2026 International Young Artists Competition Judges
Michael Avagliano
With a tone described as “both bold and graceful” by The Washington Post, violist Michael Avagliano has received acclaim as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States and Europe. Mr. Avagliano has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He currently serves as principal second violin for the Plainfield Symphony. In recent seasons he has appeared as soloist with the Monmouth Symphony, the Plainfield Symphony, the New Jersey Youth Symphony, and the Metropolitan Orchestra of New Jersey, as well as in solo recital engagements in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Also an active freelance musician, Mr. Avagliano frequently performs with several orchestras in the region, including the Harrisburg and Allentown symphonies.
Mr. Avagliano is also sought after as one of the area’s leading young conductors. He serves as Music Director of the Somerset Symphony Orchestra and the Summit Symphony, and was recently appointed to a conducting position at Drew University.
Avagliano founded the Performers Learning Alliance in 2020, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating educational and performance opportunities for emerging artists.Building on the educational side of his passion for conducting, Mr. Avagliano has worked in masterclasses and workshops with Neil Varon, Kenneth Kiesler, Phillip Greenberg, Diane Wittry, and Kirk Trevor. He has studied under Kynan Johns and Markand Thakar, and also serves as associate faculty at Maestro Thakar’s workshop through Conducting Programs International
Pianist Elena Belli is a versatile concert artist and influential teacher who has appeared nationally and internationally as both soloist and chamber musician. A sought-after collaborator, she has performed with prestigious instrumentalists and vocalists from leading ensembles, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has toured throughout Europe with members of the Berlin Philharmonic, and been hailed “a captivating performer...elegant and poetic” by the Correiro del Povo in Brazil. New York engagements have included residencies at the Empire Center for the Performing Arts in Albany, guest appearances with regional orchestras, and performances at Merkin Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall and Lincoln Center. Always a champion for new music, she has performed a broad array of world premieres, some composed expressly for her.
Ms. Belli is considered by her colleagues to be an extraordinarily effective educator, teaching developing young pianists passion, joy, solid musicianship and consummate technique. She takes an active role in promoting young talent, and is often invited to conduct Master Classes for aspiring young pianists. For over a decade, she chaired the celebrated AMTL Young Musicians Concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall. Her students consistently excel at competitions, and music remains a part of their lives forever. At present, she thoroughly enjoys her ongoing position as pianist and assistant conductor for the West Village Chorale, with whom she has toured throughout Canada, Croatia, Greece, and most recently Spain and Portugal. Past faculty positions have included The New School and Concordia College. Currently, she is on the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, and the Hoff-Barthelson Music School.
Judy Huang
Dr. Judy Huang is a pianist whose performances have taken her across the United States, Europe, and Taiwan. She made her New York debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and has appeared as soloist with the Marina Del Rey–Westchester Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, Ventura Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Riverside Symphony, and the Palermo Orchestra in Italy. Her chamber music work includes performances at the Young Artist Peninsula Music Festival, MTAC VOCE competition, live appearances on KUSC 91.5 FM, and collaborations with musicians of Pacific Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She is sought after chamber music collaborator working with opera workshops, choral ensembles, string, woodwind, brass and vocal artists. Earlier in her career, she performed as a member of the Pro Arte Trio.
Dr. Huang received her BA, MM, and DMA degrees from UCLA, where she studied with Robert Turner, Ming Qiang Li, Aube Tzerko, and Vitaly Margulis. She has held teaching positions at UCLA, Los Angeles Valley College, the International Institute for Young Musicians, and Orange County School of the Arts. She currently works with young musicians and students of all ages at Chamber Music OC and serves on faculty for the Concordia Summer Piano Festival and the Concordia Summer Chamber Music Festival, as well as Junior Chamber Music. She also serves in leadership roles as State Chair of the MTNA National Student Performance Competitions, President of the CAPMT Orange County Chapter, and First Vice President of the MTAC Orange County–West (OCW) Branch. She is frequently invited to adjudicate piano festivals and competitions throughout California and internationally. Dr. Huang’s students have been recognized in national and regional competitions and have gone on to pursue music studies at major universities and conservatories across the country. In 2023, she was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Music Teacher Hall of Fame, honoring her dedication to music education and community leadership.
David Ji
David Ji is a widely recognized pianist, who combines insightful understanding, fearless imagination, and sensitivity in mature performances. He made his concerto debut with the Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Emperor concerto. As a versatile musician, he has performed in numerous countries and prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Opera Center, DiMenna Center, Merkin Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and Kumho Arts Hall in Korea. He is a winner of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Arthur Balsam Duo Competition in New York. Dr. Ji has collaborated with highly renowned soloists and members of esteemed orchestras such as the Chicago, Metropolitan, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Vienna Philharmonic. He has worked with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Augustine Hadelich, Ani Kavafian, Tai Murray, Sylvia Rosenberg, David Shifrin, Pinkas Zukerman, as well as members of the Emerson and Brentano String Quartets. Mr. Ji participated in masterclasses conducted by Anton Kuerti, Robert McDonald, Julian Martin, Kum-Sing Lee, and his masterclass accompaniment credits include Hilary Hahn, Leonidas Kavakos, and Jans Jensen, among others. Additionally, he has participated in prestigious summer festivals, including the Gijon International Piano Festival, Orford Music Festival, and Arizona State University as a guest lecturer. He has also served as a collaborative piano fellow at the Yale School of Music and a faculty at the Heifetz International Institute of Music.
