Competition Finals 2023
Overall
Grand Prize Winner:
1. Esther Youjeong Yang
(Performance with the Adelphi Orchestra during the 2023-24 Season)
2. Ella Eom
Division Results
Juniors
1. William Yeh /Matthew Ho
Seniors
1. Ella Eom
2. Noah Chung Igelman
College
1. Eliana Yang/Sofia Gilchenok
Matthew Ho, 14, started playing the cello at age 9 and is currently a student of Dr. Clara Kim at the Juilliard Pre-College. Matthew won the First Place in the Eastern Division (including 12 eastern states) of the 2022-2023 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Competition in the junior strings category after he placed first in the state level MTNA competition. As a result, he became one of the seven national finalists, and he further received the Merit Award in the national competition. His other accomplishments include the First Prize and Judge’s Pick in the VIVO International Music Competition, Second Prize in the International Grande Music Competition, Third Prize in the Bellagrande International Music Competition, and Bronze Medal in the Bravura Young Artists Concerto Competition. In 2022, Matthew performed at Carnegie Hall after winning the Grand Prize and Special Judges Award with a scholarship in the National League of Performing Arts (NLPA) International Young Artists Competition. Recently, as a First-Place winner of the Camerata Artists International Concerto Competition, Matthew made his solo orchestral debut with the New Jersey Camerata Orchestra at Merkin Hall in New York City. Matthew attended the Morningside Music Bridge summer program on a full scholarship last summer, where he took lessons and masterclasses with cellists Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, John Kadz, Zvi Plesser, Andres Diaz, and Wei Yu. He will be joining the Perlman Music Program this summer.
William YEH (13), born in London, currently studies with Professor Naoko Tanaka at Juilliard Pre-College. William was awarded generous/full scholarships as the youngest violinist to study and perform at the 2019 HeifetzPEG (Program for Exceptionally Gifted, USA) and the 2022 Aspen Music Festival And School (USA).
William has won top prizes in various international competitions, including first prizes (Junior Division) at 2020 Philadelphia International Music Festival Concerto Competition (USA), 2021 EUROASIA International Violin Competition (Japan), 2022 NOMEA International Violin Competition (Italy), 2022 New York Chamber Players Orchestra Concerto Competition (USA), and 2nd Prize (Age 11-15) at 2022 Hong Kong International Young Musicians Competition (Hong Kong). William has performed at venues, such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Harris Concert Hall (Aspen), Mellon Hall (Philadelphia), National Concert and Recital Halls (Taiwan), and San Vito al Tagliamento Auditorium (Italy). In October 2022, William performed at the Aspen Institute’s 38th Annual Awards Dinner at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. William will be performing as a violin soloist in New York with the NYCP Orchestra in April 2023.
Ella Eom (Violin)
Ella Eom is a 16 year-old violinist from Palisades Park, New Jersey. Born in South Korea, she moved to the United States when she was 6 and started playing violin shortly before she moved. She studied with Sooyeon Kim
before being accepted into the Juilliard School Pre-college in 2019, in
which she is now studying under Elizabeth Chang, and she has served as
the concertmaster of the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony. Ella won first
place in the 2021 IGMC in her age division, first place in the 2021 Bravura
Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and alternate in the Juilliard Pre-
College Orchestra Korngold Violin Concerto Competition in 2022, and she
has been accepted as a semifinalist for Stulberg International String
Competition 2023. She studied with violinist Pierre Amoyal at Mozarteum
Summer Festival in 2019 and attended Green Mountain Chamber Music
Festival in the summer of 2021 and 2022. Ella is also an avid chamber
musician and is one of the violinists of the Fama Quartet and has won 2nd
place in the 2022 Coltman Chamber Music Competition junior division. In
her free time, Ella enjoys snowboarding in the winter and spending time
with family and friends.
