NEC Pianists at Competitions

Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition

At the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, held in Brussels, Belgium, NEC-trained pianists took all three top prizes. This competition is currently held in a four-year cycle that rotates between violinists, pianists, singers, and cellists.

Lukas Vondracek '12 A.D., who completed the Artist Diploma at NEC as a student of Hung-Kuan Chen, took the 25,000 Euro First Prize, Queen Mathilde Prize, as well as the VRT-Prize (Canvas-Klaraprize) and Alberto Ferro the Musiq'3-RTBF Prize. Watch the video of Vondracek's concerto performance.

Henry Kramer '05 Prep won the 20,000 Euro, Belgian Federal Government Second Prize. As a teenager living in Maine, Kramer traveled weekly to NEC to participate in A. Ramòn Rivera's Advanced Piano Seminar. Kramer went on to complete bachelor's and master's degrees at Juilliard, an Artist Diploma at Yale, and is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Yale while teaching at Smith College as Iva Dee Hiatt Visiting Artist. Watch the video of Kramer's concerto performance.

Alexander Beyer, who is entering his fourth year in the five-year Harvard/NEC dual degree program, won the 17,000 Euro, Count de Launoit Third Prize. Beyer studies at NEC with Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. Watch the video of Beyer's concerto performance.

In Brussels, Beyer was followed by the Harvard Club Belgium @HarvardClubBe, who tweeted their congratulations. Also in Twitter, @marinalsop commented: "Second concert was great! These young pianists are so impressive! (Here with American Alex Beyer)" Marin Alsop conducted the National Orchestra of Belgium with the finalists in the concerto round of the competition. Coincidentally, this is the orchestra that NEC's Hugh Wolff has recently been hired to lead (more on this).

Along with the the three top prize winners, the six unranked laureates included Larry Weng '05 Prep, who studied with Sylvia Chambless.

NEC's past Queen Elisabeth Competition laureates

PianoArts North American Competition

At this biennial competition, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Aristo Sham was named the first place prize winner of $12,000. He also won the Audience Communication Award of $500 and the Best Performance of a Composition by Johann Sebastian Bach of $2,000. To be considered for these prizes, Sham performed two 45-minute recitals—a solo recital followed by an ensemble recital that included a duo with Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Cellist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Sham, who is entering his second year in the five-year Harvard/NEC dual degree program, studies with Victor Rosenbaum.

Six semifinalists, who were awarded $1,000 as a Listener's Appreciation Gift, included Seho Young '15 Prep, who studied at NEC with Tatyana Dudochkin and Wha Kyung Byun.

Back in December, Aristo Sham also won First Prize, the Gold Medal, and William Peyton Shehee and Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee Award at the Wideman International Piano Competition held in Shreveport, Louisiana.

New York International Piano Competition

Coming on the heels of PianoArts, Aristo Sham went to the New York International Piano Competition, where he won the Joyce B. Cowin First Prize and Best Performance of Required Contemporary Work. Sham receives a $10,000 cash award along with concert and recital appearances. This competition is run by the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation.

Lowell Lieberman, composer of the compulsory piece in this competition, commented on Facebook: "Just home from the closing events of the NY International Piano Competition. The extraordinarily talented Aristo Sham won not only First Prize, but also the prize for best performance of my Two Impromptus. He is a pianist to watch …"

Finalist Awards of $1,000 went to 14 other contestants, including Brian Le, entering Wha Kyung Byun's studio in September in his first year of the Harvard/NEC dual degree program.

Sendai International Music Competition

With sections for violin and piano, this competition held in northern Japan's second-largest city has the unique aspect of focusing on concertos in the selection of its repertoire. In the piano section, Second Prize and one of three daily Audience Prizes went to Evan Wong '08 Prep, '12 B.M. Wong's prize comes with a cash award of 2,000,000 Yen. At NEC, Wong studied with Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman.

At the prizewinners' gala concert (in video), Wong performed with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Pascal Verrot, who coincidentally is a past Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor and former director of NEC orchestras.