2022 IGNITE AMBASSADORS
Lindsay Tao
Lindsay Tao Born in San Jose, CA in 2013. At the age of 5, Lindsay started to learn piano and she has been enjoying it since then. She showed her talent in the following years and has won many awards. At the age of 6, Lindsay was invited to perform at The Carnegie Hall. More importantly, she loves to share her music with others and spread the joy of music. Her dream is to become a pianist who has the ability to inspire others by the power of music.
Linsay's major achievements include: 2019 American Protégé International Music Competition and was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall for Winter Gala Concert when she was six; First place and been chosen Exceptional Young Musician Special Prize at the 2020 Golden Classical International Competition; First place and Exceptional Yong Musician Special Prize at the 2020 Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition; International Open Music Competition 2020 First place at 2020 American Protégé International Music Competition of Romantic Music and been chosen only one Judges’ Award Winner; First place at 2020 Great Composers Competition the Art of Piano; First Place, USA Steinway Piano Competition, 2020; First place at 2021 New Star piano competition and best Mozart award; Grade 8, Distinction (145/150) Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM),
2021; Gold Award at 2021 3rd WPTA Singapore International Piano Competition.
Besides playing piano, Lindsay also good at drawing and Guzheng. Among her other interests are writing and swimming.
Ivy Wang
10 years old young pianist Ivy Wang, lives in San Jose, California. She is a 5th grader at Nelson S. Dilworth Elementary School. She started her first piano class at age 4. She has received top prizes at many piano competitions. She was honored with a special talent prize and invited to perform in Carnegie Hall when she was 6 years old. She is the winner of the Pacific Musical Society Foundation Scholarship in 2021. She participated in the Junior Bach Festival and was selected as an honor recital performer in past years. She won Bellagrande International Music Competition first prize in 2020 and third prize in 2021. She also won the MTAC Solo competition 2nd alternative in 2020 and 1st alternative in 2021. CAPMT Concerto competition 2nd place in 2020 and CAPMT Contemporary Competition 3rd place in 2021. Ivy joined California Music Preparatory Academy in 2020, she started to play Chamber music through learning with cellist Jonathan Koh and violinist Pasha Sabouri. She often goes to nursing homes to play to the community and frequently plays music in the elementary campus to encourage more and more children to express themselves and think through music. Besides playing piano, she likes reading books, mathematics and art.
Xinran Shi
Xinran Shi, age 12, lives in San Jose, California. She started playing piano at 4 ½. Xinran is a Young Scholar Alumni of Lang Lang International Music Foundation.
In 2022, Xinran was the winner of Fremont Symphony Young Artist Competition and MTAC Solo/Concerto Piano Competition. She was invited to perform in Weill Hall, NY and Segerstrom Center for the Arts, CA as a Lang Lang International Music Foundation Young Scholar. In 2021, Xinran won top prizes in the International e-Piano Junior Competition, Aloha International Piano Competition, Chicago International Music Competition, San Jose International Piano Competition, Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, and she was one of the 9 Top Admissions participates in the John Perry Academy Summer festival. Among her previous honors were top prize at the Steinway Virtual Piano Competition Regionals and Nationals, Philadelphia International Piano Competition, Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, the China Grand Canal Piano Art Festival and Pacific Music Society & Foundation Competition.
Besides playing piano, Xinran loves dancing, reading, swimming, and travelling.
