The MTNA Performance Competitions offer an opportunity for advanced students. The competitions are offered at the Junior, Senior, Young Artist, and Chamber Music levels, and are open to any student who plays at the level of the required music. The state competitions are considered the primary educational level, with the division and national levels showcasing outstanding performances and honoring significant pedagogical achievement.
The Washington State MTNA Student Performance Competition for Piano, Strings, Woodwinds (all levels) and Senior Piano Duet will occur November 7-9, 2025 at Central Washington University. Please contact the MTNA Competitions Chair, Julie Swienty, NCTM or WSMTA Vice President Jason Kuo, NCTM with any questions.
WA State MTNA Performance Competitions BookletNovember 7-9, 2025 WA State MTNA Performance Competitions 2025 RESULTS
Registration for Piano, String, Woodwind, and Senior Piano Duet is now closed.
Registration for Chamber Music, Senior Brass and Voice, and Young Artist Brass and Voice
Opens: November 1, 2025
Closes: December 3, 2025 at noon Pacific Time
AT THE 2025 COMPETITIONS
NEW AWARDS AVAILABLE IN 2025!
Underrepresented Composer’s Prize – beginning in November 2025
We are pleased to announce the creation of a new prize, celebrating the best performances of an Underrepresented Composer in the WSMTA-MTNA Performance Competition in November 2025 in each level and division. Students will have an option to use ONE of their repertoire pieces to be considered for the new award, which shall include Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), Women, and other composers underrepresented in the standard concert repertoire, which primarily consists of Western European art music from the past four centuries.
To begin this new adventure, the judges will choose ONE WINNER from every division, with hope and expectation that this will grow to include more winners and prize money in future years. Judges will select ONE WINNER in each of the following categories:
Young Artist (Piano): $125
Young Artist (Strings): $125
Young Artist (Woodwinds): $125
Senior Division (Piano): $100
Senior Division (Piano Duet): $100
Senior Division (Strings): $100
Senior Division (Woodwinds): $100
Junior Division (Piano): $75
Junior Division (Strings): $75
Junior Division (Woodwinds): $75
Teachers and students are encouraged to peruse the compiled list of eligible composers linked here. Students are not restricted to selecting a piece by a composer on this list. However, if a piece selected is not by a composer on the list, please contact the Composers Committee members (consisting of Dr. Lark Powers (piano), Dr. Ross Salvosa (piano), Jane Melin, NCTM (strings), and copy Julie Swienty, NCTM ) by AUGUST 15th to have the composer approved (in future years, the deadline will be June 1st). This step is required only for pieces by composers not yet appearing on the WSMTA list.
To request approval of a composer not on the compiled list of eligible composers linked above, CLICK HERE Application for the Award for the Best Performance of an Underrepresented Composer in the WA State MTNA Performance CompetitionPlease be advised that the Composers Committee shall be the final arbiter of whether a particular work qualifies for the award. If the work is deemed ineligible for the award, this information will be communicated to the student/teacher shortly after the deadline.
Only one piece per student may be eligible for this new special prize. If a student’s program has more than one piece of repertoire in this category, ONLY ONE MAY BE LISTED for consideration (this choice is up to the student and teacher). Please note, regardless of the special prize, WSMTA-MTNA encourages teachers and students to explore varied repertoire and to learn many pieces by underrepresented composers.
Students will be required to submit a registration form on the WSMTA website (separate from the registration on the MTNA website) to indicate the repertoire to be considered for the award (we will link it here when the form is ready). The deadline to submit the repertoire for this award is the same as the MTNA registration deadline. The WSMTA registration form will require you to clearly designate your chosen repertoire piece, in order to be included in the list for the Judges to consider for this award.
WSMTA Leadership and the MTNA State Judges are excited to hear inclusive performances and a broader range of representation. However, this is not a requirement to enter the competition. We hope participation in the Underrepresented Composer’s Prize will be embraced by many!
In addition, the 2025 Winners will be invited to perform in the Washington Winners Concert at our Annual Conference in June of 2026!
2025-2026 WASHINGTON STATE
MTNA PERFORMANCE COMPETITION RESULTS
JUNIOR
JUNIOR PIANO
WINNER
JP17 – Alvin Lee
Student of Allan Park
ALTERNATE
JP15 – William Feng
Student of Christopher Bowlby
HONORABLE MENTIONS (unranked)
JP05 – Yuyang Liu
Student of Sasha Starcevich
JP08 – Junhao Fang
Student of Allan Park
JP09 – Jeffrey Quan
Student of Sasha Starcevich
JP12 – Scott Shen
Student of Peter Mack
JP14 – Lucas Popescu
Student of Allan Park
JP18 – Chloe Nari Wang
Student of Allan Park
Junior Piano
Underrepresented Composer Award
Winner
JP12 – Scott Shen
Student of Peter Mack
Alternate
JP16 – Evan Wang
Student of Peter Mack
Honorable Mention
J19 – Jimmy Huang
Student of Yelena Balabanova
JUNIOR STRING
WINNER
JS06 – Anthony Kim, cello
Student of Kevin Krentz
ALTERNATE
JS10 – Jessie Wu, violin
Student of Simon James
HONORABLE MENTIONS (unranked)
JS08 – Alex Chen, cello
Student of Leslie Marckx
JS09 – Timothy Yu, violin
Student of Gloria Guo
JS11 – Abigail Yuechen Gao, cello
Student of Leslie Marckx
JUNIOR WOODWIND
REPRESENTATIVE
JW01 – Annie Liu, flute
Student of Bonnie Blanchard
SENIOR
SENIOR PIANO DUET
WINNERS
SPD2 – Isabel Yang and Hannah Kwon
Students of Allan Park
ALTERNATES
SPD1 – Chloe Kim and Caiden Kim
Students of Allan Park
Senior Piano Duet
Underrepresented Composer Award
Winner
SPD1 – Chloe Kim and Caiden Kim
Students of Allan Park
SENIOR PIANO
WINNER
SP15 – Enzo Zhao
Student of Oksana Ejokina
ALTERNATE
SP03 – Alec Rodriguez
Student of Irene Bowling
HONORABLE MENTIONS (unranked)
SP13 – Taiyo Oishi
Student of Oksana Ejokina
SP19 – Jason Nam
Student of Rufus Choi
Senior Piano
Underrepresented Composer Award
Winner
SP14 – Avah Girges
Student of Oksana Ejokina
Alternate
S19 – Jason Nam
Student of Rufus Choi
Honorable Mention
SP12 – Emily Qi
Student of Peter Mack
SENIOR STRING
WINNER
SS02 – Jesse Krentz, cello
Student of Kevin Krentz
ALTERNATE
SS14 – Rachel Jung, violin
Student of Simon James
HONORABLE MENTIONS (unranked)
SS06 – Hana Gottesman, violin
Student of Simon James
SS15 – Lily Richards, violin
Student of Simon James
SS10 – Leyan Gao, violin
Student of Simon James
Senior String
Underrepresented Composer Award
Winner
SS14 – Rachel Jung, violin
Student of Simon James
Alternate
SS11 – Ray Lim, cello
Student of Leslie Marckx
SENIOR WOODWIND
WINNER
SW05 – Xueheng Wang, saxophone
Student of Fred Winkler
ALTERNATE
SW03 – Yilin Zhang, flute
Student of Rose Johnson
HONORABLE MENTION
SW06 – Zifei Liu, flute
Student of Celine Ferland
Senior Woodwind
Underrepresented Composer Award
Winner
SW02 – Angie Wang, saxophone
Student of Evan Smith
Alternate
SW04 – Derek Li, saxophone
Student of Fred Winkler
YOUNG ARTIST
YOUNG ARTIST PIANO
WINNER
YAP03 – Tanner Eric Burns
Student of Fabio Menchetti
ALTERNATE
YAP05 – Ella Melin
Student of Yerin Kim
HONORABLE MENTION
YAP02 – Elliot Matteson
Student of Yerin Kim
Young Artist Piano
Underrepresented Composer Award
Winner
YAP02 – Elliot Matteson
Student of Yerin Kim
Alternate
YAP04 – Kayden Elise Warwick
Student of Yoon Wha Roh
YOUNG ARTIST STRING
WINNER
Flora Cummings, viola
Student of Melia Watras
ALTERNATE
Eliana Loy Cobb, violin
Student of Carrie Rehkopf Michel
Young Artist String
Underrepresented Composer Award
Winner
Eliana Loy Cobb, violin
Student of Carrie Rehkopf Michel
2025-2026 WASHINGTON STATE
MTNA Performance Competition Judges
Piano Division
Johan Botes, DMA
Dr. William H. Chapman Nyaho
Xiaohui Yang, DMA
String Division
Dr. Rose Bellini
Dr. Junheng Chen
Dr. Svend Rønning
Woodwind Division
Shelly Myers
Piano Division
Johan Botes, DMA
Johan Botes is known for his extraordinary versatility as a soloist, collaborative musician, and teacher; a career which has brought him recognition in concerts around the world. A native of South Africa, Botes showed musical promise from an early age. Among many notable awards in his native country, he was the 2007 First Prize Winner of the Third UNISA/Vodacom National Piano Competition playing Rachmaninoff’s technically demanding Third Piano Concerto to a standing ovation; a performance for which he also won the Desmond Willson Memorial Prize for best concerto in the final round. Most recently, he was chosen as 2 nd Prizewinner in the American Prize national non-profit competition for the performing arts in both the solo and concerto divisions.
As a soloist, Botes has performed in venues worldwide. He has appeared as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, Juneau Symphony (AK), Bainbridge Symphony (WA), Auburn Symphony (WA) as well as the Texas Chamber Orchestra. He also performed in Prague with the Hadrec Kralove Orchestra and toured to Bulgaria in 2005 where he played with the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra.
An equally accomplished organist, he passed the Performers Licentiate in Organ of UNISA in 2006 with distinction and was invited for the overseas bursary competition, where he was awarded the Stephanus Zondagh Overseas Music Scholarship.
In 2010, Botes won the Sidney M. Wright Presidential Scholarship Competition in Piano Accompaniment at The University of Texas at Austin and in the same year began collaborative Piano Trio work with cellist Francesco Mastromatteo. Their first performance in October 2010 resulted in critical acclaim, winning them Prize for the best Chamber Music Recital at The University of Texas at Austin in 2011. Dr. Botes holds a D.M.A in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.M from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He received another M.M. as well as his B.M. from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
He is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. During the summers, he is also the Piano Area Coordinator at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, USA.
Dr. William H. Chapman Nyaho, NCTM
William Chapman Nyaho, a Ghanaian American pianist, maintains an active international career as a solo recitalist, duo pianist, and chamber musician. He has performed in major venues across the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Wigmore Hall in London. He is frequently invited as a guest clinician at colleges and universities and serves as an adjudicator for national and international piano competitions.
Chapman Nyaho has held academic positions including Associate Professor of Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he received the Distinguished Professor Award and held the Heymann Endowed Professorship. He has also been Visiting Professor at Colby College and Pomona College, Adjunct Professor at Pacific Lutheran University, and Artist-in- Residence at Willamette University. In addition, he has taught at the Adamant Music School and Interlochen Arts Camp and currently maintains a private studio in Seattle. His service includes board membership with Choral Arts Northwest and the Seattle Piano Institute; he is presently a trustee of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and recently completed a term as Vice President of Representation & Advocacy for the Music Teachers National Association.
A dedicated advocate for composers of African descent, Chapman Nyaho is editor of the five-volume Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora (Oxford University Press), which received the 2022 MTNA-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award. He has contributed to the International Directory of Black Composers and written pedagogical works for ABRSM’s Piano Star Duets and Oxford’s Piano Time. His critically acclaimed solo recordings—Senku, Asa, and Kete (MSR Classics)—together with duo releases such as Aaron Copland: Music for Two Pianos and Five by Four with the Nyaho/Garcia Duo—have been widely praised.
His many honors include the 2025 MTNA Distinguished Service Award and the 2025 Frances Clark Center Lifetime Achievement Award.
Xiaohui Yang, DMA
Chinese pianist XIAOHUI YANG, a winner of the 2017 Naumburg International Piano Competition, has been hailed by the press as a “tastefully polished musician” (Haaretz, Israel) and “a magician of sound and virtuosity” (La Libre, Belgium). She has been featured in performances throughout four continents, including in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Ozawa Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Seoul Arts Center.
Ms. Yang has been a soloist with ensembles including the Louisiana Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Acadiana Symphony, Curtis Symphony, Galveston Symphony and Poland’s Capella Bydgostiensis. Solo and collaborative performances include recitals for Portland Piano International, Shriver Hall Concert Series (Baltimore), Union College Concert Series (Schenectady, NY), Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts (Chicago) and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (Katonah, NY).
A dedicated chamber musician, Ms. Yang has taken part in renowned North American festivals such as Marlboro, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Banff and Taos, and has performed with luminaries such as Peter Wiley, Charles Neidich, Roberto Diaz and the Dover String Quartet. Ms. Yang has been invited to perform on tours with Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute and Curtis on Tour at concert halls in the United States, Korea, and Greece. She is also a founding member of the Steans Piano Trio, alongside Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra violinist Eunice Kim and Boston Symphony Orchestra Assistant Principal cellist Oliver Aldort.
Ms. Yang is a graduate of Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ignat Solzhenitsyn and was a recipient of the Festorazzi Prize for the best graduating piano student. She earned her master’s degree at The Juilliard School as a student of Robert McDonald, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Conservatory, under the tutelage of Boris Slutsky. Before moving to the United States, Ms. Yang studied at the Attached Music School of Shenyang Conservatory of Music with Danwen Wei, Xianwei Cheng and Rosemary Platt. Xiaohui Yang lives in Tacoma, WA, where she is faculty at the University of Puget Sound.
String Division
Dr. Rose Bellini
Cellist Rose Bellini is an adventurous musician accomplished in traditional, experimental, and interdisciplinary performance. She regularly performs with classical music ensembles, modern dance companies, bands, and chamber and orchestral groups across the country. Her career has included appearances in venues ranging from neighborhood bars to Off Broadway to Denali National Park to Carnegie Hall. She has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wordless Music Orchestra, Ensemble Signal, FLUX Quartet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, East Village Opera Company, American Opera Projects, folk singers, and rock bands. Based in Seattle, Rose performs with Seattle Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Modern Orchestra, the Sound Ensemble, Inverted Space Ensemble, Candlelight Concerts, singer/songwriters, rock bands, studio musicians, and other artists across musical genres in the Pacific Northwest. Her live recording of Steve Reich’s Cello Counterpoint has been regularly highlighted by NPR’s Performance Today. In addition to her classical pursuits, Rose is a songwriter, cellist, arranger, and orchestrator for the band Clouds of the West, as well as a member of the band tov. A graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington, her primary teachers were Emilio Colón and Janos Starker. Rose leads a dual career as a non-profit professional, and volunteers her time to local arts organizations to provide fundraising strategy and leadership.
Dr. Junheng Chen
Dr. Junheng Chen is a dynamic violinist and passionate educator whose career bridges orchestral excellence, solo artistry, and innovative teaching. She currently serves as a principal and sectional violinist with leading ensembles such as Symphony Tacoma, Tacoma City Ballet Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, and the Binghamton Philharmonic. As a soloist, Dr. Chen has earned numerous national and international accolades and has performed in world-renowned venues across Asia, Europe, and North America—including Carnegie Hall and Kodak Hall.
A strong advocate for contemporary music and cross-cultural collaboration, Dr. Chen frequently premieres new works, reflecting her commitment to artistic innovation and diversity in programming.
She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Violin Performance and Literature, with a minor in Music Theory, from the Eastman School of Music, where she was nominated for the 2020–2021 Teaching Assistant Prize by the String Department. Her students thrive in both their musical and academic pursuits, with several earning acceptance to prestigious institutions including the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Dr. Svend Rønning
Svend Rønning is Chair of the String Division at Pacific Lutheran University and Professor of Music.
Dr. Rønning is a native of the Pacific Northwest and holds his own undergraduate degree in violin performance from PLU , which he earned in 1989. He subsequently earned a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University.
He is of the most active violinists in the Puget Sound, serving as Concertmaster of Symphony Tacoma, as well as performing frequently as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and recording artist. Dr. Rønning is also Artistic Director of the Second City Chamber Series , Tacoma’s award-winning producer of chamber music concerts and
chamber music educational programs.
Svend Rønning has appeared in venues around the world, including the Aspen, Eastern, Harkness, Jerusalem, Methow, Pacific, Rhode Island, Spoleto and Wintergreen Music Festivals and has served as Concertmaster of various orchestras including the Charlottesville Symphony, the San Jose Symphony, the Spoleto U.S.A. Chamber Orchestra, and the Tacoma Opera Orchestra. As soloist, he has appeared with numerous orchestras, including the Charlottesville Symphony, the Prague Radio Symphony, Orchestra Seattle, and Symphony Tacoma. His prior teaching appointments have included faculty positions at the Eastern Music Festival, the Shenandoah Conservatory,
and the University of Virginia.
Dr. Rønning’s teachers include Syoko Aki, Sidney Harth, Jaap Schröder, and Ann Tremaine. His own students have gone on to other music programs at Indiana University, Boston University, the North Carolina School for the Arts, Western Washington University, the University of Virginia, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Yale School of Music as well as a Fulbright Fellowship. Several students now occupy positions in such organizations in leading orchestras around the United States, with some former students active as popular and folk musicians and soloists. Others teach Music in public and private schools around the country while many others are employed in diverse non-music careers from Film Direction to Law to Medicine.
Wind Division
Shelly Myers
Shelly Myers currently serves as Lecturer in oboe at Pacific Lutheran University, holds the second oboe position in the Olympia Symphony Orchestra, and actively freelances in the Seattle area. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Lethbridge, and a Master of Music degree from the University Of Cincinnati College Conservatory Of Music, where she also pursued doctoral studies. Prior to moving to Seattle, she served as Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Alabama School of Music, and principal oboe of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Myers is an active orchestral, chamber, and solo performer, and has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Symphony Tacoma, Northwest Sinfonietta, Seattle Modern Orchestra, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She has toured throughout the United States, Europe and Canada as both a soloist and chamber musician. Chamber music is a main passion for Shelly, and as a member of the Cavell Trio (along with Osiris Molina, clarinet and Jenny Mann, bassoon), she recorded three albums on the Blue Griffin record label. Shelly’s life in Seattle also includes personal training/fitness instructing, time in the mountains hiking/skiing, and spending time with her husband Mike, and their son Seth.
PAST WA STATE MTNA PERFORMANCE COMPETITION RESULTS
WASHINGTON STATE
Results
2025-2026 WA State Results (pdf)
2025-2026 WA State Underrepresented Composer Awards (pdf)
2024-2025 Washington State Results (pdf)
2023-2024 Washington State Results (pdf )
2022-2023 Washington State Results (pdf)
2021-2022 Washington State Results (pdf)
2020-2021 Washington State Results (pdf)
2019-2020 Washington State Results (pdf)
2018-2019 Washington State Results (pdf)
2017-2018 Washington State Results (pdf)
2016-2017 Washington State Results (pdf)
2015-2016 Washington State Results (pdf)
2014-2015 Washington State Results (pdf)
NORTHWEST DIVISION
Results of Washington State students
2023-2024 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2022-2023 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2021-2022 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2020-2021 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2019-2020 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2018-2019 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2017-2018 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2016-2017 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
2015-2016 WA State NW Division Results (pdf)
NATIONAL
Results of Washington State students
2018-2019 WA State National Winners (pdf)
2017-2018 WA State National Winners (pdf)