MUZIKA FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE
presents
MANOLOV INTERNATIONAL
MUZIKA
MUSIC COMPETITION
NEW YORK
NEWS
2022 Manolov International Competition Results Announced:
PIANO Group A (ages 7-10)
First Prize and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Classical Music
- William Huang
First Prize and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Romantic Music
- Daniil Demin
First Prize
- Jodi Brown
Second Prize and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Modern Music
- Rachel Lim
Second Prize and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Baroque Music
-Aaron Huang
Second Prize
- Clovis Chu
Third Prize
- Marlanzo Wiiliams
- Trinity Eng
- Aadya Malhotra
Special Prize for Youngest Contestant
- Sa'Diah Gittens
PIANO Group B (ages 11-14)
First Prize, Gold Medal and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Bulgarian Music
- Christian Hsieh
First Prize, Gold Medal and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Baroque Music
- Grace Lan
Second Prize, Silver Medal and Special Prize Robert Schumann
- Dale Yang
Second Prize, Silver Medal and Special Prize George Gershwin
- Shawn Lim
Second Prize and Silver Medal
- Felicia Garramone
Third Prize and Bronze Medal
- Darren Leung
- Hannah Hui
Honorable Mention Diploma
- Nicole Marino
- Katherine Zhao
- Andrew Pang
VIOLIN Group B (ages 11-14)
First Prize and Gold Medal
- Dylan Kim
- Shawn Lim
Second Prize, Silver Medal and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Bulgarian Music
- Timothy Pang
Second Prize, Silver Medal and Special Prize for Best Interpretation of Contemporary Music
- Noah Busch
PIANO Group C (ages 15-18)
First Prize was not awarded
Second Prize, Silver Medal and Scholarship
- Jun Kyong Park
Third Prize, Bronze Medal and Scholarship
- Symone Smith
Honorable Mention Diploma
- Samuel Woolley
VIOLIN Group C (ages 15-18)
- First Prize, Gold Medal and Scholarship
Shunzhe Zhang
Results announced for
Bulgarian Stipend in the name of Prof. Rostislav Yovchev
Posted May 10, 2022
Georgi Chikolov - $350.00 USD Stipend and Master Class with Prof. Yi-Yang Chen
Boris Bikov - $350.00 USD Stipend and Master Class with Prof. Yi-Yang Chen
Boril Markov - $300.00 USD Stipend
Konstantin Bashikov - Distinction
Hristiana Haralampieva - Distinction
Martin Stamatov - Distinction
Congratulations to all laureates!
2022 Preliminary Round Results
Posted May 3, 2022
The Preliminary Round Jury has submitted their scores. The fallowing contestants from Age Group B (11-14 years old) and Age Group C (15-18 years old) advance to the LIVE Final Round on May 14, 2022 (in alphabetical order):
Andrew Pang
Christian Hsieh
Dale Yang
Darren Leung
Dylan Kim
Felicia Garramone
Grace Lan
Hannah Hui
Jacob Park
Katherine Zhao
Nicole Marino
Noah Busch
Samuel Woolley
Shawn Lim
Shunzhe Zhang
Symone Smith
Timothy Pang
Congratulations to all finalists!
*The contestants who did not pass to the Final Round will receive a certificate for participation in the mail.
Pianist Barry Tognolini joins the Jury and Faculty of the
2022 Manolov International Competition
Originally from Australia, Barry Tognolini was fortunate to have trained from an early age as a classical pianist with Hungarian born concert artist and teacher Madame Alice Carrard, a student of composer Bela Bartok. This foundation gave him the skills he needed to develop his own style as a pop pianist, composer and music arranger as well. Performing on TV and stage from the age of 12 years, Barry decided to pursue a teaching career and after graduating from college taught for 10 years for the Department of Education in Western Australia as a music specialist and piano teacher. After an invitation to perform in Washington DC he decided to once again pursue a career performing as a pianist. In 1990, he signed a recording contract with Sony Music and his live concert performances then took him beyond Australia to many parts of the world. After a performance with Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Katherine McPhee and David Foster, Barry decided to retire from touring and began a career in sales with Steinway and Sons in Atlanta, GA and then Long Island, NY. In 2019 he transferred to Steinway Hall in Manhattan where he remained until his recent retirement in March 2022.
AUSTIRAN PIANIST
PROF. MARKUS PRAUSE JOINS THE JURY AND FACULTY IN 2022
(full bio)
BULGARIAN STIPEND IN THE NAME OF THE LATE PROF. ROSTISLAV YOVCHEV ANNOUNCED FOR 2022
Click HERE for information on how to apply.
Born in Sofia in 1961. Rostislav Yovchev began to study piano (private lessons) at age 6 with Mrs. Margarita Hlebarova, then graduated the Music College “L. Pipkov” in the class of Mrs. Lyudmila Stoyanova. In 1984 he completed his Bachelor and Master degrees in Bulgarian State Conservatory (now National Music Academy “Pancho Vladigerov”) in Prof. PhD. Atanas Kourtev class. Laureate of several national and international competitions:
First prize at the National Competition “Svetoslav Obretenov”, 1980.
Third prize at the International Competition in Salerno, Italy, 1981.
First prize at National Competition “Karol Szymanowski”, 1982.
Third prize at the International Competition “Pilar Bayona” – Spain – 1983.
The only prize in the competition for the best performance of Spanish music from the course in Santiago de Compostela, 1984.
1993 – specialization at the Royal Conservatory, Brussels, piano /piano concerto/ chamber music and Lied accompaniment.
Rostislav Yovchev actively performed as a soloist and chamber musician not only in Bulgaria but also in Germany, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus, Turkey, South Korea , Tunisia and others. He took part in the most prestigious festivals in the country and abroad, “Salon des Arts”, “Sofia Music Weeks”, “Varna Summer”, “Hopes, Talents, Masters”, “Apollonia” (Bulgaria), “Filarmonika”, “Music in October in Carthage”, Tunisia, etc.
He gives master classes in Bulgaria /Sozopol, Shumen, Pleven/, Korea /Seoul/, Romania /Iasi/, Turkey /Ankara/, Trieste /Italy/
Numerous records for Radio Sofia, Warsaw, Berlin and Zaragoza. CDs include: performance of the solo works of Andrei Stoyanov, in a chamber ensemble with cellist Ventsislav Nikolov /for “Gega New”/ flutist Ina Georgieva and Korean clarinetist Yo Yangde and with Turkish viola player Bediz Kanikli ( works of azerbaidjanian composer Hatira Cafer).
For two years (2002-2004), Rostislav Yovchev was a piano professor at the “Institute Superieure de Musique”- Sousse, Rep. of Tunisia.
Jury member of national competitions – “Sv. Obretenov”, “Classical and Contemporary”, “Liszt – Bartok”, “Andrei Stoyanov”, “Great Teachers” and a Competition for young accompanists in Pleven.
In the last years, the programs of his piano recitals are all thematically dedicated to specific authors and eras.
During the period 2006 – 2008, Rostislav Yovchev performed integral all Piano Concertos by L. v. Beethoven”, accompanied by Shumen Philharmonic.
Winner of the “Cristal Lyre” of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers in two categories: “Instrumentalists” and “Music critic” for 2011 and the “Golden Lyre” .
In June 2013, he received the degree “PhDoctor” with a theme related to the Bulgarian piano music.
Rostislav Jovchev was a Piano professor at the National Music Academy “Pancho Vladigerov” in Sofia, and a Head of the Department – “Piano” to Theory, Composition and Conducting Department.
Dedicated Jury Member and patron of Bulgarian Music at the 2018 and 2019 Manolov Internatioanl Competition.
The 2022 Manolov International Competition is now accepting applications
The competition is open to pianists and violinists of all nationalities and ages 7 to 18 as of May 14th, 2022. All applications must be completed and submitted before the deadline – 11.59pm EST on April 17th, 2022.
STUDENT MASTERCLASS, SEMINAR, Q&A and CONCERT
given by
PROF. YI-YANG CHEN, TAIWAN
FACULTY MEMBER AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Open to Pianists 7 to 25.
Participants must prepare ONE or TWO pieces of the classical piano repertoire. Teachers and Parents are welcome to attend.
Date: Wednesday March 18, 2020
Time: 4.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue: Steinway & Sons Gallery, Melville, NY
Student Participation Fee: $80.00
Violinist Shenghua Hu
(full bio)
and
Pianist Josu de Solaun
(full bio)
announced as Jury Members
of the 2020 Manolov International Competition
The 2020 Manolov International Competition is now accepting applications
The competition is open to pianists and violinists of all nationalities and ages 7 to 18 as of May 2nd, 2020. All applications must be completed and submitted before the deadline – 11.59pm EST on April 1st, 2020.
