Recent Competition Winners

We’re in the thick of competition season and NEC is delighted to report that many students and recent alumni are wowing juries and coming away with significant prizes. Congratulations then to the following:

Shen Lu ’11 M.M. ’12 GD, former student of Alexander Korsantia, who won first prize in the 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Misha Namirovsky ’14 DMA, student of Hung-Kuan Chen, who won the German Piano Award in Frankfurt, Germany.

Trumpeter Elmer Churampi ’17, student of Benjamin Wright, who won the Music Teachers National Association national competition in Chicago.

Hilton Head International Piano Competition, March 10—17, 2014

The mission of the annual Hilton Head International Piano Competition is to encourage and support excellence in the performance of classical piano music by showcasing the talents of young pianists on the threshold of their careers in a competition adjudicated by internationally acclaimed judges, and to offer additional performance opportunities.  As winner, Shen Lu received a $15,000 cash prize, New York Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall performance, an engagement with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (2014-15) and other engagements offered by various presenters.

Shen Lu, a native of Jiangsu, China, has won several piano competitions abroad including first prize in the Hong Kong Open Piano Competition and second prizes in the Jingzhong Competition and the Asia Chopin Piano Competition. He also won third prize and best Chinese Musicial Work prize in the Gulangyu Piano Festival. Most recently, he won the silver medal at the Wideman Piano Competition and consequently was invited to perform a solo and chamber music concert in Shreveport, Louisiana in June 2010.

Shen has a special interest in contemporary Chinese repertoire. He has performed works by Shuai Zhang, Peixun Chen, Ping Gao, and has performed the piano concerto by Anlun Huang with the Xiamen Orchestra. In terms of more traditional repertoire. he has performed the first concertos by Liszt and Brahms. His performance of the Saint-Saëns Second Piano Concerto with the Central Conservatory of Music Youth Orchestra was broadcast on CCTV, the largest national television network in China.

Shen completed his Master’s degree with Alexander Korsantia at NEC in 2013. He is currently studying with NEC alumna Haesun Paik ’87 M.M. ’93 A.D at the Cleveland Institute of Music for his Artist Diploma Degree.

German Piano Award of the International Piano Forum Frankfurt, March 15—17, 2014

The "German Piano Award", founded in 2011 by the "International Piano Forum", is an annually presented piano award. From the elite of young pianists, who perform solo recitals and orchestral concerts worldwide, the six most creative among them are chosen by an independent Jury and invited to Frankfurt am Main. The six nominees present their repertoire to the audience in a public concert at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt am Main.The subsequent award ceremony and the announcement of the awardee form the highlight of the event.

As winner, Misha Namirovsky was presented with prize money of €20,000 as well as performance engagements and career support.

Namirovsky has received a deep and versatile education, spanning four countries and three continents. He began his studies at in his native city of Moscow, and continued his musical development in Israel, Germany and the USA. Throughout his growth as musician, Michael was accompanied and guided by wonderful musicians and renowned pedagogues such as Solomon Mikowsky, Eliso Verssaladze and Hung-Kuan Chen.  Further important influences include Mitsuko Uchida, Alfred Brendel and Peter Weiley. Misha holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Yale University. He is currently pursuing his D.M.A at the New England Conservatory in Boston.

A two-time recipient of the Karen Sharet Scholarship in Israel, Namirovsky has been a prize winner of many international competitions including “Louisiana international piano competition”, Koscuisco competition in New York, Sendai competition in Japan, and Spanish Composers Competition in Madrid, Spain.
Not only a soloist, Namirovsky is a passionate chamber musician, stemming from the time he was a participant at the Marlboro festival in Vermont. He is a founder of Mod3TRE, a piano trio with NEC colleagues, violinist Tessa Lark and the cellist Deborah Pae, which won the Silver Medal at the 2012 Fischoff Competition. Future engagements include concerts in Washington D.C., at the Weill recital hall in New York, in Germany, Italy, Israel as well as collaboration with the St. Petersburg Capella Symphony Orchestra in Russia.

The MTNA National Student Competition, March 22-26, Chicago, IL

The purpose of the Music Teachers National Association performance competitions are to provide educational experiences for students and teachers and to recognize exceptionally talented young artists and their teachers in their pursuit of musical excellence. The state competitions are considered the primary educational level with the division and national levels showcasing outstanding performance and honoring significant pedagogical achievement. As winner of the national competition, trumpeter Elmer Churampi ’17 won $3000 in prize money.

A native of Lima, Peru, Churampi began playing trumpet when he was four years old, studying with his father, a trumpeter who plays with Peruvian popular style bands. At age 10, he won his first concerto competition and then proceeded to win in the following two years, as well. At age 13, he was accepted with full scholarship at the Interlochen Arts Academy, graduating in 2013. Churampi has played for National Public Radio’s From The Top radio program. He won the 2013 YoungArts Competition and also the 2013 Jack Kent Cooke Award. At NEC, he has performed both in classical and jazz ensembles.