Senior Category Jurors

Adam Gyorgy is regarded as one of the finest and most innovative pianists today. With nearly 20 years of solo career, he brings an understanding of qualities and characteristics of a professional performer. He is a recipient of the prestigious Franz Liszt Prize (former recipients are Zoltan Kocsis and Andras Schiff among others), which places him in the company of the greatest pianist in his home country. Adam also has an extensive experience in nurturing young talents. His foundation and Adam Gyorgy Castle Academy has been developing young pianists from all over the world.

Dr. Steven Spooner is a Professor at Peabody Conservatory and a Steinway Artist. Dr. Steven Spooner is passionately devoted to the solo recital as a platform for innovation, he has been engaged and often re-engaged at prestigious venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall. A dedicated and caring teacher of students from around the world, Steven’s pupils have been named winners of multiple prizes at important international and national piano competitions and enjoy performing careers of their own.

Benjamin Loh is a Steinway Artist from Singapore and teaches at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore. He has judged numerous competitions and has taught in festivals in the United States, Europe and Asia. His students have won prizes in local and international competitions, and have furthered their musical studies at prestigious institutions such as The Juilliard School, Royal College of Music (U.K.), Mozarteum University and Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.

Junior Category Jurors

Donna Reid is a leading vocal instructor in New York City. She was a long time instructor at American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Donna Reid’s pedagogic approach is based on the work of Cornelius L. Reid. Reid was a noted vocal pedagogue and author of six books on singing, one translated into German, two into Japanese and one into Korean. Donna Reid is co-author with Cornelius L. Reid of an article entitled, Eighteenth Century Registrational Concepts published in Journal of Singing. 

Zhou Yun performs actively in Singapore, Japan, UK, Spain, Italy and many other European countries. Graduate in Master of Performance with Distinction from the Royal College of Music, she is a passionate teacher and adjudicator in many competitions. Since 2017, Yun has toured and performed in more than 20 Chinese cities including Shen Zhen, Tian Jin, Xia Men, Guang Dong, Shan Dong and Nei Meng Gu, among others.

Stephanie Onggowinoto performed her New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 2017. She received her Master of Music in Performance with Distinction and Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the RCM, having studied with Leon McCawley and Norma Fisher. Praised for her “crystal-clear, luminous sound” and “sensitive playing”, Indonesian pianist Stephanie Onggowinoto has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the United States as a solo artist and chamber musician. She is one of the leading musicians in her generation in Indonesia.

Dr. Yangmingtian Zhao received his doctoral degree double majoring in piano performance and pedagogy with earning a cognate in Music Theory at Northwestern University. Now, he is a music faculty at Northwestern University. Dr. Zhao has been slated to appear in several concerts in various countries and the prestigious venues such as the Carnegie Hall in New York, Cultural Center in Chicago, and Esplanade in Singapore.

A native of Malaysia, pianist Ian Goh enjoys a multifaceted career as a performer, composer, artistic director and educator. He is a sought-after adjudicator for over 50 international piano competitions and music festivals. He is also very much in demand as a teacher, presenting masterclasses, lectures, teacher training programs, piano pedagogue workshops in the United States and throughout Asia.

Gergely Kovacs studied at Franz Liszt Academy of Music Budapest. He is the winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Budapest, a winner of Junior Prima Award in Hungary, which places him among the most talented young musicians in Hungary. His debut at Carnegie Hall received rave reviews in 2019, indicating a promising career overseas as well. Despite of his young age, he is a performing veteran in many countries in Europe, possessing a wide range of repertoire.

As an active soloist and chamber musician, Dr. Heejin An has appeared in venues such as Carnegie Weill Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York and PianoForte in Chicago. As pianist of the contemporary music group Ensemble Blank since 2017, she has appeared at venues including Kumho Art Hall and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary in Korea, promoting contemporary compositions with her colleagues. Dr. An received her doctorate degree from Northwestern University in 2022.