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Noah Chung Igelman (Cello)
Noah Chung-Igelman is a student at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division where he studies with Clara Minhye Kim and attends the Perlman Music Program. Noah was featured on NPR’s “From the Top'' program with New York Philharmonic clarinetist, Anthony McGill and host, pianist Peter Dugan and as a soloist, Noah has performed with the New York Chamber Players Orchestra. He has earned other top awards in competitions including the International Young Artists Competition (where he also won a Special Judges award), Prima Volta Competition (where he also won the grand prize award), Praelusio Competition (where he also won the outstanding performance award), Vivo International Competition, International Grande Music Competition (IGMC) Competition (where he also won top prize award), Bellagrande International Music Competition, Lyra Music Competition, and the New York Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) (where he was the junior strings division winner). Noah is an alumnus of the Morningside Music Bridge summer program, a full-scholarship program for advanced string players, the Perlman Music Suncoast Winter Residency in Sarasota, and has participated in the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) chamber music program since 2019.
Esther Youjeong Yang (Violin)
Esther Yang, a young and versatile Korean violinist, has recently gaining acknowledgement around the world through various concerts and competitions based in Korea and the United States. Esther has been awarded in numbers of well-known competitions including 1st prize at the Mary Smart Concerto Competition, Korea Herald Music Competition, Eum Youn Competition, and received 2nd prizes at New York International Music Competition and Ewha Kyung-Hyang Competition. Also, she won the 3rd prize at the Busan Maru International Music Festival Concerto Competition, further received special prize at the Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition in Hungary and Osaka International Music Competition in Japan. She was nominated as a laureate to participate in 2021 Isang Yun Competition in South Korea and she will be prospectively competing in the final round of Ysaÿe International Competition, and Schoenfeld International Competition in 2023. Esther has collaborated with the Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra, Kimpo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Busan Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed at numerous concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall located at New England Conservatory in Boston, Seoul Arts Center, Kumho Art Hall, Busan Cultural Center Theater.
Her high interests in chamber music led her to attend Kneisel Hall, Summit Music festival, Spring Forward Festival at New England Conservatory, Korean Chamber Orchestra Summer Music Camp, and Aspen Music Festival as a full-tuition orchestral fellowship recipient. She was also given opportunities to participate in masterclasses with Gil Shaham, Nam-yun Kim, Koichiro Harada, Lucie Robert, Aaron Rosand, Ronald Copes, Mimi Zweig, Young-Uck Kim, Ray Chen, Victor Danchenko, Chin Kim, and Min Kim. Esther completed her education at Kumho Arts Fund Seoul Arts Center Music Academy under Nam-Yun Kim, Koichiro Harada, Lucie Robert. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the New England Conservatory studied with Soovin Kim and Paul Biss, and is pursuing her Master's degree at the Juilliard School as a student of Joseph Lin.
Sofia Gilchenok (Viola)
Violist Sofia Gilchenok holds the Tobe Amsterdam Fellowship as a student of Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she is in her 4th year. She has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras across the US, including the Hartford Symphony, the Willimantic Symphony, the Ocala Symphony, and the Greater Bridgeport Symphony. Sofia received first prize in the CT Bach Festival Solo Competition, the Adelphi Orchestra Young Artist Competition Senior Division, the Musical Club of Hartford’s High School Competition, among others, and was also awarded a top prize in the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition.
She has worked with artists such as Atar Arad, Molly Carr, Ron Copes, Roberto Diaz, Osvaldo Golijov, Wu Han, Bella Hristova, Jeffrey Irvine, Kim Kashkashian, Joel Krosnick, Teng Li, Paul Neubauer, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Carol Rodland, Laurie Smukler, Antoine Tamestit, Roger Tapping, Steve Tenenbom, Wang Shaowu, Peter Wiley, the Calidore Quartet, the Diaz Trio, the Emerson Quartet, and showstopping trio “Time For Three”, among others. An avid chamber musician, some of her past festival experiences include the Kneisel Hall Young Artist Chamber Music Program, Morningside Music Bridge, Music@Menlo, The National Arts Centre Young Artists Program, and Techne Music Festival. This summer, she will be appearing at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival through Yale School of Music.
In 2022, she was invited to join the Artosphere Festival Orchestra in Fayetteville, Arkansas with the Dover Quartet. She has also been a featured Young Artist Performer at Project: Music Heals Us and is a NPR’s From The Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award winner.
She has also performed Dvorak’s String Quartet Op. 105 with cellist Camden Shaw of the Dover Quartet as part of a project in January 2022. Before undergrad, Sofia attended Juilliard Pre-College for 6 years where she studied with Hsin-Yun Huang, Molly Carr, Yi-Fang Huang, and Heidi Castleman. She currently plays on a viola on loan from Curtis.