Heida Hermanns International Music Competition

"With a tone and approach entrancing from the outset," (New York Concert Review, Inc.) Matthew Figel is presently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music, where he studies with Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers. The first musician in his family, Matthew began his piano studies at age ten in Midland, Texas, making his recital debut that same year. Since then, he has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Africa, in venues such as Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, Smithsonian Museum of American National History, and the Concertgebouw Brugge.

His successes in competitions have included top prizes in the Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition, Harold Protsman Classical Period Competition, and Steve Kahng International Piano Competition. Additionally, he was also named a finalist and awarded sixth place at the 2022 International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, where he performed with the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra in Leipzig in the final round.

Eager to specialize in 18th and early 19th-century repertoire, Matthew has studied harpsichord and fortepiano with Eduardo Bellotti and Lisa Goode Crawford in addition to lessons in historical performance practice under Paul O'Dette. Additionally, he attended the inaugural Forte / Piano Academy held at the Cornell Institute for Historic Keyboards, where he studied with Mike Cheng-Yu Lee and Malcolm Bilson. A dedicated scholar, he has presented his research on the intersection between historical and modern performance styles. These studies have led him all over the United States and Europe, including presenting at 19th-Century Piano Playing Styles, a conference held in Birmingham, United Kingdom on early pianos. Lately, he recently made his Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall, where he performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453 on fortepiano and period instruments in the season finale of the American Classical Orchestra.

Matthew received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Music and Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music as well, previously studying with Nelita True. Here, Matthew was admitted into the music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda, in addition to graduating with Highest Distinction and receiving the Anne T. Cummins Prize in Humanities. While in his sophomore year, Matthew was named winner of the Eastman Concerto Competition, becoming one of the youngest students to solo with the Eastman Philharmonia in the school's 100-year history.

Matthew has performed in masterclasses instructed by Richard Goode, Simone Dinnerstein, Paul Lewis, Pascal Rogé, Hung-Kuan Chen, Emanuel Ax, and Lori Sims. He also recently participated in Carnegie Hall's Perspectives series, where he performed in a Mozart Piano Concerto masterclass presented by Mitsuko Uchida. A past fellow at PianoFest in the Hamptons and PianoTexas International Festival and Academy, he has also attended summer festivals such as the Sarasota Music Festival, Gijón International Piano Festival and the Aspen School of Music.

He is also an avid collaborative pianist, performing in masterclasses for artists such as Renée Fleming and Jon Nakamatsu while receiving coachings from the Ying Quartet, Steven Doane, and Natalya Antonova. While at Eastman, he received the John Celentano Award for Excellence in Chamber Music and the Verdehr Trio Award at the Commencement ceremony to recognize his commitment to chamber music.

An alumnus of Interlochen Arts Academy, he was chosen as the school's first-ever Senior Performer, an honor given to a student to represent the graduating class with a solo performance at the final Commencement ceremony. His teachers here included Thomas Lymenstull and Michael Coonrod, following Matthew's studies with Mark Puckett.

An enthusiastic teacher, Matthew taught primary and secondary applied piano lessons, piano literature, and class piano at Eastman, where he received the Teaching Assistant Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Additionally, he has served as a reviewer for the American Record Guide, as well as the Artist-in-Residence at Valley Manor Living Center, where he performed monthly recitals in Rochester, New York for the senior community and outreach centers.

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Juhee Lim is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School. A recipient of the Gina Bachauer Memorial Scholarship and Lola Maskiewitz Scholarship, she completed both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert McDonald. Upon graduating with her Master's degree in 2026, she was awarded the Departmental Commencement Prize—the Arthur Rubinstein Prize, given for outstanding talent and performance of which Arthur Rubinstein would have been proud. Beginning in 2026, she will pursue the Master of Musical Arts (MMA) program at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Boris Berman.

In 2020, she was named a "2030 Next Generation Leader" by Forbes Korea. She is the winner of the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition at The Juilliard School and The Juilliard School's Concerto Competition. She is also the winner of the Modern Times Prize as a finalist in the Clara Haskil Piano Competition. She has earned grand prizes in numerous competitions, including the PyeongChang Music Festival Competition in South Korea and the IMA Festival Competition in Japan. As a winner of The Juilliard School's Concerto Competition, she performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra under conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto.

Juhee has had the privilege of performing with renowned orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Kammer Philharmonic Orchestra, Asia Philharmonic Orchestra, Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Sinfonietta, and the Taiwan Philharmonic, under the batons of Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Osmo Vänskä, Julian Kovatchev, and Massimo Zanetti. At the age of nine, she performed Dmitri Kabalevsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 9 with the Mariinsky Orchestra under conductor Valery Gergiev in St. Petersburg, Russia. Following this successful debut, she was invited by Valery Gergiev to substitute for violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who had to cancel his concerts, and gave two additional performances in Russia. This remarkable opportunity marked the beginning of Juhee Lim's European stage career at the unprecedented age of nine.

Juhee Lim regularly participates as a soloist at many prestigious music festivals, including the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Stars of the White Nights Festival, the Annecy Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, Seoul Spring Festival, PyeongChang Music Festival, Fukuyama International Music Festival, Ishikawa Music Festival, and Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden. She made her debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 2022, and has recently given successful solo recitals in Palermo, Italy, and Vilagarcía, Spain. She has already performed in the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Spain, Italy, Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea, appearing in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Suntory Hall, Opera City Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Lotte Concert Hall, and Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

The Russian media, who attended Juhee Lim's first performance at the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, made enthusiastic comments about her talent: "On 22 and 23 June 2010 at the concert hall of Mariinsky Theatre as part of the Stars of the White Nights Festival, the nine-year-old pianist Juhee Lim, Korea's new wunderkind, performed with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Valery Gergiev instead of the planned concert featuring violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who was forced to cancel his concerts in St. Petersburg and other European cities due to illness. The young Korean musician began her solo career at the unprecedented age of nine. Many renowned wunderkinds—such as Evgeny Kissin or Vadim Repin—began somewhat later, at the age of twelve or thirteen."

Praised for performing “with the authority of a fully mature artist”(New York Concert Review), pianist Daria Podorozhnova was Second Prize winner at the 2025 Olga Kern International Piano Competition in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her recent successes include First Prize at the Ann & Charles Eisemann Young Artist Competition in Dallas, which led to a solo appearance with the Richardson Symphony Orchestra in 25/26 season, Gold Medal in the Professional Young Artist Concerto Division at the 2025 International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U. S. A., which led to a solo appearance with Boulder Symphony orchestra in 26/27 season and First Prize at the Chopin International Piano Competition 2025 in Hartford, Connecticut. She has also received Sixth Prize at the 69th Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona, as well as top prizes at international competitions in Russia and Kazakhstan.

In February 2025, Podorozhnova was named a winner of the Eisenberg–Fried Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music and she performed Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the OPUS130 orchestra. Daria has appeared extensively as a recitalist and concerto soloist in Russia and internationally, and has performed at major festivals including Stars of the Baikal, XVII International Piano Festival “Mariinsky”, PianoTexas.

Born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Daria began her piano studies at the age of six at the Special
Music School affiliated with the Rostov State Conservatory. She studied with Inna Serebryanskaya and later with renowned professor Sergei Osipenko.

Daria Podorozhnova is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she studies with Alexandre Moutouzkine. She is a recipient of the prestigious Harold and Helene Schonberg Pianist Scholarship.