The 2025 Heida Hermanns International Music Competition
Judges
Frederic Chiu
Head Judge
Frederic Chiu plays major venues on five continents: Lincoln Center in New York, Le Châtelet in Paris, the Mozarteum in Buenos Aires, and extensive tours in smaller and unusual venues. He collaborates with Classical music friends Joshua Bell, Pierre Amoyal and the St Lawrence String Quartet, as well as non-Classical friends like jazz pianist Bob James or storyteller David Gonzalez, to bring vivid live piano experiences to all audiences. Frederic Chiu recorded the most extensive complete piano works of Prokofiev, and his personal relationship with the Prokofiev family makes him a world-recognized advocate of the composer. Across 30+ albums, he has recorded works of Chopin, Liszt, Ravel, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Rossini and Grieg. His wide recording legacy is seen in his latest recordings: Beethoven/Liszt Symphonies V and VII, “Hymns and Dervishes,” music of Gurdjieff/de Hartmann, “Distant Voices: Music of Claude Debussy & Gao Ping,” and Schubert’s Fantasy for Violin and Piano. His innovative programming includes “Classical Smackdown,” where composers face off in head-to-head comparisons, with listeners voting for their favorite composer: Debussy vs. Prokofiev, Bach vs. Glass, Mendelssohn vs. Chopin before age 20. Results tracked at ClassicalSmackdown.com. With his wife, Jeanine Esposito, he co-created the arts non-profit, Beechwood Arts & Innovation to explore collaboration across art genres and the integration of arts and technology to foster community. His innovative vision of Romeo & Juliet – The Choice, an interactive production of the popular Prokofiev ballet, debuted in 2018. Frederic teaches at both Carnegie Mellon University and The Hartt School.
Marija Stroke
Final Round
Pianist Marija Stroke has performed chamber music, concerti, and solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, and China, and at music festivals including Chamber Music Northwest, Caramoor, City of London Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, Moab Festival, Off the Hook Arts, Juneau Jazz and Classics, and Mostly Mozart Festival. Stroke has performed with Mark Steinberg, Joshua Bell, Eugene Drucker, Natasha Brofsky, Roger Tapping, Colin Carr, Raphael Hillyer, David Krakauer, David Shifrin, and conductors Ransom Wilson and Reinbert de Leeuw, among many others, and has been guest artist with the Brentano, Miami, Daedalus, and Borromeo string quartets. Performances include concerts with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia, Kennedy Center, and at Wigmore, Carnegie, Avery Fisher, and Alice Tully Halls. Stroke has recorded on the Sony Classical, Arabesque, Bridge and CRI labels in works by Bruce Adolphe, Dutilleux, Fauré, Grieg, Poulenc, and Rodrigo, with Joshua Bell, the Brentano String Quartet, and Mark Steinberg, among others, and was awarded “Critics’ Choice” by American Record Guide. Stroke is a founding member of the Apollo Trio, which has performed in the United States and Europe. In addition to frequent appearances at major American music festivals and chamber music series, the trio has performed at prominent New York venues, including Caramoor, Bargemusic, Avery Fisher Hall, Weill Hall at Carnegie, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, including the premieres of David Schiff’s New York Nocturnes and Bruce Adolphe’s Wind Across the Sky. David Schiff’s Borscht Belt Follies— written for the Apollo Trio, David Krakauer, David Taylor and Michael Sarin—had its world premiere at Chamber Music Northwest’s Encore Series. The Apollo Trio has recorded music by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Adolphe, Schiff and the complete Dvorak Piano Trios. Stroke is on the piano faculty at the Hartt School of Music.
Eduardus Halim
Final Round
Eduardus Halim has captured the imagination of piano lovers the world over with the originality and maturity of his interpretations. An ethnic Chinese who was born in Indonesia and given a Muslim name, he studied the violin and piano as well as Javanese dancing before moving to New York, where he established himself as a pianistic force and earned the rare privilege of becoming the last pupil of the legendary Vladimir Horowitz. Other career highlights include a performance of the Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasy conducted by Jahja Ling at Carnegie Hall and recitals of Granados’s Goya-inspired piano suite “Goyescas” at the Frick Collection in New York, the Gardner Museum in Boston and Arizona’s Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Mr. Halim’s distinctive approach to the piano is matched by a charismatic personality that has captured the attention of the media. He has been profiled by The New York Times (Arts & Leisure), The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Piano Quarterly and Clavier. Mr. Halim’s awards and honors include the Young Concert Artists International Auditions as well as the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Mr. Halim recently has been appointed as Music Professor and is the holder of the inaugural Sascha Gorodnitzki Faculty Chair in Piano Studies, Department of Music and Performing Arts at Steinhardt, New York University.
