STANDS APART

FINALS & SEMI-FINALS
Conductor

Lidiya Yankovskaya is a conductor with powerful range – from Verdi and Wagner to Price and Prokofiev – and an unshakeable sense of classical music as a living, responsive art form. Her bold, collaborative leadership has shaped the development of dozens of world premieres – including over 20 new operas – and brought fresh urgency to performances with major orchestras and opera companies across the globe. In addition to her international work, she made a transformative local impact as Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, earning consistent recognition from the Chicago Tribune, which credited her with “raising the profile of COT immensely, her interpretations bracing and repertoire head-spinningly varied” and named her Chicagoan of the Year.

This season, fresh off a return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to lead Wagner and Debussy, Yankovskaya makes her Scandinavian debut at Norwegian National Opera with Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. She conducts the same work at The Grange Festival in a return to the United Kingdom and brings her interpretation of Bartok masterwork Bluebeard’s Castle, praised by The Times as “lyrical, polished, and compelling,” to Omaha Symphony. Elsewhere, she conducts orchestras around the world, including her first performances at Vienna’s iconic Musikverein with Tonkünstler Orchester and return engagements with Phoenix Symphony and with London Philharmonic Orchestra, where she leads a world-premiere piano concerto.

Following her acclaimed Australian debut with Puccini’s full Il trittico, Yankovskaya was immediately reengaged by Opera Australia for a new production of Carmen, applauded by Limelight Magazine for her “new insights into often-heard music” and “enormous sensitivity, favouring lightness and clarity without any loss of momentum.” She has also recently conducted Eugene Onegin at Staatsoper Hamburg, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs and Bluebeard’s Castle at English National Opera, Rusalka at Santa Fe Opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at Washington National Opera, Carmen at Houston Grand Opera, and Don Giovanni at Seattle Opera. On the concert stage, high-profile engagements include appearances with the Los Angeles, New York, Royal Liverpool, and London Philharmonics; concerts with Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and National Symphony Orchestras; and Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields at Carnegie Hall. She enjoys an ongoing relationship with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, leading concerts at both Symphony Center and the Ravinia Festival.

In her seven seasons as Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Yankovskaya spearheaded the commissioning of 11 new operas, advancing the work of six female composers and seven creators of color. She led the Chicago premieres of Heggie’s Moby-Dick and Talbot’s Everest, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Szymanowski’s King Roger, before concluding her tenure with a landmark new Francesca Zambello production of Shostakovich’s The Nose. Under her leadership, COT established the Vanguard Initiative, an immersive two-year residency for emerging opera composers that has enriched the repertory with vital new voices and experiences that resonate with today’s audiences.

FINALS & SEMI-FINALS
Peabody Institute

Praised for her clarity, depth, and interpretive insight, HieYon Choi is one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She first gained international recognition as a prizewinner at major competitions including the Kapell, Épinal, Busoni, and Viotti. Since then, she has appeared with leading orchestras across Europe, the United States, and Korea, among them the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Rundfunkorchester Berlin, Berlin Symphoniker, Northern Sinfonia, Seoul Philharmonic, Korean Broadcast Symphony, Busan Philharmonic, Incheon Philharmonic, Philharmonie du Lorraine, Lausanne Chamber, and Korea Chamber. Her collaborators at the podium have included Jesús López Cobos, Dmitri Kitajenko, Markus Stenz, Pascal Rophé, Roland Kluttig, Kwame Ryan, and Thomas Zehetmair, as well as leading Korean conductors. She has also appeared at international festivals and series such as Schleswig-Holstein, Tongyeong, Seoul International, Ernen Musikdorf, Schloss Bourglinster, Vevey, Assisi, Sierre, Dame Myra Hess, Kumho Art Hall, and Sungnam Matinee.

