Princeton Festival piano competition winners include Emily Wang, 7, of West Windsor who played Kabalevsky’s “Fairy Tale No. 5” and Emiko Edwards, 17, a rising senior at High School North, who played Brahms’ Sonata No. 2 in F Sharp Minor.
Artistic director Richard Tang Yuk presented first prize awards of a trophy and a certificate at the festival’s second annual piano competition, held on June 25 at Taplin Auditorium, Princeton University. Edwards, who won in the open category, also received the Richard Tang Yuk Award.
The first-prize winners were selected from 92 entrants, who came from New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The winners were selected from three finalists in each age group.
Edwards, who has been enrolled in the Juilliard School’s pre-college division, studies piano performance with Julian Martin. Her previous teachers include Ingrid Jacobson Clarfield, Westminster Choir College; Chiu-Tze Lin, Chiu-Ling Lin, and Ray Landers.
Edwards recently won Juilliard pre-college’s Bachauer Piano Competition, in which she competed against six other Juilliard pre-college pianists who are entering their senior year.
She also placed first in the top age group in the Greater Princeton Steinway Society’s 19th annual piano scholarship competition, held April 11 and placed third in the Five Towns Music & Art Foundation young musician competition held in Hewlett, New York, on May 30.
Edwards, who began her piano studies at the age of six, made her piano concerto debut when she was 10 with the New Sussex Symphony as a result of having won the New Jersey Music Teachers Association concerto competition.
She took first place in the 18th International young artist pianist competition in Washington, DC, when she was 11. Edwards has performed at Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall), Merkin Concert Hall, and Alice Tully Hall, all in New York City; in Japan and Spain; and at the Juilliard School.
Her summer schedule includes master classes at the Orford Festival in Quebec and the Banff Summer Arts Festival in Alberta Province. She will return to Spain to attend the Gijon International Piano Festival.
“There will be additional competitions and recitals to prepare for this coming fall and college/conservatory application deadlines and auditions are also fast approaching,” says her father Mark Edwards.
A forthcoming documentary of the 2008 New York piano competition, during which Emiko performed and was interviewed, is also expected to be televised on American Public Television in more than 100 cities around the United States this year.
At North she plays cello and is a member of the orchestra. She takes advanced placement and honors courses.
Emiko has both organized and performed at numerous concerts for the benefit of senior citizens at managed care facilities in New Jersey and has performed at Patriots Theater, Trenton War Memorial, to benefit the Hope for Henry Foundation.
Visit www.princetonfestival.org for more information.
