Heida Competition Judges

The 2026 Heida Hermanns International Music Competition

Judges

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.

Adam Tendler

Preliminary Round Judge

A “daring pianist” praised for his “adventurousness and muscular skill” (The New York Times), 2026 Grammy-nominated artist Adam Tendler has been called “the hottest pianist on the American contemporary classical scene” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), “relentlessly adventurous” (Washington Post), a “remarkable and insightful musician” (LA Times), an “intrepid… maverick pianist” (The New Yorker), and “one of contemporary classical music’s most intentional and daring pianists” (Seven Days). “If you’re a cutting-edge composer these days,” said CBS Sunday Morning’s Lee Cowan, “you want Adam to perform your pieces.” A pioneer of DIY culture in classical music, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty states as part of a grassroots tour called America 88×50, and has since become one of classical music’s most recognized and celebrated artists, receiving Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award, the Yvar Mikhashoff Prize, and appearing as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, Sydney Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, NJ Symphony, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, as well as on the main-stages of Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, Sydney Opera House, BAM, David Geffen Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Milan Fashion Week, and other leading series, festivals and stages worldwide. His Inheritances album was a 2026 GRAMMY® for Best Classical Instrumental Solo and a New York Times Critic Pick, which wrote, “You will be moved, profoundly and intensely.” Tendler has commissioned major works from composers ranging from Christian Wolff, Devonté Hynes, Nico Muhly, Missy Mazzoli and Laurie Anderson. He is featured on Wild Up’s Grammy-nominated third volume of Julius Eastman’s music, and has also released albums of music by Franz Liszt, Robert Palmer, and of his own original work. He is the author of two books, is a Yamaha Artist, and serves on the piano faculty at NYU.