Katherine Benson
Preliminary Round Judge
American pianist Katherine Benson is recognized as a significant artistic figure of her generation, renowned for her “stunning” (ArtsKnoxville) performances and her passion for arts leadership. In demand as a soloist, chamber musician, adjudicator, and teacher, Dr. Benson has performed across the USA and abroad in China, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand. Highlights from recent concert seasons include Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos No. 2 & 3, Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Clara Schumann’s Concerto in A Minor, as well as solo recitals in Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Washington, and North Dakota. In June 2025, Dr. Benson was one of five pianists on the faculty of Wuhan Conservatory’s 2025 International Piano Faculty Week, in which she presented a solo recital and masterclasses with conservatory students. Immediately following the festival in Wuhan, she then presented masterclasses, lessons, and performances in multiple other cities in China, including the Beijing Eastbank Academy of Music and appearances in Changchun, Nanchang, and Chengdu. An avid chamber musician, Dr. Benson is the Artistic Director and pianist for The Paramount Chamber Players (TPCP), one of the premier chamber music ensembles of the southern Appalachian Region and in its twenty-first concert season. Passionate about arts leadership, Dr. Benson co-founded the Knoxville International Piano Festival and Competition and served as Director from 2023-2025. She has additionally garnered numerous triumphs in over a dozen international and national piano competitions, having won top prizes and recognitions in the Heida Hermanns, Seattle, Kerikeri, Walled City Music, Teresa Carreño, and Thousand Islands International Piano Competitions. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and University of Michigan, and her teachers have included Nelita True, James Giles, Chih-long Hu, and Arthur Greene. Dr. Benson currently serves as Assistant Professor of Piano at Penn State.
Carter Johnson
Preliminary Round Judge
Celebrated for his warm stage presence, compelling musical personality, and provocative repertoire choices, Canadian pianist Carter Johnson is known for making classical music speak to all kinds of audiences. With playing described as ”sincere, communicative, and intelligent”, “drop-dead gorgeous”, and even “the greatest thing since sliced bread” (Gramophone), Johnson’s competition laurels include being a finalist in the 2025 Van Cliburn International Competition (the first Canadian in history to do so), the first prize winner of the 2025 Dublin International Competition, and the silver medalist in the 2024 Gina Bachauer International Competition. First prizes in other international competitions include the 2023 Concours Hauts-de-France, the 2021 International Competition of Polish Music, the 2020 Valsesia International Competition, the 2024 Heida Hermanns International Competition and the 2023 Weatherford College International Competition. Other awards include the prize for the most promising pianist not proceeding to the final in the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition, a finalist prize in the 2023 Walter Naumburg Competition, the best performance of the commissioned work in the 2024 Gina Bachauer Competition, and the best chamber music performance in the 2025 Dublin Competition. Johnson rose to prominence in his home country when in 2018 he was declared the winner of two of Canada’s most important national competitions, garnering both the grand prize in the OSM Competition and the first prize in the CMC Stepping Stone competition. Johnson resides in Connecticut with his wife Hannah and their sons Preston and Ambrose, where he maintains a busy schedule as a concert artist. He and Hannah enjoy cooking together, gardening, watching good films, and spending time outside as a family enjoying the beauty of New England.
Artem Kuznetsov
Preliminary Round Judge
Artem Kuznetsov has solidified his status as one of the rising stars in the classical music world, excelling in and winning multiple prestigious international piano competitions. Kuznetsov’s recent achievements include first prizes at the Santa Cecilia International Competition in Porto, Portugal, the Blanca Uribe International Piano Competition in Ibagué, Colombia, and the Roma International Piano Competition in Rome, Italy. He has been actively performing across Europe, Asia, and North and South Americas. In addition to his solo recitals, Kuznetsov has performed with internationally acclaimed orchestras, including the Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa, Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, Orquesta Internacional Virtuosos de Madrid, Orchestra Filarmonica Mihail Jora di Bacau, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, Royal Prince Consort Orchestra. His collaborations with prominent conductors such as Conrad Van Alphen, Simon Crawford-Phillips, Ovidiu Balan, Benedetto Montebello, Lawrence Golan, Osvaldo Ferreira, and Sergey Smbatyan have further enriched his artistic journey. Renowned music festivals worldwide have sought Kuznetsov’s talents. He has performed as a featured artist at esteemed events such as the Yokohama International Piano Concert Series in Japan, Festival Sant Pere de Rodes in Spain, Triumph Music Festival in Philadelphia, the VI Festival “V Storonu Vyborga” in Russia, the XXVIII International Rachmaninoff Music Festival in Russia, the International Rachmaninov Music Festival in Colombia, and the Orcas Chamber Music Festival in the USA. In 2024 he gave the international premiere of a composition by South American composer Angel Amparo in Ibagué, Colombia. Amparo praised his interpretation as her favorite rendition of the piece. For his contributions to the arts, Kuznetsov was honored by Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton and appointed Emissary of the Muses for the city of San Antonio, Texas, by Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Mr. Kuznetsov’s major teachers include his mother Anna Kuznetsova, who gave him his early training and discipline, Ludmila Grimak, Alexander Rykel, followed by Stanislav Ioudenitch, International Center for Music at Park University, Missouri, Dr. Jon Kimura Parker, Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Houston, Texas and Anton Nel, Butler School of Music at UT Austin.