A defining milestone of Choi’s career was her four-year cycle of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas at Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, performed to sold-out audiences. The project earned her the 2003 Nanpa Music Award and the 2005 Arts Award of the Year from Arts Council Korea. Subsequent cycles at Kumho Art Hall featured Beethoven’s piano trios, violin sonatas, and cello works. A second complete sonata cycle, spanning Korea, Germany, Sweden, Croatia, and the United States, concluded in 2018, establishing Choi among the few pianists worldwide to have performed multiple Beethoven cycles. Beyond Beethoven, she has curated series devoted to Brahms and his circle as well as the French school, and has partnered with distinguished artists including Truls Mørk, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Jennifer Koh, Soovin Kim, Ulf Wallin, Mikyung Lee, Peter Stumpf, and Stephan Dohr.

Equally committed to modern and contemporary repertoire, Choi was the inaugural Artist-in-Residence of the Tongyeong International Music Festival, one of Asia’s most influential platforms for new music. Her repertoire embraces works by Messiaen, Kurtág, Gubaidulina, Eötvös, and Unsuk Chin. She has performed in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series, Seoul Philharmonic’s Ars Nova, the Seoul International Music Festival, and the Ilshin Prism Series, while at Seoul National University she spearheaded contemporary music projects that expanded the scope of performance and education in Korea.

From 2015 to 2023, Choi recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at Teldex Studio Berlin with producer Martin Sauer and piano technician Thomas Hübsch. Released worldwide on Decca Korea/UMG in 2025, this monumental cycle has drawn international acclaim. Piano News praised her “magnificent sense of sound” and natural pacing that avoids exaggeration while sustaining expressive intensity. Gramophone highlighted her “scurrying brio and harmonic awareness” in the early sonatas and singled out her finale of Op. 10 No. 1 as “one of this sonata’s greatest-ever recorded interpretations.” Her earlier Decca release (2018), featuring Sonatas Nos. 18, 26, 27, and 30, received wide recognition in Germany and Korea. Her broader discography includes Debussy’s Douze Études, Liszt’s Six Grandes Études dePaganini, Isang Yun’s 5 Stücke, and Chopin’s complete Études Op. 10 & 25, with performances broadcast in Korea, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany.

An influential pedagogue, Choi joined the faculty of Seoul National University in 1999 as one of its youngest professors, teaching there for 24 years and guiding generations of pianists who now pursue distinguished careers. Since 2023 she has been Professor of Piano at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, continuing her commitment to teaching and mentoring in the United States. She has given masterclasses at leading institutions including the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Sibelius Academy, and major conservatories in Paris, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf, Bremen, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Michigan, and Hong Kong. Festival residencies include Bowdoin, Rebecca Penneys, and Bay International, where she has combined recitals, chamber music, and teaching. She is also in demand as a juror, having served on the panels of the Busoni (Bolzano), Beethoven (Vienna), Maj Lind (Helsinki), Pozzoli (Italy), Épinal and Orléans competitions (France).

Born in Incheon, South Korea, Choi made her concerto debut at the age of six with the Incheon Philharmonic. Early studies with Joong-Won Koh led to victories in all four of Korea’s major national competitions (Dong-A, JoongAng, Korea Times, Ewha-KyungHyang). At 18 she moved to Germany to study with Klaus Hellwig and Hans Leygraf at the Berlin University of the Arts, later working with György Sebők at Indiana University and benefiting from collaborations with Thomas Zehetmair, Karl Leister, and János Starker.

FINALS & SEMI-FINALS
Eastman School of Music

Praised for his “burnished sound” (The New York Times) and described as an “electrifying, poetic, and sensitive musician,” the Grammy Award-winning, Japanese-Norwegian violist Masumi Rostad hails from the gritty East Village of New York City. He was raised in an artist loft converted from a garage with a 1957 Chevy Belair as the remnant centerpiece in his family’s living room. Masumi began his studies at the nearby Third Street Music School Settlement at age three and has gone on to become one of the most in demand soloists, chamber musicians, and teachers. In addition to maintaining an active performance schedule, he serves on the faculty of the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Recent performance highlights include concerto performances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, and The Knights. Festival appearances include La Jolla SummerFest, Marlboro, Caramoor, Bowdoin, Aspen Music Festival, Beare’s Premiere Performances in Hong Kong, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA, Music@Menlo, and Music In the Vineyards. His guest violist collaborations include programs with the Miró, Ying, Pavel Haas, Verona, St. Lawrence, and Emerson String Quartets, as well as with the Horszowski Trio. He toured and recorded extensively as a former member of the International Sejong Soloists. Masumi can be heard on the Cedille, Naxos, Hyperion, Musical Observations, Bridge, and Tzadik record labels.

