2021 Chicago International Music Competition Prizes
The 2021 Chicago International Online Music Competition and Festival is thrilled to announce the prizewinners of its annual competition! This year, we received a staggering number of applications from more than 1500 musicians in 25 countries.
We would like to thank each person who applied to the international competition as well as those who took part in our online festival. We would also like to thank our distinguished panel of judges who unanimously agreed that the level of the competition was extremely high, by any standard. We are so grateful to our main sponsor, Mr. James P. Zakoura of ROK Inc., with funding support for our jury and prize money.
And, the winners are:
Grand Prizes
Artist Category
First Prize
Do-Hyun Kim (Piano) South Korea
Second Prize
Miclen LaiPang (Violin) Germany
Third Prize
Britton-Rene Collins (Percussion) USA
tied with Alexandra Segal (Piano) Israel
tied with Edoardo Turbil (Piano) Italy
Honorable Mention
Tamara Caetano (Vocal) Brazil
Derek Louie (Cello) USA
Professional Category
First Prize
Kevin Jose Semilla Romero (Voice) Argentina/USA
Second Prize
Karisa Chiu (Violin) USA
Third Prize
Jason Cheng (Piano) Canada
tied with Taige Wang (Piano) China/USA
Honorable Mention
Krystian Chiu (Cello) USA
James Yunhao Koo (Percussion) China
Katherine Liu (Piano) USA
Rising Star Category
First Prize
Brian Li (Piano) Canada
Second Prize
Julia Jones (Violin) USA
tied with Charity Mapletoft (Voice) United Kingdom
Third Prize
Ella Wimbiscus (Cello) USA
Honorable Mention
Meining Wu (Piano) USA
Mia Wimbiscus (Cello) USA
Jonathan Chen (Piano) USA
Prizes for all Divisions
Rising Star Category
Young Musician I
First Prize
Natchanok Chonlacoop (Piano) Thailand
tied with Meilin Camilla Song (Cello) Singapore
Second Prize
Emma Xia (Piano) USA
tied with Zitong Xu (Violin) China
Third Prize
Akin Nilphairojana (Piano) Thailand
tied with Tam Ca Shun Cason (Cello) Hong Kong
Young Musician II
First Prize
Thalit Pakittawatanasiri (Piano) Thailand
tied with Sylvia Pine (Violin) USA
Second Prize
Jackson He (Piano) USA
tied with Calliope Smith (Violin) USA
Third Prize
Moxi Zhu (Piano) USA
Young Musician III
First Prize
D.J. Wang (Piano) USA
Tied with Deann Huang (Violin) China
Second Prize
Rosabelle Shi (Piano) USA
Tied with Chloe Frisco (Cello) USA
Third Prize
Belle Chou (Piano) Taiwan
Young Artist I
First Prize
Nathaniel Yue (Cello) USA
tied with Juha Park (Flute) South Korea
Second Prize
Celicia Thendean (Piano) USA/Indonesia
tied with Jinoo Park (Violin) South Korea
Third Prize
Brandon Luo (Piano) USA
tied with Joanna Huang (Violin) USA
Young Artist II
First Prize
Yejin Song (Piano) USA
tied with Gisela Dekort Mesalles (Saxophone) Spain
Second Prize
Jan Vargas Nedvetsky (Cello) USA
Richelle Shi (Piano) USA
Third Prize
Maya Zhan (Vocal) USA
Concert Artist
First Prize
Zhengyi Huang (Piano) China
tied with Allison Lovera (Violin) USA
Second Prize
Miu Ishikawa (Piano) Japan
tied with HyeonSeon Jo (Violin) South Korea
Third Prize
Vanessa Yu (Piano) Canada
tied with Arielle Pollatschek (Violin) Israel
Professional Category
Young Musician II
First Prize
Andrew Yin (Piano) USA
Second Prize
Chanya Bayla Somboonvechakarn (Piano) Thailand
Third Prize
Ming-Yi Tang (Piano) USA
Young Musician III
First Prize
Quang Vo Minh (Piano) Vietnam
tied with Sky Wen (Violin) USA
tied with Xinran Shi (Piano) USA
Second Prize
Ryan Lu (Piano) USA
tied with Evangeline Lien (Viola) USA
Third Prize
Norman Lu (Piano) USA
Young Artist I
First Prize
Toby Tan Kai Rong (Piano) Singapore
Second Prize
Stars Aligned Siblings (String Quartet) USA
Third Prize
Eunseo Cho (Piano) South Korea
Young Artist II
First Prize
Emilia Szłapa (Violin) Poland
Second Prize
Jun Shimada (Piano) Japan
tied with Omaggio String Quartet (Chamber) USA
Third Prize
Elsie Lu (Piano) Canada
tied with Avagail Hulbert (Violin) USA
Concert Artist
First Prize
Yihang Chen (Piano) China
Second Prize
Yunji Choi (Piano) South Korea
Third Prize
Soo Yeon Cho (Piano) South Korea
tied with Jason Moon (Violin) USA
Special Prizes
Best performance of a virtuoso etude, Do-Hyun Kim
Best performance of a Classical Sonata, Anran Qian
Best performance of a work by J.S. Bach, Jackson He
Best performance of a Baroque work, Edoardo Turbil
Best performance of a Romantic work, Alexandra Segal
Best performance of a work by an Asian composer, James Yunhao Koo
Best performance in Musical Theatre, Prinz Ryen Galay tied with Crisyl Lavandero Omayan
Best performance of a work by an African-American composer, Brayden Bukenya
Best performance of a work by a Female composer, Karisa Chiu
Chicago
Contact Us
- Phone: 1-785-764-3527
- Email: cimc2018@gmail.com
- Website: cimcusa.org
- Organizer:International Institute of Piano Artistry
- Co-organizers:Wheaton College and Milan Conservatory
- Address:750 Commerce Plaza II Building 7400 West 110th Street, Overland Park KS 66210-2362 USA


