Congratulations to the Winners of the 2021 Radda Rise International Piano Competition!
Keep scrolling to check out the live winners announcement, the winners’ recital, and the winners’ biographies.
ABOUT Radda Rise Competitions
Radda Rise Competitions are dedicated to fostering the musical growth of rising musicians through unique educational opportunities. Aside from just cash prizes, we’re passionate about providing an experience through which young musicians can enhance their musical careers. Within our competitions, each applicant receives a free Radda video review of their competition recordings prior to the judging round along with the option to resubmit new recordings for the judges based on the feedback from their Radda Reviewer. Applicants can choose between several different languages for their reviews. After the competition, applicants have additional educational opportunities such as post-competition live chats with the judges about their performances and ongoing mentorship with the judges.
The Second Radda Rise International Piano Competition took place in 2021 and was open to young pianists throughout the world who were 18 years old or under at the time of the competition.
Category 1: Up to 9 years old
Category 2: 10-13 years old
Category 3: 14-18 years old
Live Panel Discussion with the Jury
May 26th, 2021
Live Winners Announcement
October 5th, 2021
Winners’ Recital
October 10th, 2021
Meet the Winners of Category 1
1st Prize of Category 1
Jade Chen
8 years old, Texas, USA
Learn more about Jade and see her performances of Chopin’s Nocturne Op.20 in C-Sharp Minor and Kuhlau’s Sonatina Op.59, No.1
2nd Prize of Category 1
Benjamin LeSuer
8 years old, Texas, USA
Learn more about Benjamin and see his performances of Mozart’s Sonata No.12 in F Major and Ibert’s Le Petit âne Blanc
3rd Prize of Category 1
Chanya Bayla Somboonvechakarn
9 years old, Thailand
Learn more about Chanya and see her performances of Chopin’s Nocturne Op.9, No.2 and Moszkowski’s Etude Op.72, No.6
Honorable Mention of Category 1
Sara Canal
9 years old, Brazil
Learn more about Sara and see her performances of Bach’s Minuetto in B Minor (French Suite BWV 814) and MacDowell’s Hungarian Op.39, No.12
Meet the Winners of Category 2
1st prize of Category 2
Nao Adèle Murai
12 years old, Brazil
Learn more about Nao Adèle and see her performances of Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccios Op.14 and Debussy’s Jardins sous la Pluie (Estampes)
2nd Prize of Category 2
Katie Moore
13 years old, New York, USA
Learn more about Katie and see her performances of Scarlatti’s Sonata K.125 in G Major and Fauré’s Barcarolle Op.26, No.1 in A Minor
3rd prize of Category 2
Wei-Ning Isabella Ko
12 years old, California, USA
Learn more about Wei-Ning and see her performances of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A minor, K.310 and Kabalevsky’s Rondo Op.59
Honorable Mention of Category 2
Theo Siqueira de Proença Singh
12 years old, Brazil
Learn more about Theo and see his performances of Haydn’s Sonata in D Major, Hob.XVI No.37 and Chopin’s Polonaise in C-Sharp Minor, Op.26 No.1
Honorable Mention of Category 2
Vera Yang
13 years old, California, USA
Learn more about Vera and see her performances of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue XIII and Schumann’s Abegg Variations
Meet the Winners of Category 3
1st prize of Category 3
Aleksandar Tomov
18 years old, Bulgaria
Learn more about Aleksandar and see his performances of Scarlatti’s Sonata in D major K.29 and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz
2nd Prize of Category 3
Angelina Zhang
15 years old, Arizona, USA
Learn more about Angelina and see her performances of Haydn’s Sonata No.46 in E Major, Hob.XVI: 31 and Liebermann’s Gargoyles Op.29
3rd prize of category 3
Michael Abimanyu Kaeng
17 years old, Indonesia
Learn more about Michael and see his performances of Chopin’s Ballade No. 2 and Bartok’s 6 Rumanian Folk Dances
Honorable Mention of Category 3
Celine Chen
17 years old, California, USA
Learn more about Celine and see her performances of Liszt’s Transcendental Étude No.11 "Harmonies du soir" and Rorem’s Piano Sonata No.1, III. Toccata
Honorable Mention of Category 3
Conrad Flake
15 years old, Utah, USA
Learn more about Conrad and see his performances of Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata and Chopin’s Winter Wind Étude
The Judges
Dr. Yoshiko Arahata
Spencer Myer
Dr. Éva Polgár
The Reviewers
Katherine Benson
Vasco Dantas
Darío Llanos Javierre
Nuno Ventura de Sousa
Selene Wu