2021 International Young Artists Competition Judges

PIANO

SOYEON KIM

Described as a “sensitive collaborative pianist” in the opera magazine Der Neuer Merker (Vienna, Austria), Soyeon Kim has performed throughout the world including many performances in New York City, Seoul, Korea, Zagreb, Croatia, Berlin and Munich, Germany, and Vienna, Austria. She has performed with Stefan Hoskuldsson, Mark Nuccio, Eric Speller, Judith Mendenhall and Lucille Beer, and served as pianist for masterclasses conducted by distinguished artists such as Marilyn Horne, Thomas Hampson, Anna Moffo, Bo Skovhus, Denyce Graves, Martin Katz, Dalton Baldwin, Glenn Dicterow, Karl-Heinz Schütz and Denis Bouriakov.

Her work as a chamber musician includes frequent appearances with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series, Cathedral Saint John Divine Concert Series, Astral Concert Series, Friday Musicale Concert Series and Trinity at One. Recently she performed in the art song recital for the Countess Christina Schoenborn’s concert series in Vienna.

She has won awards in several competitions including Liszt in William Garrison Piano Competition, Artur Balsam Competition for Duos, and the New Triad Foundation Fellowship. Originally from Seoul, Korea, she earned two solo piano degrees from the Seoul National University and another master’s degree and doctorate in accompanying from Manhattan School of Music.

NATALIA LAVROVA

Pianist Natalia Lavrova is a highly-regarded performer of multi-faceted artistry, whose sincerity of interpretation and beguiling charm upon the stage has won the hearts of audiences across the United States and Europe. Ms. Lavrova enjoys a diverse career upon the international platform, and additionally holds substantial positions in the worlds of arts administration and pedagogy.

Recital performances have taken Ms. Lavrova throughout her native Russia to Canada, France, Hungary, Italy, United Kingdom and the United States, to include notable New York venues such as Steinway Hall, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Ms. Lavrova has captured top prizes at the New Orleans, Isabel Scionti, Frinna Auerbach, Heidi Hermanns, Music Academy of the West, Silver Lake, and Senigallia International Piano Competitions. Upon her debut at the Leeds International Piano Competition, Ms. Lavrova was the youngest performer of 1996 admitted to the quarterfinal round.

Natalia Lavrova was born in Moscow in 1981. She entered the preparatory division of the Moscow Conservatory, and was subsequently accepted to The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, as a pupil in the studio of Herbert Stessin. Ms. Lavrova went on to earn her Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music degrees at Juilliard, under the tutelage of Jerome Lowenthal. She is the owner and director of a highly successful Music School of New York City and a co-president of LP Classics, together with Vassily Primakov. In March 2012 Natalia Lavrova became a Yamaha Artist.

LIANA LAM LOO

Born in Vancouver, Canada, Dr.  Liana Lam has performed in recital throughout Canada, the United States, and Hong Kong to critical acclaim. She has made her formal recital debuts in all the major centers of Canada, which include, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and   St. John’ s. In 1988, she gave the premiere of Sir Malcolm Williamson’s Piano Concerto No.3 in Toronto with the composer in attendance.  She is the winner of numerous piano competitions in her native Canada, most notable being the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition and the International Division of the Canadian Music Competitions. In 1988, she was the youngest competitor and prize-winner at the William Kapell International Piano Competition.  She has also represented Canada at the Harvey’s Leeds International Competition, and the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw.  She was the recipient of the prestigious Canada Council Arts Grant for two consecutive years and has been presented on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on numerous occasions from coast to coast.

Liana Lam began studying piano at the age of 6. At the age of 7, she was invited to perform at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre.  Her teachers include Pawel Checinski, Martin Canin, and Robert Silverman.  She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School where she was a student of Joseph Kalichstein.  She also has a Doctorate in Piano Performance from State University of New York at Stony Brook where she taught undergraduate piano.  

Dr. Lam was formerly a full-time Professor at Memorial University (Canada).   Currently, she teaches a limited number of students privately in Ridgewood, NJ where she resides with her husband and daughters.

