Gold Stream Winners

Jeff Li — First place

Charl De Wet — Second place

Robin Stephenson  — Third place

Silver Stream Winners

Shiori Kiriake/Nancy Kim — First place tie

Angela Poh — Third

Special Awards

Best Baroque — Jeff Li

Best Classical — Charl De Wet

Best Romantic — Ian Roy

Best Modern — Shiori Kiriake

Gold Stream Finalists

Robin Stephenson  2:45

Vera Kerstens  3:15

Jeremy Stone  3:45

BREAK

Jeff Li  4:30

Charl De Wet  5:00

Silver Stream Finalists

Jonathan Shih 1:15

Judy Darst 1:30

Chia Ying Lee 1:45

Wei Ling Wang   2:00

Angela Poh 2:30

Shiori Kiriake 2:45

Melinda Morse 3:00

Nancy Kim 3:15

Gold Stream Semi-Finalists

Kevin Schwarz 4:00

Robin Stephenson 4:15

Ian Roy 4:30

Vera Kerstens  4:45

Janie Sarrazin  5:00

Yun Liang 5:15

Jeremy Stone 6:00

William Bloomquist 6:15

Jeff Li   6:30

Carl Di Casoli 6:45

Charl De Wet 7:00

Chris Kokkinos  7:15

Gold Stream

William Bloomquist

Illya Bunyakyn

Mark Cannon

Charl De Wet

Carl Di Casoli

Matthew Erikson

Vera Kerstens

Chris Kokkinos

David Lee

Suo Lee

Jeff Li

Yun Liang

Sing Palat

Carl Rosser

Ian Roy

Janie Sarrazin

Kevin Schwarz

Robin Stephenson

Jeremy Stone

Max Sung

Yoko Taruki

Johanna Ye

Emanuela Zaharia-Donici

Silver Stream

Shi Chen

Judy Darst

Edward Fritz

Nancy Kim

Keiko Kircher

Shiori Kiriake

Kenny Kurtzman

Chia Ying Lee

David Leehey

Rosalind Mohnsen

Melinda Morse

Angela Poh

Esfir Ross

Jonathan Shih

Hideko Tazawa

John Vineyard

Wei Ling Wang

2024 COMPETITION SCHEDULE — PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

Longy School of Music, Pickman Hall, 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

All round are FREE and open to the public, but if you wish to make a DONATION, click here.

Thursday 6/6 — Preliminary Round

9-12. Masterclass — Hugh Hinton

Carl Rosser —  Debussy, Selections from Children’s Corner

Ian Roy — Bach/Petri,  "Sheep may Safely Graze"

Shiori Kiriake — Rameau, Gavotte et six doubles

Emanuela Zaharia-Donici — Brahms, Sonata No. 1 (Excerpt)  

12:15   Kenny Kurtzman
12:30   Jonathan Shih
12:45   Judy Darst
  1:00  Chia Ying Lee
  1:15   John Vineyard
  1:30  Wei Ling Wang
  1:45   Angela Poh

BREAK

2:30   Rosalind Mohnsen
2:45   Shi Chen
3:00   Shiori Kiriaki
3:15   David Leehey
3:30   Hideko Tazawa
3:45   Melinda Morse
4:00   Nancy Kim

BREAK

4:45   Keiko Kircher
5:00   Esfir Ross
5:15   Edward Fritz

5:30   Mark Cannon
5:45   Kevin Schwartz
6:00   Yoko Taruki

Friday 6/7 — Preliminary Round

9-12 Masterclass — Sergey Schepkin

Janie Sarrazin — Ravel, Jeux d”eau

Chia Ying Lee — Chopin, Piano Sonata in B minor, 1st Mvt.

Jeff Li — Handel, Keyboard Suite No. 5, "Harmonious Blacksmith"

Angela Poh —  Chopin,  Scherzo No. 1

12:15   Robin Stephenson
12:30   Ian Roy
12:45   Vera Kerstens
  1:00  Emanuela Zaharia-Donici
  1:15   Janie Sarrazin
  1:30   Yun Liang
  1:45  Illya Bunyakyn

BREAK

2:30   Carl Rosser
2:45   Suo Lee
3:00   Sing Palat
3:15   Jeremy Stone
3:30   William Bloomquist
3:45   David Lee
4:00   Jeff Li

BREAK

4:45   Max Sung
5:00   Johanna Ye
5:15   Matthew Erikson
5:30   Carl DiCasoli
5:45   Charl De Wet
6:00   Chris Kokkinos

Announcements of the Silver Finalists and the
Gold Semifinalists

Saturday 6/8 — Piano Festival — Second Round of Competition

10-11:45 Members of the Boston BPAA community play classical favorites

12-1:00 Jury Feedback session for competitors

1:15-7:30 Silver stream finals, Gold stream semi-finals

Piano Festival Program — Saturday, June 8, 10 AM

Elena Gantvarg / Schubert, Fantasie in F minor, Op. 103
Eliot Arolovitch  

Arthur Dimond Fauré, Nocturne No. 2 in B Major, Op. 33 No. 2

Dianne Impallaria Chopin, Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1

Daming Gao Brahms, Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 116 No. 2

Brahms, Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118 No. 2

Angela Cheng Chopin, Grande Valse Brillante in Eb Major, Op. 18

Sibylle Barrasso Chopin, Waltz in A minor, Op. 34 No. 2

Andrew Gross, “Tenderly”

Richard Einhorn Debussy, L'Isle Joyeuse

Robert Berkowitz Chopin, Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23

Robert Finley Chopin, Rondo à la mazur in F Major, Op. 5

BIOGRAPHIES

Elena Gantvarg was born in Belarus, moved to the Netherlands as a teenager, lived in Prague, moved to Israel, moved to the US, moved back to the Netherlands, then moved back to the US. She studied computer science, math, and finance and has an MBA degree. She works in Venture Capital, investing in tech startups. Elena loves music and competed in 2019 after not playing for over 30 years.

