6th steinway youth piano competition – GRAND FINALS RESULTS
Following months of intense preparation, our contestants have certainly impressed our honourable judges through their efforts during the Grand Finals on 18th and 19th June. Thus, we are truly pleased to release the results of the Grand Finals in order to recognise the efforts displayed by our young talents.
GRAND PRIZE WINNER
The Grand Prize winner of the 6th Steinway Youth Piano Competition (Singapore) was Luther Ong Boon Khang from Professional Class Category 1, who will represent Singapore in the Steinway Regional Finals SE Asia Pacific 2022. In the Regional Finals, the national representatives from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam will be selected to compete with each other to determine SE Asia Pacific’s participant in the International Steinway Festival.
PROFESSIONAL CLASS
The First Prize winners of every category will take home a cash prize of $500, with a trophy and a Certificate of Recognition.
The Second & Third Prize winners will take home a trophy and a Certificate of Recognition.
The names of the winners are as follow:
Category 1
(Ages 11 and below)
1st: Luther Ong Boon Khang
2nd: Tong Kai Han Newman
3rd: Charissa Ooi
Category 2
(Ages 12 to 14)
1st: Casey Li
2nd: Tristen Yuwee Ng
3rd: Kate Isabelle Ong
Category 3
(Ages 15 to 17)
1st: Justin Low Renkai
2nd: Xu Ruojin
3rd: Yu Jingwen
AMATEUR CLASS
In the 6th edition of the Steinway Youth Piano Competition, we were excited to introduce a new category in Amateur Class, Youth-At-Heart, which was created for pianists from aged 35 and above to share their passion for piano playing with the public.
For each Amateur class category,
The First Prize winner will have the opportunity to be featured in a professionally produced video by Steinway Gallery Singapore.
The Second Prize winner will take home a $200 Cash Prize and a Certificate of Recognition
The Third Prize winner will take home a $100 Cash Prize and a Certificate of Recognition
The names of the winners are as follow:
Category 1
(Ages 6 and below)
1st: Shalom Ng Shyann-E
2nd: Elfie Tong Woyun
3rd: Lucia Lek
Category 2
(Ages 7 to 10)
1st: Foo Ming En
2nd: Earnest Ng Tian Zhi
3rd: Averil Chua
Category 3
(Agse 11 to 14)
1st: Koh Jae Ann
2nd: Isabel Kuan Yun Chun
3rd: Louis Xie Yuheng
Category 4
(Ages 15 to 17)
1st: Estelle Goh
2nd: Michelle Harianto
3rd: Lim Hao Yu Olivier
Youth-at-Heart
(Ages 35 and above)
1st: Goh Ying-Peng Cynthia
2nd: Chika Sonoda
3rd: Candy Tan Lay Nah
*All winners will be notified of the details of collection of trophy and certificate of participation through phone call/email.
The Grand Finals would not have been possible without the support of our honourable judges who took the time off to grace our competition with their presence.
Our Honorable Judges – Professional Class
Mr Benjamin Loh
Benjamin Loh is a Steinway Artist and Steinway Honorary Professor from Singapore and is on the piano faculty of the LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. He obtained his B. Sc. in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and his Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music.
He has judged numerous competitions and has taught in festivals in the United States, Europe and Asia. His students have won prizes in local and international competitions, and have furthered their musical studies at prestigious institutions such as The Juilliard School, Royal College of Music (U.K.), Mozarteum University and Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.
Mr. Loh is also the recipient of the Special Recognition Award given out by the Singapore National Arts Council.
Ms Lena Ching
Lena Ching is a well-established pianist and teacher in Singapore, who has mentored numerous students and young performers from her private studio, LASALLE College of the Arts, and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).
Having been a prize-winning student herself (1st prize at the National Music Competition 1980 and Runner-Up at the Diners’ Club “Pianist of the Year” Competition 1986), her students have also won numerous prizes at local and overseas competitions. Lena has also performed as a soloist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, and as accompanist. She has adjudicated in numerous competitions locally and overseas, and conducted masterclasses, workshops, and seminars on music education.
Lena served as Head of Keyboard Studies at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts from 2015, and subsequently as Vice Dean from 2020. She continues to be greatly inspired and enthused by aspiring young musicians from all parts of the world, as she passionately engages in teaching and mentoring students of various age groups.
Mr Lim Yan
2006 Young Artist Award recipient, Lim Yan, is a graduate of Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, UK; the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester. His most notable piano tutors include Ms Lim Tshui Ling, David Hartigan and Ronan O’Hora.
Yan performs regularly as a piano recitalist, concerto soloist, collaborative pianist and chamber musician. He is a full-time faculty member of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and adjunct faculty at the School of the Arts. He is also the current Artistic Director of the Singapore International Piano Festival.
Ms Kseniia Vokhmianina
Hailed as a performer with an “artistry of the highest order” by The Straits Times and “maturity of musicianship and virtuosity” by Pianomania, Kseniia Vokhmianina has gained critical and audience attention as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.