TAMMY LUM

Tammy Lum is an international performer, multiple competition prize winner and music educator. She made her U.S. solo piano debut at Carnegie Recital Hall as the winner of the 1990 Leschetizky Foundation Competition. She is also a first prizewinner of the Five Town Music and Arts Foundation (1990), the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition (1988), the Mieczyslaw Munz Foundation Scholarship Competition (1988) and the William Boyd Competition (1987). Other prizes include the New Orleans International Piano Competition (1995), The Liederkranz Foundation Competition (1986), and the Young Keyboard Artists Association (1985). Her solo piano recordings include Ballades and Ballads (2015) and My Treasure Box (1999), released under the label of Hugo Productions, Inc. With the Amasi Trio, Trio In Residence of Nyack College, she recorded Piano Trios: Parker, Rachmaninoff, Chaminade, Liljestrand & Piazzolla (2013).

As a professor and pedagogue, Dr. Lum has conducted master classes for the last three decades to young children, college music students, professionals and adult amateurs in colleges and universities in the US, Hong Kong and China. In 2013, 2016 and 2019, she led performance and cultural exchange tours, "Chamberfest Asia" of Nyack College students and faculty under the auspice of Global Service Learning Department to visit Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and China. As the director of the Keyboard Department, her academic teaching subjects include all piano studies (Pedagogy, Accompanying, Service Playing and Literature), theory and analysis and chamber music an directing the Nyack College Chorale. Graduates from her studio have continued on to successful musical careers and studying at notable graduate programs, such as The Juilliard School, Oxford University, Rutgers University, Eastman School of Music, New York University, Ithaca College, to name a few. She is also a frequent judge at competitions and auditions in the NY-NJ-CT tri state area. As a strong believer of using music as an intellectual and social meeting place, she is the founder and artistic director of Hudson River Pianofest at Nyack College, a NCTM (National Certified Teacher of Music) with the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) of the MTNA and a member of the Rockland County Music Teachers Guild. Tammy Lum is a tenured music professor at Nyack College, New York.

A native of Hong Kong, Ms. Lum received her higher education in the United States, where she earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Eastman School of Music, participated in the Professional Studies Program at The Juilliard School, and received her Doctor of Musical Arts at the Manhattan School of Music. She was also a scholarship participant at the Aspen Music Festival. Her teachers in the United States have included Barry Snyder, John Perry, Bradford Gowan, Herbert Stessin, Constance Keene, Steven Mayer and Elena Tatulian.

MANA TOKUNO

Pianist Mana Tokuno has received wide-spread acclaim for her sensitive and insightful interpretations and her brilliant virtuosity.  First Prize winner of the prestigious Competition Internationalé, she also received the Leo Sirota Award for Piano Solo Performance at the Corpus Christi International Competition as well as the Special Award for Schubert Interpretation at the International Competition Valsesia Musica in Varallo, Italy. Other prizes include the Dosei-Kai Prize for Distinction in Performance from Tokyo University of the Arts, and the Silver Medal in the Chubu Chopin Competition in Nagoya, Japan. Among other honors, Ms. Tokuno was selected in two consecutive seasons from a world-wide pool of applicants to perform in master classes by Daniel Barenboim and Leon Fleischer at Carnegie Hall. 

​Known for her ability to bring a vast array of styles to life, Ms. Tokuno has performed at Carnegie (Weill) Hall and CAMI Hall in New York as well as at Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston. She was also invited to give a solo recital as part of a Chopin Festival at the Polish Consulate in New York. In addition to solo and chamber performances in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Romania, she has appeared at many venues in her native Japan and in numerous recitals and chamber concerts in the United States. 

​Ms. Tokuno’s principal teachers were Midori Tanabe at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where she was an honors graduate, and Victor Rosenbaum at the New England Conservatory in Boston where she received the Master of Music degree with academic honors and was selected to perform with the NEC Orchestra at the Commencement Concert. Ms. Tokuno also holds Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from New England Conservatory. 

Now a highly regarded teacher herself, Ms. Tokuno was formerly on the faculty of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. She has been on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education in Boston since 2008, and the Cremona International Music Academy since 2011.

Her solo CD “Beethoven Sonatas & Bagatelles” was released on GiNOTE RECORDS® in October 2009 and is available worldwide at iTunes, Amazon.com, and CD Baby. 