Eliot Arolovitch  has been playing classical piano since he found out that he had perfect pitch at 4 years old and has loved music ever since. Growing up in a musical family in which everybody plays the piano has helped him excel at doing what he loves; the piano. It has been a key in his discipline, academics and emotional maturity, but more than anything else, a small portal outside of his everyday life. In April Eliot won the Gold Medal in the Steinway Society Competition Division III.

Arthur Dimond is a Brooklyn, NY native, and began taking private piano lessons at the age of six. After moving to Boston for work in the public relations field, he bought his first “serious” grand piano, and explored new musical opportunities—in a chamber music group, lessons at All Newton Music School, and most recently in a NewEngland Conservatory masterclass. During this period, he has performed in several recitals, monthly “soirees” of the Boston Piano Amateurs Association, regular appearances at Symphony Hall’s BSO Café and Cape Cod’s Open Mic Classical, and also participated in BPAA’s 10th and 11th Boston International Piano Competition.

Dianne Impallaria started her musical journey at age 7. Her first teacher was Maria Cristofori. Music has always been a part of her life. She is a graduate of Northeastern University, BA degree in Music, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. She is a member of the Sigma Rho Honor Society. She has studied with therenowned teacher, Jeanette Giguere, at NEC, Myron Press, Jean Alderman at Rivers, Phyllis Moss, a Curtis graduate, Alys Terrien-Queen, and most recently, Alice Wilkinson. She regularly performed at the Museum of Fine Arts Tea Room, and has had several solo recitals. She has also performed in Chamber groups and duo piano. Her journey in music has not ended.

Daming Gao, a software engineer based in Boston, began his musical journey with piano lessons at age five. Although he paused his formal training during his teenage years to focus on academics, his passion for music never waned. Daming devoted his spare time to studying symphonic repertoires through scores and thousands of CDs. After a nine-year hiatus, he reignited his love for piano and resumed playing. He has since studied with esteemed pianists Krzysztof Jablonski, Diane Hidy, and Aleksandr Polyakov. Today, Daming is an active member of the Boston Piano Amateurs Association, continuing to share his love for music.

Sibylle Barrasso has an MBA from UCLA, is  a mother and the author of books, articles and mystery novels. She worked for IBM and Bain, consulting for Fortune 500 companies and high tech start-ups. She studied piano as a child in Germany.  After a hiatus of many decades, her love for the piano re-ignited while writing a novel about Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto. She studies with Roberto Poli, took piano performance classes at New England Conservatory and Rivers Conservatory, and competed in several Boston and Chicago Amateurs Piano Competitions. She ’s been a regular pianist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra Café since 2010.

Richard Einhorn was born and raised in Montreal. Richard started taking piano lessons at age 6. During his teenage years, he entered the Quebec Music Festival competitions annually, winning first prize in his age group several years running. At Yale, he first majored in music. After one year as a piano major at Yale’s Graduate School of Music, he took a 23-year break from music to pursue a career in medicine. He returned to piano in 1998, taking lessons and returning to the concert stage. He won the 2003 Boston Piano Competition and performed the Schumann Piano Concerto with an orchestra. Previously, he raised his family in Hamilton, and was in private practice in gastroenterology at Beverly Hospital from 1984 until he retired in 2018.

Robert Berkowitz is a psychiatrist during the day and pianist at night.  He was the winner of the 2016 San Diego International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. Robert was the featured soloist and performed the first Mendelssohn Concerto in San Diego. He also brought back the music of Hungarian Jewish composer Lajos Delej, and the Boston Globe published this story on Dr. Berkowitz and his quest to uncover details of Delej’s short life and his music.

Robert Finley studied piano at Trinity College of Music in London and gained the ARCM diploma. He was a finalist in the Chopin, WIPAC and Colorado competitions. He has played recitals in France, England, Germany, Israel, Poland, Hungary and Argentina, and concertos with orchestras in England and Fort Worth. He is the President of the Boston Piano Amateurs Association. He played the Liszt 1st Concerto with the Boston Civic Symphony orchestra.  In March 2022 Robert was a guest soloist in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Brockton Symphony Orchestra.  He was a semifinalist in the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. In October 2023 he gave a recital at Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth, Germany on Richard Wagner's Piano.

Sunday 6/9 — Piano Marathon, 2022 Competition Winner’s Recital, Final Round and Announcement of Winners

9-11:45 Piano Marathon for pianists who did not advance and comments from esteemed piano teacher Tim McFarland

12:00-1:15 2022 Winner’s Recital — Gorden Cheng

1:30-2:30 Jury Feedback session for competitors

2:45-6:00 Gold stream finals and Announcement of Winners

2022 COMPETITION WINNER’S RECITAL — Sunday, 12 Noon

Gorden Cheng

Fryderyk Chopin   3 Mazurkas, Op. 63
Polonaise, Op. 53 in A-flat Major “Heroic”
Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 3 in B Major

Sergey Prokofiev 3 selections from Romeo & Juliet, Op. 75
Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83