Masumi recently commissioned his childhood friend Jessie Montgomery to compose a Viola Concerto based on the experience they shared of growing up in NYC. The world premiere of L.E.S. Characters took place in October 2021 with Masumi as soloist with the Orlando Philharmonic. He has previously appeared as soloist with the Virginia Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, and Sinfonia da Camera among others.

As a member of the Pacifica Quartet for almost two decades (2001-2017), Masumi regularly performed in the world’s greatest halls including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Sydney’s City Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Munich’s Herkuleshaal, Paris’ Louvre and Cité de la Musique, and Berlin’s Konzerthaus among many others. During Masumi’s tenure with the Quartet, the ensemble was awarded the coveted Cleveland Quartet Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and it was named Musical America’s 2009 Ensemble of the Year.

Masumi is an ardent advocate for the arts, and often sought after as a contributing writer to such publications as the Huffington Post, Strings and Gramophone magazines as well as The Guardian. He also actively maintains a YouTube channel where he regularly publishes videos covering a variety of musical topics. He produces a video series called Sound Post, released in conjunction with The Violin Channel, which are interviews with his friends and colleagues about their instruments.

Passionate about breaking down barriers that prevent people from enjoying Classical music, Masumi was the founder of DoCha, a chamber music festival in Champaign, Illinois that produced innovative events with a focus on engaging new audiences through fun and inventive programming. DoCha-hosted events featured unique collaborations between members of the University and multi-genre presentations from Classical chamber music to contemporary dance, the spoken word, and much more. All programs were free of charge and took place at a beautiful former community Opera House. Other activities of DoCha included performances for elementary school students as well as master classes, competitions and performance opportunities for local music students.

Masumi has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the University of Chicago, Longy School of Music, University of Toronto, and Northwestern University. Appointed to the Viola Faculty of Eastman School of Music in 2017, he currently serves as co-chair of the University of Rochester Faculty Senate. He has given master classes at the Colburn School, Cleveland Institute of Music, Music@Menlo, the Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Interlochen and San Francisco Conservatory among many others.

He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School where he studied with legendary violist and pedagogue Karen Tuttle from the age of 17 and became her teaching assistant just three years later at the age of 20. At Juilliard, he was awarded the Lillian Fuchs Award for the most outstanding graduating violist. He also won the Juilliard School Concerto Competition and performed the world premiere of Michael White’s Viola Concerto in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, with conductor James DePreist. That same year, he gave the New York premiere of Paul Schoenfield’s Viola Concerto with the Juilliard Symphony to critical acclaim. In 2008 he was awarded the Rising Star Award by the Third Street Music School Settlement for his musical achievements.

Masumi is a D’Addario Artist and has used their strings since 1999. His Brothers Amati viola was crafted in Cremona, Italy in 1619.

ROUND 1
The Colburn School

From 2002 until 2024, Jonathan Brown was the violist of the Cuarteto Casals, with whom he performed in all of the major concert halls in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as making numerous recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label including repertoire ranging from Bach through Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to Bartók, Ligeti and Shostakovich. Highlights included Beethoven cycles in Berlin, Vienna, London, Tokyo, Stockholm, Madrid and Barcelona in addition to a residency at the Royal Palace in Madrid, where the quartet played on Stradivarius’ only dedicated quartet of instruments. As a guest violist, Jonathan has performed with the Tokyo, Jerusalem, Kuss, Marmen, Miro, Zemlinsky, Quiroga, and Armida quartets, and has been on the jury of international quartet competitions in London, Salzburg, Prague and Katowice. Jonathan has also been an artistic director of the Da Camara chamber orchestra, the contemporary ensemble FUNKTION and Musethica Spain.

