Pianists From Newington, Danbury, Mystic Place Perform With Hartford Orchestra

First Prize – Michelle Lee, recipient of the Jean Sterling McRae Memorial Award, earned $1,500 and an opportunity to perform with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra during the 2008-2009 season. After receiving an Honorable Mention in 2007, Miss Lee impressed the judges with her brilliant performance of Frederic Chopin's Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22. Hartford Symphony Orchestra Music Director Edward Cumming said "I'm delighted to see Michelle break through this season as the first prize winner. She is a very fine musician and a lovely young woman, and we all look forward to her performance with the Hartford Symphony next season." Originally from Newington, Miss Lee is a senior at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, and has been studying piano for the past 12 years with Sima R.Brodsky of the Hartt School Community Division.

Second Prize - Remy Zhang earned $1,000 for the second year in a row, this year for his exceptional performance of the third movement of Chopin's Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, Op. 11. Mr. Zhang first played piano when he was 5 years old in Shenzhen, China. After immigrating to the United States in 2002, his family settled in Danbury. Mr. Zhang is currently a senior at Danbury High School, and has continued his piano studies with Edith G. Sullivan.

Third Prize - Jeffrey Li earned $500 for his impressive performance of the first movement from Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 in C Major. Mr. Li began playing piano seven years ago. Mr. Li lives in Mystic and is a junior at Fitch High School in Groton. He presently studies piano with Jonathan Bass of the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division.

Honorable mention went to Yuqi Zhang of Woodbridge, Alex Chen of Cheshire, and Jenny Liu of Orange. Ms. Zhang began studying piano in 1998 while in Canada. She currently attends Amity High School, and studies piano with Michelle Zingale at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven. Mr. Chen started playing violin at the age of five. He is currently a sophomore at Cheshire High School, and has studied violin with Kyung Hak Yu of Yale University for the past six years. Ms. