Piano Competition Rules:

1. ELIGIBILITY:  Pianists over 15 years of age of any nationality. Applicants under the age of 18 must have a legal guardian sign the Application Form. 
2. REPERTOIRE: All works must be performed from memory. The contestant’s choice in repertoire must be music written for solo piano only. Work presented could be short piano works or one movement/section of a sonata or long piece. Program presented must be no less than 10 minutes and no more than 20 minutes in length. The judges may stop the contestants’ performance. Repertoire should include a variety of styles. No original compositions by the contestant or prepared piano works will be accepted. Both artistry and virtuosity of the repertoire chosen will be taken into account by the jury.
3. APPLICATION:  Complete application includes the application form and a non-refundable application fee of US$70.  The application fee is waived for full-time 2018 MIMF Piano Academy participants.  Competition time slots are limited.  Early application is encouraged.  There is no application deadline.  MIMF will stop accepting applications once the time slots are fully filled.
4. JURY:  The decisions made by the judges of the competition are final and are not subject to query, review or appeal.  During the competition, contestants should not make any contact with the competition judges.  Violation of this rule may result in disqualification. 
5. MISCELLANEOUS:  The competition will be open to the public.  Audio/video recording is not permitted during the competition.  If contestant is late for scheduled time, he/she will forfeit his/her place in the competition.  If unusual circumstances prevail, the date/time and location of the competition are subject to change.
6. NOTIFICATION: Winners will be notified before 11pm on the day of the competition. Only winners will receive notification. Judge’s comments may be available by request.
7. AWARDS: Grand-prize winner(s) will be featured in the  MIMF Gala concert on Friday, February 16, 2018 at Bruno Walter Auditorium at the Lincoln Center*.  Encouragement Award winners will receive one time full scholarship to MIMF Piano Academy in the 2018-2019 season. Outstanding performers will be invited to perform at MIMF’s future concerts and events.
​* Each performer is entitled to two complimentary tickets to the concert.  All performers are responsible for their own travel and lodging.

Updated 2017.08.15

WINNERS of 2018

GRAND PRIZE Rui Chi (China) & Han Wang (China)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN BACH Chen-Shen Fan
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN DEBUSSY Chenxing Huang
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN HAYDN Bokyung Hwang
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN SCRIABIN Ziyi Yang
HONORABLE MENTION Oliver Betz; Ming Jin; Mary Ogawa; Lara Saldanha

WINNERS of 2017

GRAND PRIZE  Tsuyoshi Konno (Japan)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN EARLY MUSIC   Shichao Zhang
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN MODERN MUSIC   Songhee Moon
HONORABLE MENTION  Siyuan Li; Yan Li

WINNERS of 2016

JUNIOR GRAND  PRIZE  Pusheng Wang
DISTINCTION  AWARD  Andrew J. Yang
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE  IN DEBUSSY  Akari Mizumoto
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE  IN RAVEL  Stephen Lee
HONORABLE MENTION  Jorge Tabares; Xiaoyi Xu;
Jingwen  Zhang; Rose Zhang; Ying Zhang

WINNERS of 2015

GRAND  PRIZE  Ziang Yin; Tianpeng Yu
DISTINCTION  AWARD  Ruobing Zhang
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE  AWARD  Zhongsan Yang; Ching Huei Li
HONORABLE MENTION  Ziyi Wang; Minjoo Choo

WINNERS of 2014

GRAND  PRIZE  Congcong Chai (China); Chang Wang (China)
DISTINCTION  AWARD   Martina Consonni (Italy); Shimin Ouyang (China)

WINNERS of 2013

GRAND  PRIZE  Simon Xu; Yixuan Wei
DISTINCTION  AWARD  Audray Abela; Jarred Morehead
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AWARD  Shao-Hsun Chang; Soojin Kim; Sunghyaun Suk

WINNERS of 2012

GRAND  PRIZE  Kelly Ho (Taiwan); Liana Paniyeva (Ukraine)
Zhen Luo (China) [alternate]
CONCERT ARTIST  AWARD  Zhiye Chen (China); Sina Kloke (Germany);
Zhen Luo (China); Xiaoyi Xiong (China)