2019 Manolov International Competition Results Announced:
Group A (ages 7-10)
First Prize, Gold Medal and Award for Best Interpretation of Baroque Music
- Gillian Vit, violin
First Prize and Gold Medal
- Christian Hsieh, piano
Second Prize and Silver Medal
- Nicole Marino, piano
Third Prize and Bronze Medal
- Hannah Hui, piano
- Christopher Singh, piano
Honorable Mention Diploma
- William Wei, piano
Group B (ages 11-14)
First Prize and Gold Medal
- Tomothy Pang, piano
Second Prize and Silver Medal
- Jacob Park, piano
- Hriday Sanakal, piano
Third prize was not awarded
Honorable Mention Diploma
- Jonathan Tang, violin
Scholarship for Bulgarian Music
- Timothy Pang, violin
Jacques Ibert Prize
- Aaron Sorkin
Group C (ages 15-18)
First Prize, Gold Medal and Scholarship
- Evan Cheng, violin
- Brenden Davis, piano
Second Prize, Silver Medal and Scholarship
- Alejandro Del Rivero, piano
Third Prize, Bronze Medal and Scholarship
- Jianzhi Wu, piano
- Enrick Woo-Therrien, piano
Honorable Mention Diploma
- Luca Sharbani, piano
- Kalayah Johnson, piano
Creative Arts Scholarship to ETSU
- Brenden Davis, Alejandro Del Riero,
Enrick Woo-Therrien, Luca Sharbani
STUDENT MASTERCLASS, SEMINAR, Q&A and CONCERT
given by
PROF. ROSTISLAV YOVCHEV
National Academy of Music, Sofia
Open to Pianists 7 to 25.
Participants must prepare ONE piece of the classical piano repertoire. Teachers and Parents are welcome to attend.
Date: Thursday March 21, 2019
Time: 4.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue: Steinway & Sons Gallery, Melville, NY
2019 Preliminary Round Results
Posted February 25, 2019
The Preliminary Round Jury has submitted their scores. The fallowing contestants advance to the LIVE Final Round on March 23, 2019 (in alphabetical order):
Aaron Sorkin
Alejandro Del Rivero
Arda Cetin
Brenden Davis
Christian Hsieh
Christopher Singh
Evan Cheng
Enrick Woo-Therrien
Gillian Vit
Hannah Hui
Hriday Sanakal
Jacob Park
Jianzhi Wu
Jonathan Tang
Kalayah Johnson
Luca Sharbani
Nicole Marino
Timothy Pang
William Wei
Congratulations to all finalists!
*The contestants who did not pass to the Final Round will receive a certificate for participation in the mail.
Dr. Marc Silverman announced as a Jury Memer of the 2019 Manolov International Competition
Chairman of Piano Department of Manhattan School of Music, NYC. Founding Member of the Carnegie Trio. FULL BIO
Violinist Evgeny Grach announced as a Jury Memer of the 2019 Manolov International Competition
Evgeny Grach was born into a musical family in Moscow in 1959. Between 1977 and 1982 he studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Professor Bezrodny, and continued his studies afterwards with Leonid Kogan and Valery Klimov.
In 1981 he received a diploma at the Wieniawski Competition in Poznan, and in 1983 won first prize at the Russian Federation Competition. The same year, he became leader of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and from 1991 to 1996 led the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. In 1997 he became the Principal Second Violin of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Concert featuring Violinist
Alexandra Lee at Carnegie's Stern Auditorium in NYC
Date: October 10, 2018
Time: 2.00pm
Location: Carnegie Hall
Address: 881 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019
FOR INFORMATION VISIT THE CARNEGIE HALL WEBSITE: www.carnegiehall.org
Addmission is free.
Vladimir Tiagunov – A pianist by profession and coach by passion
Children are usually encouraged to learn to play at least one musical instrument in their childhood. While most children pursue it briefly and move on to other interests, there are those who discover an innate passion for it. Passion paves the way for gifted youngsters, who continue to hone their skills, growing up to become legends in their own right. Vladimir Tiagunov is one of those rare exceptions, who continued to master his favorite most instrument- the piano, to become a truly
accomplished musician whose passion and inclination towards music is unparalleled. Vladimir took to the piano as a fish does to water. He had an inherent understanding of music, a gift possessed by very few. During his childhood, he drew inspiration from his father, who played the piano despite being an engineer by profession. Vladimir began playing from the early age of 6, and as he grew, so did his immense talent. Vladimir was particularly fond of improvisation, channeling is creativity and spontaneity into his music. From altering the composition, to adding his own personal touch to it, Vladimir thoroughly enjoyed taking his audience and fellow musicians on a journey. Vladimir elaborated on this further, “Music is a medium that I have grown to love. I am able to communicate my feelings and emotions, to those around me. When I perform, I live in the moment and nowhere else. There is no greater feeling in the world, and that is the true beauty of
improvisation and the power of music.”
