of Polish Radio, Royal Łazieńki, Royal Castle in Warsaw and Żelazowa - The house of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin, Polish Academy of Science in Vienna, Vigyazo Sandor Music Centre in Budapest, Maison de la musique in Switzerland. In 2020 he started to be a scholar of The National Children's Fund Scholarship
Hayato Sumino
Hayato Sumino was born on 14 July 1995. He was taught by Katsuko Kaneko, Jean-Marc Luisada, and Tomoaki Yoshida. He has won many prestigious awards, including the Lyon Piano Competition (Third Prize), the PTNA Piano Competition in Japan (First Prize), and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia (Gold Medal). He has given concerts in Europe and Asia, playing with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Braşov Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania).
Sarah Tuan
Sarah Tuan is currently a freshman at the Juilliard School and studies under the tutelage of Robert McDonald. She previously studied with pianist Ning An. An accomplished performer, Sarah has played in many venues in the U.S., Germany, Poland, Italy and Denmark. She has appeared on NPR's "From the Top" and Philadelphia WRTI 90.1. Sarah received scholarships to the 2016 International Chopin Piano Festival in Poland where she performed at the "World Piano Talents" concert. The same year, she was also selected to perform at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival "Rising Stars" concert in Italy. In 2018, Sarah was one of eight young pianists chosen internationally to study with Andrea Bonatta at the Piano Academy Eppan and performed in Italy. She was among 23 young pianists from around the world chosen for the 2019 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. Recently, Sarah was selected and will be participating in the XVIII Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2021. Her other accolades include first prize in 2018 Philadelphia International Piano Competition with the best solo and concerto awards which she was invited to give solo concerts in New Jersey and Philadelphia in summer 2019; first prize and the best Paganini Etude Award in Los Angeles International Liszt Competition; first prize in Virginia Waring International Piano Competition; first prize the San Jose International Piano Competition along with the Most Promising Young Talent Award. Sarah has also participated in masterclasses and coachings with many renowned artists most recently with Ruth Slenczynska, Gary Graffman, Dang Thai Son, Garrick Ohlsson, Christopher Elton and Antonio Pompa-Baldi.
Liya Wang
Liya Wang,Born on 10 December 2001. She is now a student of Manchun Chen at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She has performed with such ensembles as the China Youth Symphony Orchestra,International Symphony orchestra of Vietnam and International Union Symphony Orchestra of Taipei, working with such conductors as Hao Shen,Yue Li, Dong Quang Vinh and Kurt Sassmannshaus. She has performed at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing,Shandong Grand Theatre and Carnegie Hall in New York. Her competition successes include third prize in the Hanoi International Piano Competition,second prize in PRM international piano competition and fourth prize in the Gulangyu International Piano Competition.
Victoria Wong
Canadian pianist Victoria Wong first made her orchestral debut at the age of five, and has since then performed on tour with orchestras including the Canadian Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Symphonia, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. Victoria has performed as soloist throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, at venues including Hong Kong City Hall, Palace of Grazia in Italy, Shenzhen Performing Arts Theatre and Shenzhen Concert Hall in China, historic Jordan Hall in the United States, and Koerner Hall and Glenn Gould Studio in Canada. She is often invited as a guest artist to perform at notable festivals including the 5th Shenzhen Piano Music Festival in China (as concerto soloist with the Hong Kong Symphonia), Note in Citta Festival in Italy, and Westben Arts Festival and Mississauga Polish Festival in Canada. First Prize winner of the Lancaster International Piano Competition, International Fringe Award, 8th EPTA International Piano Competition in Belgium and the national 46th Canadian Music Competition, Victoria has also been a top prize winner at the 4th Canadian Chopin Competition and the 9th Russian Music International Piano Competition. Victoria is also amongst the contestants chosen to participate in the upcoming 18th Warsaw Chopin International Piano Competition. Victoria began her musical training in Canada and later went to the Shenzhen Arts School in China to study with renowned piano pedagogue Dan Zhao Yi. Upon returning to Canada, she studied at the Glenn Gould School’s pre-college program, and later received her Bachelors degree at the New England Conservatory of Music with Meng-Chieh Liu. She is currently pursuing her Masters degree at The Juilliard School, where her teachers have included Matti Raekallio and Hung-Kuan Chen. Victoria’s mentors and teachers have also included Ronan O’Hora, Jean Saulnier, Marietta Orlov and Aster Lai.