Beyond performing, Mr. Ji serves as the artistic director of Muse Avenue, a collective group of musicians aiming to share music and support communities through concerts. The musicians of Muse Avenue hail from major US orchestras and prominent opera theaters. Born in South Korea, David Ji began playing the piano at the age of 6; moved to Canada to study at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Marc Durand and Andre Laplante. As a former recipient of the Lado Scholarship Foundation in New York, he earned both his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.
Christine Lamprea
Christine Lamprea, Cellist and 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Winner, is an artist known for her emotionally committed and intense performances. Upon her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist in 2013, she has since returned to Carnegie, as well as performed with orchestras such Costa Rica National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Symphony of Michoacan, New Jersey Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi across the U.S. As a recitalist, Ms. Lamprea has appeared on prestigious series at Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Florida’s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Pepperdine University, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Washington Performing Arts Society. In demand as a chamber musician, she performs regularly with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and has performed with such musicians as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Sarah Chang, Itzhak Perlman, Roger Tapping, and Carol Wincenc.
Ms. Lamprea strives to expand her musical boundaries by exploring many genres of music and non-traditional venues for performance and teaching. Her Songs of Colombia Suite includes arrangements of traditional South American tunes for cello and piano or guitar, and have been performed at the Colombian Embassy and Supreme Court of the United States for Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She has worked with members of Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, and studied sonatas with fortepiano with Audrey Axinn. She has premiered several works by composers of today. In recent years, she commissioned cadenzas for the Haydn D Major Concerto by Jessie Montgomery, and premiered Jeffrey Mumford’s cello concerto “of fields unfolding...echoing depths of resonant light” with the San Antonio Symphony.
Ms. Lamprea is on the cello faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, serves as substitute faculty at the Juilliard School, and served as Lecturer of Cello at the Texas Christian University School of Music for the 2018-19 academic year. Ms. Lamprea has given masterclasses for the Vivace Festival, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Wintergreen Summer Music Festival, among others. She has worked with Ecuadorian youth in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil, as part of a residency between The Juilliard School and “Sinfonia Por La Vida,” a social inclusion program modeled after Venezuela’s El Sistema program. Christine Lamprea is the recipient of a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which supported her studies at the New England Conservatory, and a Sphinx MPower Artist Grant, which supported her study with acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz. She studied with Bonnie Hampton at The Juilliard School and holds a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Natasha Brofsky. Additional influences were Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, and Philippe Muller. Previous teachers include Ken Freudigman and Ken Ishii.
Dalia Sakas
Dr. Dalia Sakas was the Director of Music Studies at The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School, a community music school for people with vision loss, until her recent retirement. Her connection to the school continues as she works together with Dr. Leslie Jones to develop a ‘best practices’ compendium for music accessibility in higher education for students with vision loss. This project is being funded by the NEA and other grants and is further supported by partnerships with several institutions in the northeast, such as Juilliard, Berklee, Manhattan School of Music, Queens College, Rutgers University, and NYU.
Dalia Sakas has played numerous solo recitals throughout the United States and Europe. She has also partnered with instrumentalists, singers, and actors. She was one of the first Lithuanian-American artists to perform in Lithuania in 1987, before full freedom was restored, playing recitals in Vilnius and Kaunas. She performed at the Čiurlionis House in Vilnius again in the summer of 2018. Her performances in the United States range from recitals in Weill Recital Hall to the cabaret venue Don’t Tell Mama, where she appeared with the actor Jedidjah Oldenburg in a series of performances of melodramas, later issuing a CD of these works.
Dalia Sakas studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und dastellende Kunst in Hamburg, Germany, received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati - College/Conservatory of Music, and then a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She completed her doctoral degree at the University of South Carolina, writing a biography of her late mentor Raymond Lewenthal. She currently maintains a private studio of approximately fifteen students.
Weiwei Zhai
Dr. Weiwei Zhai is an accomplished pianist and educator. Her musical prowess was evident from an early age, winning a national competition in China at 15 years old. Dr. Zhai holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied under the guidance of legendary pedagogue Dr. Solomon Mikowsky. Her musical journey began at the Affiliated School of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, laying the foundation for her future success. A decorated musician, Dr. Zhai has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career, including first prize in the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music and third prize in the Kazakhstan International Piano Competition. Her performances have graced prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Symphony Space in New York City, as well as international stages in Italy and China. She has received invitation to give performances and presentations at renowned institutions, including Ithaca College, John Jay College, and Rutgers University. In recent years, Dr. Zhai has been stretching the traditional boundaries of classical music by infusing it with Latin flair. For the past three years, she has been collaborating with Puerto Rican musician, Dr. José Maldonado, creating a unique fusion of Chinese traditional folk music, Puerto Rican rhythms, and standard classical repertoire. This innovative approach showcases Dr. Zhai’s versatility and her commitment to bridging diverse musical traditions. Their piano and guitar duo has received a 2026 Ensemble Forward Grant from Chamber Music America.