Today Vladimir has won numerous awards and accolades in recognition of his passion, dedication
and prodigal talent. Vladimir won the gold medal at the Forte International Competition for “Best Piano Technique”, held at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in 2016. He won the 13th LISMA International Music Competition in 2017, for being the top performer. In 2019, he was awarded the Certificate of Excellence for extraordinary dedication to the field of Music Education and outstanding student achievement at the Forte International Music Competition. Vladimir’s spellbinding performances, both solo as well as chamber, have led him to travel across various countries like Germany, Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and the United States among others. He has performed at some of the most renowned venues in the world including Carnegie Hall,
Metropolitan Museum of Art Concert Hall, various Steinway Halls, Tilles Center and the University of
F. Chopin Concert Hall in Poland, to name a few. When he isn’t wowing audiences, Vladimir spends a great deal of time teaching piano to his students, many of whom are laureates of international Piano competitions as well. His vast reservoir of talent has landed him a place as a piano professor at the Long Island Conservatory, tutoring budding musicians and shaping their careers. As an active concert pianist, he has to balance his commitments towards his students alongside his own performances, all while frequently organizing several student recitals as well. He has tutored a number of brilliant pianists, among whom there are several Laureates of Piano Competitions. Along with that, he also serves as a jury member at several prestigious international music competitions. Vladimir Tiagunov is a living testament of how passion and dedication can lead to greatness. A firm believer of the saying, practice makes perfect, Vladimir is certain that his deep rooted passion has brought him where he is today. Vladimir elaborated, “While practice, discipline and dedication are
cornerstones to success, none of it would be possible without a burning passion and a curious mind that’s willing to create, experiment and innovate. That’s true success.”
Steinway & Sons - Long Island
has been announced as a proud partner of the 2019 Manolov International Competition
The 2019 Manolov International Competition is now accepting applications
The competition is open to pianists and violinists and chamber ensembles of all nationalities and ages 7 to 18 as of March 23rd 2019. All applications must be completed and submitted before the deadline – 11.59pm EST on February 15th, 2019.
2018 Manolov International Competition Results Announced:
Group A (ages 7-10)
First Prize, Gold Medal and Jazz Prize
- Timothy Pang, piano
- Russel Wong, violin
Second Prize and Silver Medal
- Hannah Hui, piano
- William Wei, piano
Third prize was not awarded
Group B (ages 11-14)
First Prize was not awarded
Second Prize and Silver Medal
- Kevin Wu, piano
Third Prize and Bronze Medal
- Jonathan Tang, violin
Group C (ages 15-18)
First Prize, Gold Medal and Scholarship
- Jason Yu, piano
Second Prize, Silver Medal, Gavrilin Prize and Scholarship
- Brenden Davis, piano
Third prize was not awarded
Special Prize for Bulgarian Music
- Jonathan Wu, piano
Piano Recital by Pianist Yi-Yang Chen at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in NYC
Date: October 18, 2017
Time: 8.00pm
Location: Carnegie Hall
Address: 881 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019
FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION VISIT THE CARNEGIE HALL WEBSITE: www.carnegiehall.org
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Benefit Recital
MUZIKA Foundation for the Future and Garden City Cathedral of the Incarnation announce a Solo Recital to be given by Pianist Veselin Ninov. The program will feature works by Frederic Chopin and all gathered donation will go to the Scholarship and Awards fund for the 2018 Manolov International Competition.
Date: October 15, 2017
Time: 4.00pm
Location: Cathedral of the Incarnation
Address: 36 Cathedral Ave, Garden City, NY 11530
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Featured Events
SUN OCT 15, 2017
BENEFIT RECITAL given by
PIANIST VESELIN NINOV
The program will feature works by Frederic Chopin
THU FEB 22, 2018
FINAL ROUND OF THE FIRST MANOLOV INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Auditions begin at 12.00pm
Award Ceremony and Winners Gala Concert begins at 7.00pm
SUN SEP 23, 2018
STEINWAY DEDICATION
& CD RELEASE
Concert celebrating the newly reconstructed Concert Grand
& promoting MUZIKA FOUNDATION's latest CD
SUN OCT 7, 2018
BENEFIT CONCERT given by
PIANIST VESELIN NINOV
& THE NEW YORK VIRTUOSOS
The program will feature works by Mozart, Gershwin & Piazzolla
THU MAR 21, 2019
MASTERCLASS, SEMINAR & CONCERT given by
PROF. ROSTISLAV YOVCHEV
The program will feature works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin,
Liszt, Vladigerov and others.
SAT MAR 23, 2019
FINAL ROUND OF THE SECOND ANNUAL MANOLOV INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Auditions begin at 11.00am
Award Ceremony and Winners Gala Concert begins at 7.00pm
SAT MAY 18, 2019
LAUREATES RECITAL
The program will feature works by Vivaldi, Rossini, Chopin and Debussy
SUN SEPTEMBER 22, 2019
VESELIN NINOV AND THE NEW YORK VIRTUOSOS IN CONCERT
The program will feature works by Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninov
SUN NOV 10, 2019
LAUREATES & FACULTY RECITAL
The program will feature works by Bach, Kuhlau, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Gershwin and others
SAT MAY 14, 2022
FINAL ROUND OF THE THIRD MANOLOV INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Auditions begin at 1.30pm
Award Ceremony and Winners Gala Concert begins at 7.30pm
MON MAY 30, 2022
MASTER CLASSES
Prof. Yi-Yang Chen hosts virtual master classes with laureates.