Chengry Hsien
Chengry Hsien, 12, studies at Hopkins Junior High School in Fremont, California. He got invited to play at Carnegie Hall, New York, four times. In 2022, he got special invitation to play at the famous Stein Auditorium Perelman Stage. He has won many international piano competition prizes: First prize plus exceptional young talent musician special prize at the 2019 International Golden Classical Music Awards; the first absolute prize, and Exceptional young talent at International Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition held at Bonn, Germany. First prize at American Protégé International Music Talent Competition in 2020. In 2021, he got top prizes at the American Classical Young Musician Award, New Star Piano Competition and the Singapore International Piano Competition. Besides piano, Chengry is an avid and competitive swimmer, won many swimming competition prizes and participated in many Junior Olympic events and Far Western swimming Competition in 2022. He also loves to play golf during his leisure time. Aside from piano and sports, he got elected Sergeant of Arms at Chadbourne Elementary School Student Council and participated many student events to help young fellow students, which won high praise from teachers and many young students. Chengry is a fun and optimistic kid who loves to make friends, share music with his friend and community and wants to travel to explore the world
Brian Lin
​Brian Lin, 14, lives in Fremont, California. He started learning piano at age of 6 and has found learning new repertories to be much more satisfying than anything else. He is a 2022-2023 First year scholarship recipient of the Chopin Foundation of the United States and was invited to perform with the renowned Orchestra Filarmonica Pugliese-OFP in Bari, Italy, as the Grand prize winner of the 2022 Elevato international piano competition Concerto Category. He has received top prizes in numerous piano competitions, including Weatherford international piano competition, Chicago International Piano Competition, Steinway Piano Competition Regionals, Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, Pacific Music Society & Foundation Competition, James Ramos International Video Competition, Sylvia M. Ghiglieri Piano Competition, CAPMT Honors District and State Finals, San Francisco Chopin Competition, USIMC, MTNA, and MTAC. His honors also include participating in the 2021 Southeastern Piano Festival and 2022 Vivace Music Festival. Throughout the years, Brian has found inspiration to keep improving by participating in Masterclasses offered by pianists Ruth Slencynska, Professor Armen Babakhanian, Alexander Kobrin, Arthur Greene, Michelle Cann, Sasha Starcevich, Haewon Song, Jason Kwak, Emily White, Mikhail Lidsky, Vladimir Khomyakov, and Polina Fedotova. Brian loves sharing music with his family and the community. Before COVID-19, Brian performed at facilities for children with special needs and for the elders at Fremont Hills Assisted Living Community on a regular basis. Brian also performed for Con Speranza’s charity concert raising funds for St. Jude Research Hospital. Aside from playing the piano, Brian plays competitive basketball and is passionate about mathematics. He is also an enthusiast of the culinary arts.
Dayton Nguyen
Dayton is 14 years old, and will be a sophomore at Dublin High School this coming year.
Dayton started taking piano and drum lessons at age of 6. In Fallon Middle School, he was playing saxophone in Symphonic Band. At age of 10, he entered Precollege Program at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying piano.
Dayton likes classical music. Besides mandatory musicianship courses, Dayton was in small ensembles, taking collaborative piano, compositions and jazz. Dayton has won a number of online and in-person music competitions like the Silicon Valley Music Competition, the East Bay Music Festival Piano Competition, the International Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition, the Canadian International Music Competition and more.
Dayton will continue the Precollege Program at SFCM until he go to college. He hopes that I will learn more and play better in the next few years.
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Ziyue Zeng
Ziyue Zeng, 16, is a 10th grader from Aptos. She began her piano studies at 6 . She has won many awards and honors, including: recipient of Santa Cruz Symphony Muller Scholarship 2019-2022; winner of 2022 GSYO Concerto Competition and 2022 SCCYS Concerto Competition and will perform with both orchestras next season, 2022 Pacific International Piano Competition, 2022 Silicon Valley Music Competition, 36th Annual Celia Mendez Young Pianists Beethoven Competition, 2021-2022 KAMSA, 2022 Zeiter & Carol Piano Competition, 2021 BIMC, 2021 France Music Competition, 2021 Pacific Rim International Music Festival Competition, 2020 Cesar Franck International Piano Competition, 2020USIMC, 2020 Costa Rica Piano Competition & Festival, etc. She has been invited to perform at the 2020 Annual Baroque Masterclass at the Community Music Center, San Francisco and the Merkin Concert Hall in New York 2020. She has played in masterclasses with Ronald Brautigam, Sonia Leong, The Lee Trio, Vladimir Khomyakov, and Anna Dmytrenko. She has been a member of Young Chamber Musicians in Burligame since2021. She will attend Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Piano Program in summer 2022. She has a deep attachment to operas and symphonies. Her favorite composers including Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, etc. She is also an avid reader. Her reading covers all the classical literatures of both Easter and Western countries. She is good at sports too. She has been doing long distance running
Jerry Song
Jiayu (Jerry ) Song is a 13-year-old student going into 8th grade at Challenger Ardenwood. He has won a number of academic competition awards in the past year in addition to maintaining a steady grade. Jerry’s piano career started at the age of four and a half. He moved to the United States in 2016. In 2021, he began studying in the Pre-College Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under concert pianist Sandra Wright Shen. His achievements include winning the honorable mention of the Northern California International Music Competition in 2018, placing second in the US open Showcase piano solo 13-15 year old group, and being awarded first prize for the Best Grieg performance International Music Competition. This year, he participated in Masterworks Music Festival, where he was a finalist in concerto competition, and won 1st place in the Raymond solo competition.