PETER TOTH

Hungarian pianist Peter Toth is one of the most recognized artists of his generation. He has concertized in most countries in Europe, including Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Russia, France, Holland, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. In addition, he performed in Japan, South Korea, Peru, Costa Rica, China, Australia, and the United States.

As a competitor, Mr. Toth has won top prizes at numerous piano competitions, such as the American Paderewski Piano Competition (2013), the Franz Liszt International Piano and Voice Competition in Los Angeles (2010), and the Franz Liszt International Piano Competitions in Budapest (2001) and Weimar (2000). His first released CD recording won the Grand Prize of the Hungarian Liszt Society (2006). He also won a special award for the best performance of a major romantic work by his outstanding interpretation of Brahms’s First Piano Sonata at the Southern Highland International Piano Competition in Australia (2011). In 2013, he retired from competing, dedicating himself entirely to the concert stage.

Mr. Toth is a regular guest artist at various piano festivals, such as the Festival de Musique au Château d’ Excideuil and the Festival Musique en Vallée du Tarn in France. In addition, he was invited to serve on the jury panel of the Franz Liszt International Piano and Voice Competition in Los Angeles (2014) and the Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition in Baltimore (2015). He has been member of the American Liszt Society since 2011.

Mr. Toth has lived in the United States since 2009. He has recently earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a student of Anton Nel (2012-2015). He also completed an artist diploma program at Texas Christian University under the tutelage of Tamas Ungar (2009-2012). Prior to moving to the United States, he had studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music (major teachers include Gyorgy Nador, Balazs Reti, and Laszlo Bihary) and the Bela Bartok Music Conservatory (major teacher: Jozsef Csontos) in his native Hungary. His scholarly activities have included the investigation of the progressive harmonic language of Franz Liszt’s piano music. His scientific work, “Symmetrical Pitch Constructions in Liszt’s Piano Music”, was published in the Spring of 2016.

Mr. Toth is a piano faculty member at Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison, New Jersey). Mr. Toth’s website: http://petertothpianist.com

STRINGS

MARTA BEDKOWSKA-REILLY, cello

Described by the New York Times as ‘artful’, Dr. Marta Bedkowska-Reilly debuted in New York City performing Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo with the Chelsea Symphony. Her main influences were her teachers and mentors, Marcy Rosen, Natalia Gutman and Rocco Filippini.

An active chamber music performer, Marta has appeared in all major concert venues in New York City, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Barge Music and Symphony Space. She also performed in Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Poland, playing with, among others, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Bachanalia Festival Orchestra, the United Europe Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra dell' Accademia del Teatro alla Scala. She has been invited to numerous festivals, including the Pontino Musica, Catania International Music Festival, Lake District Music Festival, Zeist Muziekdagen, Summit Music Festival, as well as for the United Nations’ Consular Corp.

Marta was a Fulbright scholar, sponsored by the United States Department of State, at Mannes School of Music where she received a Professional Studies Diploma. She obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Cello Performance at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York where she was an Enhanced Chancellor Fellow. She focused her research on the post-tonal analysis and performance of Witold Lutosławski’s music. Prior to studying in the United States, she spent two years in Italy obtaining post-master degrees from Italian conservatories, such as Accademia Walter Stauffer di Cremona, Accademia Internazionale della Musica di Milano (now Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado) and Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. She completed her Master of Arts degree with distinction at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Marta has studied chamber music under Jacob Latainer, Ursula Oppens and Rolf Schulte, as well as with members of Chilingirian, Juilliard, Mendelssohn, Manhattan and Orion String Quartets.

Marta is currently on the music faculty of Nyack College School of Music and Manhattanville College Music Department. She has also served on the faculties of the Rudolf Steiner School, Hunter College and Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. She plays a 1937 cello made in Mirecourt by George Apparut. She resides in Manhasset, NY with her husband and their two sons.

Marta’s website: https://www.cellobymarta.xyz/

ALISA WYRICK, violin

Alisa Wyrick is a violinist and violist and an active orchestral and chamber musician in the New York area. Alisa most recently plays as a guest with the New York Philharmonic since 2016, and was a member of the New York City Opera Orchestra since 2006. Born and raised in New York City, she began her violin studies at the age of 4 and attended the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division. She continued her studies on a full scholarship from both Oberlin College and Oberlin Conservatory, graduating with Bachelors of Music and Bachelors in Sociology.