Boao Zhang
Born in Chengdu in November 2003, Boao began studying piano performance professionally very late. When he was a kid, he just regarded playing the piano as a game. His real interest was to enjoy classical music. He had to listen to classical music every night before he fell asleep, just like every child likes to listen to bedtime stories. Until he was 11, Boao decided to piano performance as his lifelong career, so he left his hometown to study in the capital. Boao has been a student at the Central Conservatory of Music Middle School, Beijing since 2016, studying with Manchun Chen. In just a few years, Boao is improving at an incredible speed. In 2019, he was invited to take part in the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival. What he was most proud that he took home the top prize at the 15th International Piano Competition “Chopin for the Youngest” (15-18 age, Antonin, Poland) as the youngest competitor in 2019. In this competition, he was praised by the judges as Mazuka's best player. In 2020, he has been selected as one of the competitors to participate in the Preliminary Round of the 18th Chopin Piano Competition. In addition to winning some competitions, Boao also actively participated in music festivals, such as won the scholarship of the American Aspen Music Festival (AMFS) in 2018, and the highest scholarship of the Japan Kirishima International Music Festival in 2019. He is well received in many master classes, and he was fortunate to be praised and taught by outstanding pianists and teachers such as Eliso Virsaladze and Maria João Pires, which all attest to his impressive musical maturity, as well as his excellent dexterity and exuberant musical spirit.
Yilan Zhao
Chinese pianist Yilan Zhao is a prize winner of international competitions including the 70th “Giovan Battista Viotti” International Music Competition, New York International Piano Competition, Marbella International Music Competition, Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists and Kosciuszko Chopin Competition. Her playing was praised by pianists such as Richard Goode as “deeply personal and touching”. She is the top prize winner and recipient of the Rahn Musikpreis, Munz competition at the Juilliard School, Duttweiler-Hug Competition at Zurich University of Arts. She has been featured as guest artist in festivals in Asia, Europe, and the United States of America, including venues such as Tonhalle Maag, Alice Tully Hall, Palau de la Musica, and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. She has performed with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova and has worked with conductors such as Sergey Smbatyan and Daniel Somogyi–Tóth. Born in 1995 in Hunan Province of southern China, she began playing the piano at the age of seven. In September 2011 at the age of 15, she entered the Juilliard School in New York and studied with Choong-Mo Kang. She continued her Bachelor studies at the Juilliard School from 2014 to 2018 under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen. Since September 2018, she has being studying in the class of Konstantin Scherbakov in Zurich at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste.
Ailun Zheng
Pianist Ailun Zheng studied at the Shanghai Conservatory with Zhe Tang (2008 - 2014), Interlochen Arts Academy with Thomas Lymenstull (2014 - 2017), Eastman School of Music with Nelita True (2017 - 2018), and is currently a student of Alexander Kobrin. In Shanghai, Ailun won many awards including first prize of the 4th Chinese Music International Competition in Japan and first prize in the 71st Steinway International Youth Piano Competition East China division. At Interlochen, she won the IAA Concerto Competition twice in 2015 and 2016, and performed with Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra. In 2014 she was the MTNA Senior Piano Competition winner for Michigan. She participated in the Gilmore Keyboard Festival in May 2016 and played for Llŷr Williams. That summer, she also participated in the Art of Piano and she won the finalist award of the 8th New York International Piano Competition. Ailun studied with Boris Slutsky and Yong Hi Moon at the Bowdoin Music Festival, and she has participated in the Shanghai International Piano Festival & Institute. In 2013, Ailun participated in the Perugia Music Festival and performed with the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra. After studying at Eastman, she went to the Amalfi Coast Piano Festival in 2018, and Valencia International Performance Academy with Professor Kobrin in the summer of 2019. She has performed in master classes for Dang Thaisong, Fu Ts'ong, Eduardus Halim, Douglas Humphreys, Barry Snyder, Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky, and others. She has held several solo recitals in Shanghai and at Interlochen. She plans to pursue a career as a professional pianist and to continue studying music in the future.
Harmony Zhu
“Musical prodigies can be insufferably tiresome, but pianist Harmony Zhu proved herself something much more than that – a deeply musical soul and nimble technician who happens to be 13 years old.” - Chicago Tribune. A Young Steinway Artist, a Young Scholar of Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and a fellow of Yale University’s Artemisia Akademie, Harmony has been featured many times on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, CBC, CBS, From the Top, etc. Performing regularly at prestigious festivals and venues worldwide, Harmony has appeared with top orchestras including Israel Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, Albany Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Peoria Symphony, Big Spring Orchestra, Aspen Philharmonic, Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, and New York Youth Symphony, among others, with some of the most venerated conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, John Giordano, David Alan Miller, Arie Vardi, George Stelluto, Roberto González-Monjas, Michael Repper, and Pablo Rus Broseta. An avid chamber musician, Harmony has performed in a variety of ensembles including four-hands with renowned artists such as Emanuel Ax and Stéphane Denève, among others. Harmony has distinguished herself by consistently winning first prizes in piano competitions from an early age, including being the youngest winner of the Gina Bachauer Scholarship Competition at Juilliard and Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, Grand Prix at the VI Chopin International Competition in Hartford in which she set records for both being the youngest winner in history and earning the highest mark ever at 99.8, as well as the youngest to win National First Prize in the Canadian Music Competition for 3 years in a row, all from older age categories. Harmony started studying at Juilliard at 8 and in the same year became the youngest winner of the Concerto Competition. Harmony also loves composing, improvising, and playing the violin. As a chess prodigy, she was awarded the title of Woman Candidate Master at the age of 7 and holds the title of World Champion of her age group after winning the World Youth Chess Championships.