Michelle Naughton First Place and Wisconsin Contestant Prize Madison, Wisconsin When Michelle Naughton won the PianoArts First Place Prize, Michelle was a student of Christopher Taylor, Professor of Piano at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. In the fall of 2007 she begins her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music on a full merit scholarship with Robert McDonald. In addition to first prize at the PianoArts National Biennial Piano Competition, Michelle won the gold medal in the quadrennial Virginia Waring International Piano Competition. She has performed extensively as a soloist, with orchestra, and in piano duo with her twin sister, Christina. Michelle made her orchestra debut at the age of ten performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 488 with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with Cleveland’s Red Orchestra, the Gulf Coast Symphony, the Madison Symphony, Chicago’s Ars Viva and Park Ridge Orchestras, Mequon’s Gathering on the Green Orchestra as well as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Other engagements include the St. John’s Cathedral concert series in Denver, the Green Lake Festival of Music in Wisconsin, and Chicago’s “Music in the Loft” and Pianoforte classical piano series. Her performances have been broadcast live by WFMT, Chicago. In the 2007-2008 season Michelle will appear on the Artist Series of Sarasota, University of Alabama at Birmingham Piano Series, Chamber Music San Francisco Series, as well as in performances with the Sheboygan Symphony and the Erie Philharmonic.   Pallavi Mahidhara Second Place South Africa and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania At age ten, Pallavi Mahidhara stepped in for an injured soloist and with a week’s notice, learned Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, making her debut with Disney’s Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. She subsequently appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony and the symphony orchestras of Bangor and Corpus Christi. Her many honors include being named the national winner of the Yamaha Music Teachers National Association Competition in 2005 and Baldwin MTNA Competition in 2001. She won the Grand Prize in the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition in 2003 and was the National Merit Winner of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in 2005. Other first prizes include the Aspen Concerto Competition, Davidson Fellow Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Music, and Julia Crane International Young Artists Competition. A student of Ignat Solzhenitsyn at the Curtis Institute of Music, Pallavi has studied with Julian Martin, Rachel Franklin and Emilio Del Rosario.   Monica We Third Place Prize Fairfax, Virginia Monica We has been playing piano since the age of five and has studied with her current teacher, Nancy O’Neill Breth, for almost six. She has received awards in regional and national competitions. As a result of winning first place in the Washington Music Teachers Piano Concerto Competition, Monica performed Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto in G minor with the Georgetown Symphony Orchestra in its 2004-05 season. Recently, she placed first in the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Concerto Competition and performed with the Little River Symphony Orchestra. One of Monica’s most rewarding and memorable events was being chosen as one of the six national finalists in the Music Teachers National Association Baldwin Piano Competition of 2004. She was awarded second place in that prestigious competition. Since winning a PianoArts prize in 2006, Monica has gone on to win first prize in the Beethoven Society of America’s Maria Fisher Competition, Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Concerto Competition, the Northern Virginia Achievement Awards Competition and the National Symphony Orchestra’s Young Soloists’ competition. In September, Monica performed Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the National Symphony Orchestra. In the fall of 2007 Monica will attend Rice University as a scholarship student of Jon Kimura Parker.   Konrad Binienda Fourth Place Prize Akron, Ohio Over the years, Konrad Binienda has performed extensively throughout Poland, appearing in the Student Honor Recital in Duszniki, in piano recitals in Ciechocinek and at Paderewski Music School in Tarnów, Southern Poland. After his 2006 PianoArts winning performance, Konrad went on to perform his own concerto with the Akron Symphony. In 2007 he won Grand Prize in the Rising Stars Concerto Competition sponsored by Messiah College and the Harrisburg Symphony and will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto in E minor with the Harrisburg Symphony on their regular series in January 2008. In 2006 Konrad won the Jan Gorbaty Memorial Prize for the best performance of the music of Chopin at the 57th Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition in New York, the Akron Youth Soloists Concerto Competition and the Firelands Competition. As a winner of the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, he performed in The Winners Debut Program in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. In 2005 Konrad won first place in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs’ Venetia Hall Concerto Competition and second place in the Senior Solo Division of the Graves Piano Competition. As a participant in the 2004 Amati Music Festival, he performed in New York’s Steinway Hall. Konrad was a scholarship piano student of Gerardo Teissonnière in the Preparatory Division at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he also played organ and studied composition. His piano composition won the National Award of Excellence in the 2000 PTA Reflections Program and he is a four-time first prizewinner in the Ohio’s Scholastic Composer Contest. Konrad attended Firestone High School. In the fall of 2007, Konrad will enter his freshman year at Harvard University while studying piano with Wha-Kyung Byun at New England Conservatory of Music.   