A prizewinner of numerous international piano competitions, Kseniia has been a guest artist at various music festivals. Kseniia appeared as a concerto soloist with international symphony orchestras, including Kaunas Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Sichuan Symphony Orchestra and Murmansk Philharmonic Orchestra.
Besides her international performing career, Kseniia is a full-time Music Faculty member at the School of the Arts (SOTA). Her love for the art of musical collaboration has influenced her to begin “By Candlelight” chamber music series with the support of the Arts House Singapore. Kseniia has been appointed as the President of the World Piano Teachers Association (Singapore affiliate) since 2018.
Mr Albert Tiu
Born in Cebu, Philippines, Albert Tiu has been called “an artist of uncommon abilities” by American Record Guide. Currently a Professor of Piano at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, Tiu is a prizewinner of competitions in Pretoria (UNISA), Calgary (Honens), Santander (Paloma O’Shea) and Helsinki (Maj Lind).
A graduate of the Juilliard School, he has performed with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic and Winnipeg Symphony. In 2005, Tiu gave the Singapore premiere of Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony.
Our Honorable Judges – Amateur Class
Dr Lee Pei Ming
Dr Lee Pei Ming was formerly an Assistant Professor in Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at National University of Singapore. Lee graduated with a Doctorate in Musical Arts (DMA) in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2005 and achieved her Licentiate and Fellowship (F.T.C.L.) from Trinity College in London with honors prior to her degrees.
Lee is also the founder of the music program Staccato! Music, which specializes in early childhood music and movement program since 2009. Staccato! Music was awarded Promising SME 500 in 2013. The early childhood program has been adopted by several well-known kindergartens in Singapore over the years. Lee’s student, Goh Kai Cheng, was named the Grand Prize winner in the 5th edition of the biannual Steinway Youth Piano Competition, to represent Singapore in the Regional Round in 2020.
Ms Low Shao Ying
Low Shao Ying is an award-winning professional classical pianist and composer, piano collaborator, songwriter and music arranger. A graduate of the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris – Alfred CORTOT in France, she has performed as a soloist numerous times with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and their recording of Camille SAINT-SAËNS’ Carnival of the Animals under the baton of Maestro Lan SHUI was released in July 2012. An active chamber musician, she has also collaborated with international musicians such as the Boston Brass and the late cellist Alexander Ivashkin.
Dr Wu Yang
Dr. Wu Yang is the founder of Finger Waltz Music, and the Artistic Director of International Music Culture Association Singapore (IMCAS). She was previously a lecturer in School of Young Talents at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and currently a lecturer as well as a master’s degree advisor in Singapore Raffles Music College.
Yang studied in Moscow at a very young age and graduated with a high distinction for her doctorate degree in Piano Performance from Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. Before moving to Singapore, she had performed at recitals in Russia, Germany, Italy, China, and Thailand.
As an educator, Yang’s students had won numerous awards in competitions in South East
Asia, Europe and North America; Yang herself had also been invited to conduct masterclasses in various music colleges in Singapore and China. As an adjudicator, Yang had been invited to judge in several international piano competitions in Singapore and Hong Kong. She is also an examiner of the International Performing and Visual Arts Examination Board.
Ms Tang Wern Ning
Tang Wern Ning received her Bachelor of Music (Honours) from the University of Toronto. Under the guidance of Tanya Tkachenko, she won the first prize and received a scholarship in the piano-concert class at the annual Toronto Music Festival in 1993. More significantly, Mrs Tkachenko inspired her to acquire sound piano pedagogical skills.
Ms Tang attended classes at the Orff Institute of Music in Salzburg and Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music in Kecskémet, Hungary. At the latter, she had the privilege of being mentored by founder-director, Professor Péter Erdei. After obtaining her Masters of Arts from Nanyang Technological University, she lectured at the Music Department in the National Institute of Education. She was awarded a Certificate of Recognition by the Vienna Virtuoso Festival “for the extraordinary dedication and achievement in the field of teaching music and presenting students to perform at Altes Rathaus Vienna” in 2018.
Ms Tang currently conducts the Pre-schooler programme at Mandeville Conservatory of Music.
Ms Ouyang Lei Lei
Leilei Ouyang, a member of the Musician Society of Singapore, started to receive systematic, rigorous and formal music training at a very young age. She graduated with a distinction from Xing Hai Conservatory of Music in China, obtaining a B.A. degree.
Leilei furthered her studies at the Leeds College of Music, UK and obtained with distinction a M.A. degree in Piano Performance. During her study at Leeds College of Music, she was under the tutelage of Julian Cima and Marion Rapper. She held several successful solo concerts in Leeds, Wakefield, and Horrogate, UK.
Leilei has often been invited to present solo recitals and/or be an accompanist for large scale concerts in China, U.K., Malaysia and Singapore.