Jonathan is currently Professor of Chamber Music at the Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles and previously taught viola and chamber music at ESMUC in Barcelona and Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid. He has given masterclasses in Köln, Basel, London, Aix-en-Provence, Den Haag, Weikersheim, Fiesole, Linz, Lübeck, Essen, Rotterdam, Cleveland and Chicago among many other cities. Originally from Chicago, Jonathan’s principal viola teachers were Martha Strongin Katz, Karen Tuttle, Heidi Castleman, Thomas Riebl and Veronika Hagen and he was deeply influenced by Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág.

ROUND 1
San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Praised by audiences and critics alike for his fresh interpretations and dramatic presentation style, Yoshikazu Nagai has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout Asia, Europe, and America in such venues as Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Concert Hall in China, National Concert Hall and Recital Hall in Taiwan, Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall in Canada, Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre, The National Gallery and Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., and Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. His schedule in recent seasons includes recitals in Naples, Seoul, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Beijing, Cincinnati, Chicago, San Francisco, and in collaborations with the Ives Quartet, violinists Robert Mann, Anthony Marwood and with orchestras across the country.

Mr. Nagai has appeared at many international music festivals, and his live performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” RAI Italian National TV, Hong Kong National Radio RTHK4, and on public radio stations in San Francisco, Houston, Cleveland, and Salt Lake City. Winner of numerous international piano competitions, including first prize at the 2002 Washington International Piano Competition, Mr. Nagai is also a major prizewinner of the San Antonio, Missouri Southern, New Orleans, IBLA Grand Prize International Piano Competitions, and the Concert Artists Guild International Music Competition.

Born in Germany and raised in the United States, Mr. Nagai studied with John Perry at Rice University, Paul Schenly and Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was awarded the Malvina Podis Prize in Piano upon graduation, and Duane Hulbert at the University of Puget Sound with whom he recorded the Glasunov Fantasie for Two Pianos, Op. 104.

He has been recognized by the National Foundation for Advancements in the Arts for excellence in teaching and his students are top prizewinners of national and international competitions including the Gina Bachauer, International Piano Competition of Lyon (France), Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli International Piano Competition, Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, Hilton Head, Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, Music Teacher’s National Association Piano Competition, New York International Piano Competition, Nina Wideman, International Russian Music, Lennox Young Artists, Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU, Heida Hermanns, International E-Piano Competitions, Gilmore Young Artists Award, and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Mr. Nagai frequently gives master classes at universities and conservatories throughout the United States and Asia including recent classes at Yale University, Peabody Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, and Northwestern University, Seoul National University, Korean National University of the Arts, Hanyang University, Yonsei University and Seoul Arts School in South Korea, Shanghai Conservatory, Beijing’s Central Conservatory, Xinghai Conservatory, Shenzhen Arts School in China, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and Taipei National University of the Arts. He also regularly serves as adjudicator of international piano competitions and has served on the juries of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competitions, Seoul International Piano Competition, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, World Piano Competition, and Alaska International Piano E-Competition amongst others.

Currently Professor of Piano and Chamber Music, he is chair of the piano department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Mr. Nagai teaches regularly during the summers at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy as faculty chair, Bay PianoFest at SFCM (as Artistic Director), and “Art of Piano”. He has also been faculty at Seoul National University International Piano Academy in South Korea, Shanghai and Beijing International Piano Festivals in China, Maestro International Piano Festival in Taiwan, Brancaleoni Festival in Italy, Chautauqua, Summit Festivals in New York, Pianofest in the Hamptons, Chicago International Piano Festival, PianoTexas International Piano Academy, South Eastern Piano Festival in South Carolina, Colburn Academy and Montecito International Music Festival in California, JPA Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, and RPPF in Florida.

