Piano Competition
The BMC Piano Competition is sponsored by the Zimmerli Foundation. This competition is open to any full-session piano student. Rules and registration information will be given out during the summer season.
Structure
Students compete with a solo program of their choice, lasting 30 to 40 minutes and containing repertoire chosen from at least three style periods. Repertoire must be approved by BMC piano faculty. Because of the format of the competition, potential competitors are encouraged to perform shorter works. Single movements from multi-movement works, e.g., sonatas, are allowed.
The competition occurs on campus in two rounds after arrival onto campus:
- In the preliminary round competitors perform approximately 12 minutes. Competitors select the first piece; a judge may ask for any other piece from the competitor's repertoire list. The preliminary round is closed to the public.
- In the final round, each finalist performs a twenty-minute program drawn from the competitor's repertoire list. Winners are announced at the end of the concert.
Prizes
Winners will receive cash prizes between $500-3000. Should no finalist come from the High School division, the high school student who places highest in the preliminary round will receive a cash prize. Previous first prize winners are not eligible to enter again.
Past Winners
2023
Yeeun Choi
Ching Man (Felicia) Chan
Suji Park
Terry Hsu
Will Lauricella
Judge: Derek Parsons
2022
Jiajun "David" Lai
Matthew Krell
Lillian Feng
Jonathan Bass
Carlo Balmoria
Judge: Joanne Polk
2019
James Berger
Austin Kwan
Megan Angriawan
Maxwell Hinton
Max Lin
Judge: Thomas Hecht
2018
Yi-Yang Chen
Yifei Xu
Olivier Rabu
Boris Uzunov
Christopher Wright
Judge: Louis Goldstein
2017
Colin McDearman
Yoshino Toi
Joana Gonzalez
Xuan He
Vikki Chen
Judge: Dmitri Shteinberg
2016
Kevin Madison
Yehong Shi
Jacob Wang
Stefan Weiler
Shanshan Xie
Judge: Michael Chertock
2015
Nathan Ryland (1st place tie)
Kathryn Westerlund (1st place tie)
David Yu
Yuet Ka Hui
Noah Sonderling
Judge: William Ransom
2014
Ying Li
Nathan Ryland
David Yu
Ellen Pavliska
John Schindler
Judge: Dr. David Northington
2013
Kunal Lahiry
Michael Lenahan
Dongni Xie
Pierre Desangles
Chi Zhang
Judge: Min Kwon
2012
Sarah Chang
Tong Wang
Michael Lenahan
Corinne Penner
Conner Mautner
Judge: Roberta Rust
2011
Vijay Venkatesh
Michael Lenahan
Joseph Kingma
Jonathan Keener
Hilary Lee
Judge: Evgeny Rivkin
2010
Sam Gingher
Joseph Kingma
Peter Oehrtman
Curtis Smith
Jonathan Keener
Judge: Bradford Gowen