Sunmi Han was generously supported by the George Brough Memorial Endowment.

Marked by poetic lyricism in solo performance and vibrant imagination in chamber music collaborations, pianist Sunmi Han has appeared in major venues across Europe, the U.S., and Asia—including Munich’s Herkulessaal and Prague’s Smetana Hall—and has performed as soloist with the North Czech Philharmonic, Karlovy Vary Symphony, Kharkiv Philharmonic, Moravian Symphony, and Seoul Philharmonic.

 A devoted chamber musician, she has collaborated with artists such as Arnaud Sussmann, Jörg Widmann, Colin Carr, Denis Várjon, Matthew Lipman, Nicholas Mann, Alan Kay, Pauline Sachse, Seth Knopp, and members of the Emerson Quartet. 

An alumna of The Juilliard School, she also holds degrees from Tel Aviv University and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, and is currently completing her DMA at Stony Brook University. Upcoming projects include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Copland’s Piano Variations.

Son Duong was generously supported by the Boris Roubakin Memorial Endowment.

Son Duong, age 21, is a Vietnamese-American pianist from Potomac, Maryland currently attending the Eastman School of Music. He is a rising senior studying under Professor Douglas Humpherys. He also studied previously in high school with Professor Yong Hi Moon. 

Son has garnered multiple national and international accolades. He won 1st prize in the Young Artist Division of the Marian Garcia International Piano Competition (2021) along with top awards in the Canadian International Piano Competition (2020), MTNA (2021), YoungArts, NPR’s From The Top, Chopin Foundation, and West Virginia International Piano Competition (2019). He has also played in venues including Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (UT), Strathmore Music Center (MD), Studzinski Hall (ME), and Salle Gilles-Lefebvre Hall (QC). 

Son has had the privilege to work with artists such as Dang Thai Son, Matti Raekallio, Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky and Haesun Paik, among others. He has attended festivals including Bowdoin, Chautauqua, and Gijón. Son also enjoys playing chamber music, and has been selected as part of Eastman's Honor Chamber program as well as in the MTNA national finals. 

Son is currently pursuing a dual-degree in economics from the University of Rochester, and in his free time enjoys reading, watching football, and traveling.

Ryan Jia was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Born in 2003, pianist Ryan Jia has studied piano since the age of five. He is a recent UCLA graduate under the study of Dr. David Kaplan, and is now a student at the Manhattan School of Music with David Fung. He has also previously studied with Anna Semyanovsky and the late William Wellborn. 

An avid performer, he has concertized alongside numerous orchestras, with works by Bach, Moszkowski, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. Former accomplishments also include first place at the 2025 Atwater Kent Piano Concerto Competition, second place of the Longer Works Division and winner of the “Best Performance of an Opera Paraphrase” at the 2024 Los Angeles Int’l Liszt Competition, and second place at the 2024-25 Culver City Symphony Parness Concerto Competition with his performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s second Piano Concerto.

 
Ryan has received masterclasses from world-renowned artists such as Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Christopher Harding and Ory Shihor. 

As a “Beverly Hills National Audition Recommended Artist”, he was also involved with the UCLA Gluck Fellows program, which offers free educational performances to over 150 schools, libraries, senior centers, and other nontraditional venues throughout Los Angeles. In his free time, he enjoys photography, watchmaking, and travel.

Owen Dodds was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

American pianist and composer Owen Dodds leads a diverse and stimulating musical life, driven by his desire to share the music he enjoys. A native of North Carolina, Owen currently resides in New York City, where he performs as classical soloist, chamber musician, song writer, and composer. He has recently appeared in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theatre, and Rockwood Music Hall. 

Owen’s recent performance highlights included a performance of Bartok’s 3rd Piano with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra conducted by Xian Zhang, a performance of John Cage’s Credo in US with percussionist Eduardo Leandro, and an all Vaughan Williams program featuring University of North Carolina School of the Arts faculty members Paul Sharpe, Brooks Whitehouse, Jordan Bak, and Glenn Siebert. 

Owen has been described as a “highly gifted composer with a very personal style”. His chamber music works have recently been featured as a part of Stony Brook’s Contemporary Chamber Players, The New School’s Tech Forward concert series, Blairsville Chamber Music Festival, and the Weekend of Chamber Music festival in the Catskills of NY. Owen’s recent commissions include a piano sonata for Gilbert Kalish. 

An active collaborator and chamber musician, Owen is a member of the Mozze Trio, scheduled to make their Carnegie Hall debut in Fall 2026. Owen’s modern-folk duo, Early Gray, with guitarist Drake Duffer, has released two albums of original music, has collaborated with artists including Gabriel Kahane and Tanner Porter, and were featured on PBS North Carolina. 