Mr. Nagai was also recent faculty member at Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University as Visiting Professor of Piano, and former faculty at the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Round 1
Conductor

Described by Yannick Nézet-Séguin as “a musician who lives the music”, American conductor Conner Gray Covington performs an unusually broad repertory of symphonic, opera, and film repertoire ranging from Classical to the present day. In the 2025-2026 season, Covington debuts with the Boston Pops, Chicago Symphony, Houston Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, and Phoenix Symphony. He also makes return visits to the North Carolina Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, and Tucson Symphony. Additionally, Covington returns to the Utah Symphony where he maintains a close relationship after completing a successful four-year tenure as Associate Conductor and Principal Conductor of the Deer Valley Music Festival.

During his tenure with the Utah Symphony, Conner conducted nearly 300 performances of classical subscription, education, film, pops, and family concerts as well as tours throughout the state and has returned several times each season as a guest conductor since 2021. Other recent guest conducting includes appearances with the Hawai’i Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Tallahassee Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony as well as the Bellingham Festival of Music and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Conner is a five-time recipient of a Career Assistance Award from the Solti Foundation U.S. and was a featured conductor in the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview presented by the League of American Orchestras.

Conner’s recent concert engagements include Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, Mozart Symphony No. 36, “Linz”, Elgar Serenade for Strings, Britten Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Mason Bates Philharmonia Fantastique with the San Diego Symphony, Rimsky Korsakov Scheherazade with the Knoxville Symphony, Dvorak Symphony No. 8 and Mozart Exsultate Jubilate with the Tallahassee Symphony, Richard Strauss Suite from Der Rosenkavalier and Brahms Symphony No. 2 with the Amarillo Symphony and Ravel Mother Goose (complete ballet) and Mendelssohn Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bellingham Festival of Music.

With the Utah Symphony Conner has conducted the world premiere of Quinn Mason Trombone Concerto, Richard Strauss Don Juan, Barber Symphony No. 1, Debussy La Mer, Haydn Symphonies No. 49 and 88, Dvorak Symphonies No. 6 and No. 8, Beethoven Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 7, Mozart Symphonies No. 36, 39, and 40, Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 and 4, Handel Messiah, Ravel Mother Goose Suite, Stravinsky The Firebird (1919 Suite), Schumann Symphony No. 3, ‘Rhenish’, and Brahms Symphony No. 2. 

Conner’s operatic engagements include Britten’s THE TURN OF THE SCREW for the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA and the world premiere of Rene Orth’s EMPTY THE HOUSE at the Curtis Opera Theatre and LE NOZZE DI FIGARO for his debut with Utah Opera.  He has also conducted more than twenty feature films with orchestra including Frozen, Singing in the Rain, Casablanca, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Star Wars and Jurassic Park. 

Born in Louisiana, Covington studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, and the Aspen Music Festival where his primary teachers included Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Neil Varon, and Robert Spano. He graduated from the renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas, and went on to study violin with Dr. Martha Walvoord and conducting with Dr. Clifton Evans at the University of Texas at Arlington where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in violin performance.

Conner currently lives in Boston with his two cats, Razel and Oreo.

Violinist from The Juilliard School Pre-College Division

Saint-Saens, Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61, 1. Allegro ma non troppo

Pianist from the New England Conservatory of Music Prep-School
Mendelssohn, Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: 1. Molto allegro con fuoco

Violinist from The Juilliard School Pre-College Division
Sarasate, Zigeunerweisen, Op 20

Violinist from The Juilliard School Pre-College Division
Wieniawski, Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 22: 1. Allegro moderato

Violinist from The Juilliard School Pre-College Division
Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63: 3, Allegro, ben marcato

Violinist from the Yehudi Menuhin School
Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, 3. Allegro vivacissimo

Violinist from The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists
Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: 1. Allegro moderato

Cellist from the Portland Youth Philharmonic
Elgar, Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op.85: 4. Allegro