Six winners emerged from the finals of the Princeton Festival’s sixth annual piano competition for young musicians on Sunday, June 23, at Clark Music Center in Lawrenceville. In the preliminary rounds 126 young artists competed in six age categories. Adjudicators Charles Abramovic of Temple University and Ching Wen Hsiao, concert pianist and teacher, chose three pianists in each category to compete in the final round.
Catherine Chu of Plainsboro placed first in Elementary Artists (ages 6 to 9). Grace Xiong of West Windsor was the winner in Junior Artists (ages 13 to 15). Piano Four-Hands winners (under age 25) were brothers Matthew Chen and Nicholas Chen, also of West Windsor.
Chu, 9, has been winning piano competitions for three years. She placed first in the Crescendo Competition 2010 Little Mozart and the Russian Music Festival 2010; received a silver medal in the PRIMA Sounds of Rainbow Festival 2011; and gold prizes in the PRIMA Artists Competition Sounds of Rainbow Festival 2012 and the Showcase Recital Audition 2012. She also received high ratings at the NJMTA events. Chu studies with Chiu-Tze Lin.
Xiong, 13, has received high honor awards in the NJMTA auditions for six consecutive years, and also achieved the highest scores twice in the tri-state region in the ABRSM practical exams. A student at Community Middle School, she also studies with Chiu-Tze Lin.
Matthew Chen, a sophomore at High School South, is proficient in both piano and violin. At South he is concertmaster of the school’s Camerata Orchestra and a member of the tennis team.
Chen has played the piano for more than 10 years and has received awards including six consecutive high honors awards in NJMTA. “Being a consistent Grand Prize Winner of Golden Key and Music Festival has given me an opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall four times,” says Matthew. He has studied violin for six years and earned the Westminster Scholarship Competition in violin in 2011.
“I serve hymns on the piano every Sunday service and also in various gospel events in three churches,” he says. “In some special church events, my brother and I play hymns in a violin duet with a piano accompaniment or in an ensemble with other young musicians.” He also plays music at Merwick Rehabilitation Center. He is also training to become an EMT.
His brother, Nicholas, a junior at High School South, also plays violin and piano. He is a section leader in the Philharmonia Orchestra.
A piano player for 10 years, Nicholas has received numerous honors and high honors awards in the NJMTA competition. He also won two grand prizes in the music festival competition and the highest award in the Golden Key Festival.
He has been serving three churches by playing hymns in Sunday meetings and gospel events for five years. “Through the service I have learned piano techniques in various areas which can not be obtained from a piano studio,” he says.
As a violinist he won the Westminster Conservatory Concerto Competition and performed in Richardson Hall in 2011 and also won the Westminster Conservatory Violin Scholarship Competition in 2013. He also performs at Merwick and is a cadet in the East Windsor Rescue Squad.