Kara Huber Scholarship to the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College of Music Oakland, Illinois Kara Huber has been studying piano for fourteen years and is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she studied with Michael Coonrod. Kara received honorable mention from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts’ Arts Recognition and Talent Search. She was top prizewinner in the Michigan Music Teachers Association piano concerto competition, was featured with the Interlochen String Orchestra, competed in the Interlochen Concerto Competition, won second place in the Missouri Western Young Artist Competition and received honorable mention in Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. She was a winner in both the district and state Illinois State Music Teachers Association Competitions. Kara began studying with Dr. W. David Hobbs at Eastern Illinois University at age nine and later with Dr. Karen Taylor of the Indiana University School of Music. In addition to her classical studies, she was a member of the Interlochen Jazz Ensemble, has been a church pianist, operated a piano studio, and played the piano for high school musicals, concerts and solo-ensemble contests and in pit orchestras. She performs for vocal, instrumental majors and ballet classes. While at Interlochen, Kara was on the Dean’s High Honors List, and served as a student piano ambassador. Kara now attends the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.   Tyler Wottrich Scholarship to the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College of Music Roseville, Minnesota In the ten years that Tyler Wottrich has been playing, he has explored many different areas of music. In his musical career, he has improvised and performed for ballet, been a church organist, played jazz piano in combos and big bands, played for a gospel choir, composed classical and jazz music, and was pianist for all sorts of instrumentalists and singers. Highlights of his career so far include being a finalist and first prize winner in the Thursday Musical Competition, the Minnesota Music Teachers Association Competition, the 2004 recipient of the Roseville Musical Scholarship, having performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall with the Minnesota Youth Symphonies, as well as playing the organ part in the Saint-Saëns “Organ Symphony.” He has studied with well-known teachers: Gail Olszewski, Christopher Taylor, Margo Garrett, Gilbert Kalish, Anne Epperson, Timothy Lovelace, and Lydia Artymiw, his current teacher. Parallel to his musical pursuits, he is engaged in academics at the highest level. Tyler has taken mathematics classes at the University of Minnesota since age thirteen, and a full-time course load there for the past two years. He plans to continue his studies, musical and otherwise, at the university level in the future.   Douglas Kanner Audience Communication Award Plymouth, Massachusetts Douglas Kanner began piano study after four years of singing with the Peabody and New England Conservatory Preparatory School Children’s Choruses. Having now studied piano for nine years, he is currently a student of Judith Gordon and Loretta Poto-Slovak. After only four years of study, Douglas achieved two first place finishes in local conservatory concerto and piano solo competitions. He also received notable honors in several regional symphony orchestra concerto competitions, including a solo performance with the Hingham Symphony Orchestra. Douglas went on to win awards in competitions sponsored by the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association and the New England Piano Teachers Association. He has performed in master classes by David Deveau, Janina Fialkowska, and Randall Hodgkinson, coached by Peter Serkin, and participated in the 2007 International Institute for Young Musicians, where he studied with Claire Wachter. As a singer, Douglas performed Amahl in Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, was a soloist in the premier of Swanee Hunt’s The Witness Cantata with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, and sang Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with Boston’s Coro Allegro and Cecelia Choruses. Douglas also plays oboe in the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic. Highlights as an oboist include tours with the Youth Philharmonic to Brazil, Venezuela and China. In the summer of 2008, Douglas will tour Germany with the Boston Youth Orchestra. Peter Takács Jury Head Hailed by the New York Times as “a marvelous pianist”, Peter Takács has performed widely, receiving critical and audience acclaim for his penetrating and communicative musical interpretations. Mr. Takács was born in Romania, where he started his musical studies before age four. After his debut at seven, he performed frequently until his parents' request for emigration to the West. His studies and performances were then banned. He continued studying piano clandestinely until his family was allowed to emigrate to France, where, at fourteen, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National de Paris. Upon arriving in the United States, his outstanding musical talents were recognized with full scholarships to Northwestern University, the University of Illinois, and a fellowship for doctoral studies at the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with renowned pianist Leon Fleisher. Mr. Takács is a winner of numerous prizes and awards, including first prize in the William Kapell International Competition, the C.D. Jackson Award for Excellence in Chamber Music at the Tanglewood Music Center, and a Solo Recitalist Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Takács has performed as guest soloist with major orchestras in the United States and abroad, as well as at summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Eastern Music Festival, La Gesse Festival, Music Mountain, Chautauqua Institution, ARIA International, and Schlern Music Festival in the Italian Alps. He has performed and recorded the cycle of thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas, being released on the Summit label. Mr. Takács is Professor of Piano and Chair of the Piano Department at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he has been teaching since 1976. His success as a teacher is attested to by his students’ accomplishments, who have won many international competitions and have been accepted at major graduate schools. He has given master classes in the United States, Europe and Asia, and has been a jury member at prestigious national and international competitions. In 2002 Mr. Takács served on the jury for PianoArts National Concerto Competition. Jean Barr Judge Jean Barr, a native of Thiensville, Wisconsin, is Professor of Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music, and Co-Chair of the Chamber Music Department at the Eastman School of Music. The first keyboard artist in the United States to be awarded a doctoral degree in accompanying, she studied at the University of Southern California with Gwendolyn Koldofsky and at Northwestern University with Gui Mombaerts. At the outset of her career she was accompanist for the master classes of Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, William Primrose and Martial Singher. As a collaborative pianist, Jean Barr has performed in the United States and abroad with such distinguished artists as Carmen Balthrop, James Dunham, Gerald Fischbach, Pierre Fournier, Thomas Hampson, Donald McInnes, Eduard Melkus, Igor Ozim, François Rabbath, Gabor Rejto, Mstislav Rostropovich, Eudice Shapiro, Ivan Straus, Andor Toth, Zvi Zeitlin and others. She also is much in demand as a guest lecturer and master teacher, and she has given classes in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. Considered by many to be a pioneer in her field, Jean Barr has sought to engender a broad appreciation of the collaborative arts. In the past decade she organized significant chamber music concerts for the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy and subsequently for national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association. She also was the first chair of MTNA’s Collaborative Performance Advisory Committee and chair of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy’s Committee on Collaborative Performance. Prior to joining the Eastman faculty to establish graduate degrees in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music, Jean Barr taught at the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University and, in the summers, at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. She also was on the summer faculty of the International Workshops for many years. In 1994 the Eastman School of Music honored Jean Barr with the prestigious "Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching", and in 2004 the University of Rochester awarded her the "Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award."   Stewart Gordon Judge Stewart Gordon is Professor of Keyboard Studies at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California. His academic posts have included Wilmington College in Ohio, Chair of the Music Department at the University of Maryland,and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Queens College of City University in New York. Mr. Gordon holds degrees from the University of Kansas, a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and a diploma from the Staatliches Konservatorium des Saarlands. His teachers were Olga Samaroff, Walter Gieseking, Cecile Genhart, and Adele Marcus. As a pianist, Mr. Gordon has toured North America, Europe, Asia, Saudi Arabia, and the Caribbean. His recordings include works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, Manuel deFalla, Alexander Scriabin, Ellis Bonoff Kohs, Luis de Frietas-Branco, and the complete Preludes by Sergei Rachmaninoff. He is the author of Oxford University Press’ Etudes for Piano Teachers, Schirmer’s A History of Keyboard Literature and co-author of The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher. For Alfred Publishers he videotaped Memorization in Piano Performance and Performance Practice in Late 20th Century Piano Music. He is editing Alfred’s 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. His newest book is Oxford’s Mastering the Art of Performance As a composer, Mr. Gordon writes mainly for musical theatre. His shows have been produced in New York, Hollywood, Washington, Savannah and Hawaii. His show, Libby, renewed interest in Libby Holman, the cabaret performer, and his Spirit of the Navy, celebrated the navy’s 200th birthday. Mr. Gordon is founder of the William Kapell International Piano Competition, serving as its director for fifteen years. He also founded New York City’s Cultural Heritage Competition, the Great Gospel Competition, the Savannah Onstage Music Festivals and American Traditions Competition, for which he was the artistic director for fourteen years. He has adjudicated many international competitions and has won many awards, including the Ramo Award for Service to Music, Maryland State Creative and Performing Arts Award, Maryland State Music Teachers Award for Distinguished Service to Music, and a Danforth Teacher Study Grant. He has been elected to several honorary organizations: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda (music), and Scabbard and Blade (military). InSoo Jung, First Place Kang-Neung, South Korea and Oberlin, Ohio Sejoon Park, Second Place Seoul, South Korea and Falls Church, Virginia Kevin Chang, Third Place Naperville, Illinois Alice Baldwin, Audience Communication Award Laramie, Wyoming Jie Chen, First Place Guangdong, China and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Chie Tanaka, Second Place and Audience Communication Award Rochester, New York Igor Pancevski, Third Place Skopje, Republic of Macedonia and Oberlin, Ohio Joshua Ledgerwood, Wisconsin Contestant Prize Watertown, Wisconsin Uni Choi, Honorable Mention Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Peoria, Arizona Kevin Kordi, First Place Northbrook, Illinois Jacob Ertl, Second Place and Audience Communication Award Appleton, Wisconsin Kathryn Huo, Third Place Madison, Wisconsin Kevin Korth, Audience Communication Award Brookfield, Wisconsin Stephanie Wu, Honorable Mention, Naperville, Illinois Caleb Ng, First Place Libertyville, Illinois Hope McCoy, Second Place Chicago, Illinois Robin Lin, Third Place Novi, Michigan Tiffany Lin, Audience Communication Award Novi, Michigan Kevin Korth, Wisconsin Contestant Prize Brookfield, Wisconsin John Boonenberg, First Place Dearborn, Michigan Diana Strong, Second Place Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Andrea Hui, Third Place Morton Grove, Illinois Jennifer Lee, Wisconsin Conservatory Prize Mequon, Wisconsin Kevin Korth, Wisconsin Conservatory Prize Brookfield, Wisconsin Elizabeth Joy Roe, First Place Glenview, Illinois Michael Hui, Second Place Morton Grove, Illinois Nicole Halton, Third Place Highland Village, Texas Peter Amstutz Lydia Artymiw John Covelli Douglas Dillon Robert Durso Lee Dougherty John Ellis Alexander Korsantia Victor Rosenbaum Andrews Sill Lori Sims Boris Slutsky Peter Takács Christopher Taylor