Past Winners Include: Alicia Berneche, soprano; Hanchien Lee, piano; Grace Kim, piano; Washington Garcia, piano; Elizabeth Racheva, soprano; Carla Dirlikov, mezzo-soprano; Amy Keesun Kwon, soprano; Hyunah Yu, soprano; John Wickelgren, piano
Wonderlic 2010 Competition Winners
Hui-Chuan Chen
An active chamber musician, she accompanied soprano Shou-Hua Su in concert at the National Recital Hall in Taipei and has also collaborated with mezzo-soprano Chi-Chun Chan. Hui-Chuan has participated in many festivals, including the Chigiana Accademia in Siena, Italy and Universität Mozateum in Salzburg. This past summer, Hui-Chuan was awarded a fellowship to attend the Aspen Festival of Music where she was an Instrumental Collaborative Artist under the instruction of Rita Sloan. She is also a prizewinner in the Kaoshiung City Competition, University Piano Competition, and Kawai Competition. Having earned a Master of Music degree at Peabody, Hui-Chuan is currently a DMA student where and is the Accompanying Coordinator. Hui-Chuan is a student of Ellen Mack.
Eunkyung Yoon
Second prize winner Eunkyung Yoon, originally from Seoul, Korea moved to the U.S. at the age of 13 to study piano at the Juilliard Pre-College. Since then she has won numerous prizes and competitions both in the United States and Korea, including the grand prize in the Korea Times Piano Competition at the age of nine. She placed first in the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and the Raleigh Symphony Concerto Competition, leading to performances with both orchestras. She has also performed as a soloist with the Brno Philharmonic in the Czech Republic and twice with the Seoul Royal Philharmonic in the Seoul Arts Center. Eunkyung completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School of Music where she studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky, Matti Raekallio and Oxana Yablonskaya. She is currently a Graduate Performance Diploma student at the Peabody Institute studying with Yong Hi Moon.
Jee In Hwang
Third prize winner Jee In Hwang began studying the piano at the age of eight and gave her first recital in the same year. Her talent was quickly recognized as she won the grand prize in the Samick-Bechstein Piano Competition, as well as top prizes in the Korea-Germany Brahms Association Piano Competitions and Eumak Chunchu Competition. Other major prizes include the Mozart Pries Competition at the Mozarteum, Harrison L. Winter Concerto Competition at the Peabody Institute, and most recently, the Russian Music International Competition, where she was also awarded the audience prize. Jee In received her Bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the Seoul National University where she was the Concerto Competition Winner. She went on to study at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg in Austria, and graudated with the highest honor in the Master of Music program. She is currently studying towards a Graduate Performance Diploma with Boris Slutsky at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.
The distinguished judges in this year's competition were Frederick Minger, acclaimed collaborative pianist and former professor at Towson University and head of the Baltimore Music Club; Rebecca Jones Trout, faculty member in Music Literature, Coaching and Accompanying, and Choral Conducting at the Baltimore School for the Arts.