Ziyou Yan
Ziyou Yan, Age 8, lives in Fremont, Califonia, started playing piano at 4 and half.
In 2022, Ziyou was the winner of International BTHVN Wien Competition 2022, Artcial Piano Competition and Festival, Show Case Piano Solo Preparatory Group in United States Open Music Competition. She won the first prize of Vivaldi Music Competition.
In 2021, Ziyou was the winner of Vivace international Piano Competition, 2021 International New Star Piano Competition. She won the top Prize of WPTA China-North America international Piano Competition, Show Case Piano Solo Preparatory Group in United States Open Music Competition.
Layla Guan
Layla Guan, who lives in California, USA. She started to learn piano around 1 year, and she loves playing piano a lot.
In 2022, She won First Place Winner (Young Musicians Category) of the American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition 2022, and also FIRST PRIZE + EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG TALENT Special Prize Winner of the 2022 "Golden Classical Music Awards" International Competition. Both the competitions invited her to The Carnegie Hall, At New York.
She was the winner of 2022 Artcial international piano festival & competition, and East Bay Music Festival piano competition 2022.
Besides playing piano, Layla loves Ballet, swimming, and Art.
Jerry Xu
Born in Berkeley in 2007, Jerry Xu began his piano journey at the age of 7. At 14 years of age, Jerry has already built up a large portfolio of musical accomplishments. His achievements include First Place Winner of the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition Fall 2020, Honorable Mention at the 2021 EBMF Piano Competition, 2nd place in the 7th International Music Festival of Melbourne 2021, and first prize winner of 2022's International Music Competition "Vienna" Grand Prize Virtuoso.
Besides competitions, Jerry also loves sharing music with his community. He played for senior centers on a regular basis, also performed for Con Speranza’s charity concert raising funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Aside from playing the piano, Jerry also plays competitive tennis at national level tournaments.
Edric Zhang
Edric Zhang is a 9th-grade student at Stratford Preparatory Blackford of California. He studied piano at age 5. In 2021, Edric won First Prize at Great Composers Competition, Silver award at The 3rd WPTA Singapore International Piano Competition, and Third Place at 2021 American Classical Young Musician Award. His prior honors include First Place prize at American Protege International Music Talent Competition Fall 2019 and Third Place at 2020 US New Star Piano Competition. He was also selected to perform in Carnegie Hall in 2019. Besides playing piano, Edric loves swimming and chess.
Zhaohan Gong
Zhaohan Gong is a 5th grader who lives in Dublin, CA . He started his piano class when he was 6 years old, and after that, piano became one of the most important parts in his daily life. His favorite pianists are Liszt and Chopin. In addition to classical music, he also likes Jay Chou, and sometimes he enjoys playing Jay Chou's pop songs. In his spare time, he also likes playing basketball and building robots.
Rajit Pandey
Rajit Pandey is an award-winning young pianist who attends Challenger School of Sunnyvale, CA. He began his piano studies when he was six years old. He is a winner of numerous competitions including the California Association of Professional Music Teachers’ Honors Piano Competition, American Fine Arts International Piano competition, US International Music Competition, Grand Prize Virtuoso Vienna International Piano Competition, Crescendo International Competition, and California State Performing Arts Competition. He made his Carnegie Hall Debut at the age of eight and was invited to perform at the Musikverein Concert Hall in Vienna, Austria. He is a student of Concert Pianist and Professor, Michelle Lee, in San Jose, CA.
Kirk Kang
Kirk started playing piano when he was 4 and was invited to play at Carnegie Hall at age of 9. He has won top prizes and scholarships at state, national, and international piano competitions and festivals, including WPTA Finland International Competition, United States Open Music Competition, Elite International Music Competition, Pacific International Piano Competition, KAMSA Piano Competition, Marian Felice Music Competition, Encore Music Competition, Great Composers Competitions, and MTAC honor concert. Kirk has been recognized for artistic expression, vibrant, and elegance in his piano performance.