2025 Piano Competition Rules:

​1. ELIGIBILITY: Pianists of any nationality.

• Junior Division: Born on/after February 9, 2007
• Young Artist Division: Born between February 9, 1995 and February 8, 2007, inclusive.

              Applicants under the age of 18 at the time of the application must have a legal guardian sign on the Application Form.  Contestants are required to provide a government-issued photo identification document to verify date of birth when entering the final round.
 
2. REPERTOIRE:
  a) A balanced program which includes at least two (2) different periods and should be of contrasting style.  One of which must be a sonata (or a fast movement) from the classical period.
  b) Contestant’s choice in repertoire must be music written for solo piano only.  No original compositions by the contestant or prepared-piano works are allowed.
  c) There are no restrictions on the length of individual pieces, but the maximum length of the program is:

• 12 minutes for Junior Division, and
• 20 minutes for Young Artist Division.

  d) Both artistry and virtuosity will be taken into account by the jury.  
  e) All works must be performed from memory.   
 
3. APPLICATION: Complete application must include

• Application form
• Non-refundable application fee of $150
• Video recording of the program 

 4. SCHEDULE:
  a) Preliminary Round– Applicants must submit link(s) to the high-resolution video recording(s) of the contestant's solo performance (live, rehearsal, or studio) of the two selections from the program by the application deadline - January 31, 2025.
  b) Final Round-- On Sunday, February 9, 2025. Selected finalists from each division will perform in front of an audience in a formal concert open to the public*.  Appropriate concert attire is required for all finalists.  Iimmediately following the jury’s deliberation, the competition results will be available on the Metropolitan International Music Festival website.  The award ceremony will take place on February 14 at the DiMenna Center after the festival's final concert**. 
 
5. JURY: The jury panel for each round of the competition will consist of world-renowned pianists and professional managers.  The decisions made by the jury are final and are not subject to any query, review or appeal.  During the competition, contestants shall not make any contact with any juror until all results have been announced.  
 
6. MISCELLANEOUS: All contestants are responsible for their own travel and lodging.  Audio/video recording is not permitted during the final round. Contestants who are late for their scheduled performing time slots will forfeit their places in the competition. If unusual circumstances prevail, the date, time, and location of the competition are subject to change.  Violation of any competition policy will result in disqualification.  
  
7. AWARDS:
Grand, Second and Third Prize winners will receive scholarships*** to the 2026 Ameri-China International Winter Piano Festival in New York City.
  Grand Prize: USD$3,000 scholarship
  Second Prize: USD$1,500 scholarship
  Third Prize: USD$1,000 scholarship
All prize winners will be recognized and invited to perform at Metropolitan International Music Festival’s future concerts and events.

Applicants will each receive an auditor's pass to one masterclass of the 2025 ACIMA International Piano Festival at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music,  a chance to observe Masterclasses and concerts by Faculties of The Juilliard School and The Curtis Institute of  Music and other renowned artists.  

​*Free admission. RSVP required via the concert page.
** Each contestant is entitled to one complimentary ticket to the festival concert on February 14.  
*** Scholarship award is in the form of tuition when enrolling in the program and has no cash value.  The Scholarship to the 2026 Ameri-China International Winter Piano Festival is sponsored by Kawai Piano.

​Updated 2024.12.12

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2025 Competition Committee

Chu-Fang Huang

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Tema Blackstone

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Margrit Zimmermann

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WINNERS of 2025

JUNIOR DIVISION
GRAND PRIZE  XYaoxuan Yu
SECOND PRIZE  Frank Luo
THIRD PRIZE  Haoran Chi

YOUNG ARTIST DIVISION
THIRD PRIZE  Yiyang Cheng

WINNERS of 2024

JUNIOR I DIVISION
GRAND PRIZE  Qiao Yu
SECOND PRIZE  Doris Tian
THIRD PRIZE  Vincent Xu

JUNIOR II DIVISION
 GRAND PRIZE  Jessie Gong
SECOND PRIZE  Yo-Yo Qu
THIRD PRIZE    Yen-Fei Wang

WINNERS of 2023

JUNIOR DIVISION
GRAND PRIZE  Xuanyan Gong
SECOND PRIZE  Tom Liu
THIRD PRIZE  Benjamin Young

YOUNG ARTIST DIVISION
 GRAND PRIZE  Anna Li
SECOND PRIZE  Gregory Martin
THIRD PRIZE   Piaoru Li

WINNERS of 2020

JUNIOR DIVISION
GRAND PRIZE  Yiwen Wang
SECOND PRIZE  Xuanxiang Sean Wu
THIRD PRIZE   Norman Lu
HONORABLE MENTION  Jingyi Cao

YOUNG ARTIST DIVISION
 GRAND PRIZE  Jaeyoung Kim
SECOND PRIZE  Sungu Kang
THIRD PRIZE  Wenting Yu

WINNERS of 2019

JUNIOR DIVISION
GRAND PRIZE  Kelly Yao Zhou
SECOND PRIZE  Shuda Zhang
THIRD PRIZE  Wanxin Li
HONORABLE MENTION  Alexander Klapowitz; Lan Wei​

YOUNG ARTIST DIVISION
 GRAND PRIZE  Beyza Yazgan
SECOND PRIZE  Albert Newberry
THIRD PRIZE  HyeYeon Kim
HONORABLE MENTION  Junwen Liang​; ChingYi Lin

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)