Owen currently serves as a member of the piano faculty at Hoff-Barthelson Music School and as an artist staff member at Manhattan School of Music. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University, where he studies piano with Gilbert Kalish and composition with Perry Goldstein.
 

Nikita Istratov was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Nikita Istratov has been playing piano since the age of 6 under the tutelage of Elena Istratova. He completed high school in Portland, OR. He is now in his second year of college, studying piano on scholarship under Dr. Alexandre Dossin. In high school, he was selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholars Candidate and won a National Merit Scholarship. Also in high school, he performed at Weill Recital Hall in New York twice, as well as Steinway Hall, and won first prize at the 2021 Pittsburgh International Piano Competition.

Nikita recently received the University of Oregon’s competitive First-Year Research Award to study and perform under-represented female composer music. In the summer of 2025, he was selected as a winner of All Classical Radio’s inaugural Access Recording Project to present a solo recital at the Irving Levin Performance Hall in December 2025. He is a member of the student staff of the Oregon Piano Institute, responsible for program research and student outreach.

In August 2025, Nikita attended the 2025 Gijón International Piano Festival. At the festival, Nikita learned immensely from the teachings of Prof. Robert McDonald, Prof. Logan Skelton, and Prof. Amy Lin. 

Niels Armand-Hasselweiler was generously supported by the Fondation David R. Graham Award.

Niels Armand-Hasselweiler is a French pianist born in Lyon, whose musical journey began on the viola at the age of six before he turned his focus to the piano. He received a rigorous musical education at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Lyon, studying piano, composition, and collaborative piano. 

He pursued advanced training in both France and Germany at leading institutions, including the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, as well as the CRR de Paris for chamber music. His principal mentors include Momo Kodama, Éric Le Sage, Denis Pascal, Varduhi Yeritsyan and he has also worked with eminent artists such as, Anne Queffélec, Mikhaïl Voskresensky, François Dumont, Grigory Gruzman, Paavali Jumppanen and David Fray. 

Active as a soloist and chamber musician, Niels Armand-Hasselweiler performs regularly throughout Europe and appears at international festivals including the International Pau Casals Festival, the Salon-de-Provence Chamber Music Festival, the Prieuré de Chirens, and the Rendez-vous de Rochebonne. His musical collaborators include Éric Le Sage, Hervé Billaut, Florent Boffard, Masaya Kamei, and Yui Sakata. 

He is also artistic co-director of the Les Musicales du Haut-Allier Festival in France.

Étienne Caron was generously supported by the Fondation David R. Graham Award.

Étienne Caron began his piano studies at an early age with Branka Balevic-Gasparian, then with Yves Henry at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) of Paris. 

After studying on a physics bachelor, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) in 2021 in the piano class of Denis Pascal, where he completes his studies this year. He also joined the advanced cycles in Musical Analysis under the guidance of Thomas Lacôte, as well as in Chamber Music in the class of Claire Désert and Louis Rodde. 
In 2022, he was awarded Third Prize at the Albert Roussel International Competition at Salle Cortot, and in 2024 he received the Second Prize “Chopin” at the Brest International Competition. He was selected to the prestigious Bach-Wettbewerb in Leipzig in 2025. 

He is the recipient of the Søren Le Schmidt – Château de Courgent Prize at the French Connection Academy in Denmark, which offers him a collaboration with the renowned fashion designer. 

Since 2022, he has formed a duo with baritone Pierre-Yves Cras. Together, they won the Grand Prize and seven special prizes at the International Art Song Competition of Gordes in 2024. 

Étienne Caron performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in prestigious venues such as the Alte Börse in Leipzig, Salle Cortot in Paris, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, as well as the Opéras of Grand Avignon and Montpellier. 

Étienne Caron is one of the young artists supported by the Safran Foundation for Music.

Erica Do was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Born in Seoul, Korea in 2002, Yeonsoo (Erica) Do is a pianist whose artistry has been recognized through a wide range of performances and international appearances. She began her musical training at the Young Prodigy Academy of the Seoul Arts Center and graduated with highest honors from Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School, receiving the Soo-Jung Shin Scholarship.

She has won top prizes at major competitions in Korea, including the Grand Prize at the Nanpa Music Competition and First Prize at the Sungjung Music Competition, and was a laureate of the Ewha-Kyunghyang and Kukmin Ilbo Competitions. As a soloist, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Gimpo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Korean Pacific Philharmonic Orchestra.

Her international activities include performances at the Aspen Music Festival, the Amalfi Music Festival, the Frost Chopin Festival, Ishikawa Music Academy, and the Music in Pyeongchang Festival. In 2025, she received the Modern Times Prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition and presented a special performance at the award ceremony. As a Yamaha Rising Artist, she performed in the Art M Concert, a social contribution project by Hyundai Pharmaceutical. She was also selected as a Kumho Young Artist and will present a solo recital at Kumho Art Hall.