After completing her studies, Alisa served as Concertmaster of the South Bend Symphony, Indiana, where she was also a featured soloist with the orchestra. her musical career has taken her around the world to perform a wide variety of chamber music as part of a bicoastal family network of chamber players, playing with contemporary ensembles in Japan and Hawaii commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Pearl Harbor, performing orchestral music all over the US, South America, Europe, China and Japan, as well as solo performances in the US and Italy.

Alisa has extensive teaching experience with all levels, including Suzuki training, group and individual lessons, community teaching outreach in Panama, as well as advanced coaching for auditions and orchestral repertoire. As a well-rounded musician, Alisa is familiar with orchestral, opera, ballet, contemporary, chamber and solo repertoire while having performance and teaching experience around the world.

Alisa lives in a musical household in South Orange, NJ with her husband, Erick Wyrick, violinist and Concertmaster of New Jersey Symphony, and their two daughters who play cello and violin.

CONDUCTOR

HELEN CHA-PYO

Helen is currently the Artistic Director of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and the Principal Conductor of the New Jersey Youth Symphony. The Wharton Arts is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving over 1,400 students from 13 different counties of New Jersey through a range of classes at Wharton Performing Arts School, 15 performing ensembles at New Jersey Youth Symphony and Paterson Music Project, an El Sistema-inspired program serving children every day at 5 different sites in the city of Paterson, NJ.  She previously served as Visiting Associate Professor of Orchestral Studies and Conductor of the Montclair University Symphony Orchestra at the John J. Cali School of Music (NJ) from 2017 to 2019. 

For 16 years as Music Director and Conductor of the Empire State Youth Orchestra (NY), Helen inspired hundreds of young musicians to perform at the highest levels, resulting in Empire State Youth Orchestras being recognized as one of the nation’s premier music organizations for youth. Helen regularly programmed a wide range of music embracing many different cultures. Her vision resulted in three prestigious ASCAP awards and a $100,000 grant to partially fund a music festival that commissioned nine works, one for each ESYO ensemble. She conducted the orchestra in outstanding concert halls including Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Zankel Hall, EMPAC, Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, and Carnegie Hall.  She led the orchestra on three international tours: to Europe in 2008, China and South Korea in 2012, and Portugal in 2016. Helen’s vision was instrumental in the founding of ESYO CHIME in 2015, a music education program dedicated to serving underprivileged youth in Schenectady and Troy, NY. In 2018, ESYO established the Helen Cha-Pyo Golden Baton Award and Scholarships for students who embody her passionate commitment to music as a means to uplift and enrich communities. 

From 1996 to 2002, Helen served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Riverside Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and Associate Director of Music at The Riverside Church in New York City. A committed music educator, she pioneered the Riverside Music Educational Program, which served thousands of New York City public school children. Helen worked regularly in Kenya as Artistic Director of the Kenya Jirani Choir and Harlem Jirani Ensemble (NY) of the Jirani Cultural Organization from 2009 – 2012.  She trained artistic staff and conducted the Jirani Choirs on their U.S. tour in 2010 and conducted the 5th anniversary concert at the Sejong Cultural Center (S. Korea) in 2011. 

Born in Seoul, Helen immigrated to the US when she was 12. She studied piano and organ in the Pre-College Program at The Juilliard School. She holds a Bachelor of Music in organ performance from Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music in conducting and organ performance from the Eastman School of Music. She served as assistant conductor to the Eastman Philharmonia and the Britt Festival Orchestra (OR). She also won a conducting fellowship at the Aspen Festival and Yale School of Music. Her conducting mentors include David Effron, Murry Sidlin, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Benjamin Zander and Kurt Mazur. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician for All State and Regional Festival Orchestras throughout the country including NY, NJ, TX, and NE, and spends her summers at Kinhaven School (VT). She has also appeared as guest conductor and clinician for the ASTA National Orchestra festival (NM), the Newport Youth Orchestra Festival (OR) and the Ithaca College Summer Music Academy (NY).  She serves as a board member for the Youth Orchestra Division of the League of American Orchestras. She resides in Morristown, New Jersey with her husband and two sons. 

Helen’s website: https://www.helenchapyo.com/