We had 83 pianists who performed beautifully at the 6th Annual Chopin Festival on April 27, 2024.

Here are the winners:

Division I
Emily Chen, 1st Place
Kai Yi, 2nd Place
Landon Han, 3rd Place
Darren Hack, Honorable Mention
Jayden Wang, Honorable Mention
Euan Lee, Honorable Mention
Daren Ren, Honorable Mention

Division II
Emma Ericson, 1st Place
Astrea Archibald, 2nd Place
Ray Fu, 3rd Place
Aaron Ye, Honorable Mention
Nuri Jang, Honorable Mention

Division III
Khai West, 1st Place
Saya Schmitigal, 2nd Place
Clarie Chen, 3rd Place
Cody Land, Honorable Mention
Sarah Deng, Honorable Mention
Nathan Teng, Honorable Mention
Seoyeon Lee, Honorable Mention

Division IV
Amy Zhang, 1st Place
Henry Sun, 2nd Place
Eric Feng, 3rd Place
Terrence Zhou, Honorable Mention

Division V
Caleb Tang, 1st Place
Ye Eun Hong, 2nd Place
Victoria Chen, 3rd Place
Hayden Crocker, Honorable Mention
Melinda Wang, Honorable Mention

Congratulations to all the winners and their teachers: Irina Bendetsky, Jessie Chang, Sun Yung Cho, Karen Follingstad, Berta Godkin, Mitzi Kolar, Inessa Litvin, Yu Carole Liu, Rinna Livshin, Cho-Hyun Park, Anna Savvas, Viktor Shekhtman, Chetan Tierra, Anna Stal, Gill Tsai, Ting Ting Zhang, Jia Sheng Zhou

We look forward to seeing you next year!
Jessie Chang
MTACSD Chopin Festival Chair

Here are the winners of the 5th Annual MTAC San Diego Branch Chopin Festival.

Division I
Elijah Robins, 1st Place
Chloe Li, 2nd Place
Astrea Archibald, 3rd Place
Yvonne Gao, Honorable Mention
Landon Han, Honorable Mention
Ruiya Xia, Honorable Mention
Isabella Yang, Honorable Mention

Division II
Aaron Ye, 1st Place
Daniel S. Park, 2nd Place
Veronica Xu, 3rd Place
Serafin Gimutao, Honorable Mention
Sonya Yasuda, Honorable Mention
Amber Zhang, Honorable Mention

Division III
Emma Erickson, 1st Place
Andrew Zhang, 2nd Place
Nathan Dai, 3rd Place

Congratulations to all the winners and their teachers: Irina Bendetsky, Jessie Chang, Lynn Chen, Sun Yung Cho, Emi Clements, Eleanor Hum, Jeeyoon Kim, Kathy Kim, Inessa Litvin, Yu Carole Liu, Viktor Shekhtman, and Jia Sheng Zhou.

We look forward to seeing you next year!

Chopin Festival was LIVE this year on June 18, 2022. It was a beautiful Saturday to host our most talented young musicians in our community at the gorgeous First Presbyterian Church of San Diego sanctuary. The continuous high quality of music making from our wonderful 37 performers really inspired us all.

Thank you to the participating teachers who continue to educate and motivate your students:

Eunji Bae, Irina Bendetsky, Magdolna Bornemisza, Jessie Chang, Sun Yung Cho, Chaling Huynh, Anthony Do-Hoon Kim, Shuang Li, Inessa Litvin, Yu Carole Liu, Rinna Livshin, Vera Lukomsky, Viktor Shekhtman, Elaine Tokman, Gill Tsai, Mei Yin, Dan Yu, Jia Sheng Zhou

We were so very honored to have three prestigious judges: Ethan Yi Dong, Wojciech Kocyan, and Kevin Kwan Loucks. They have selected the top three winners in three divisions. Winners were presented the crystal trophies at the courtyard reception immediately after the judges’ deliberation. The judges valuable comments have been emailed to all participating teachers.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Chopin Festival:

Division I
James Rong, 1st Place
Amy Zhang, 2nd Place
Rien Chen, 3rd Place

Division II
Richard Lee, 1st Place
Frederick Chien, 2nd Place
Sarah Deng, 3rd Place

Division III
Sabrina Li, 1st Place
Nathan Dai, 2nd Place
Eric Li, 3rd Place

I look forward to seeing you all next year!
Jessie Chang
MTACSD Chopin Festival Chair

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On April 14-15, we celebrated Chopin’s music triumphantly together during the inauguration of the first MTACSD Chopin Festival at the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego. Our three accomplished judges from Los Angeles, Dr. Andrew Park, Dr. Wojciech Kocyan, and Dr. Sarkis Baltaian, commented that they were “very inspired with the level of performance and very impressed with the teaching in our branch.” We had 36 contestants represented by 18 studios. There were definitely magical moments and artistic excellence present throughout the Festival. Congratulations to all the performers for their outstanding demonstration of musicianship! Thank you to all the teachers for your exemplary guidance, and please continue to inspire your students to make beautiful music.

My goal for Chopin Festival is to showcase not only some of the strongest music ever written for pianists, but also to feature the many talented musicians we have in our community. This festival encourages young musicians to express themselves with piano, connect with one another through their music-making, and uplift spirits through Chopin’s music. The highlight of the festival was, of course, the Winners’ Recital on Sunday evening, where the attendees benefited from a wonderful showcase of the magnificent artistry of the top two winners and the engaging fellowship at the reception time. I appreciate tremendously for the much enthusiastic support from many of you leading up to and during the two-day weekend. A special shout-out to incredible individuals: Dr. Ed Basilio, Jane Klofkorn, Nimpa Akana, Quynh Nguyen, Sarah Lincoln, Marilyn Carnes, Yuko Maruyama, Miriam Cole, Brian Goral, Lee Galloway, and Jaclyn Summers. I’m most grateful to the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego for hosting us with a fine Steinway concert grand and many cheerful volunteers. Partnering with them has been a real blessing for us all.

Below, please find the winners’ list that the judges have deliberated. Congratulations!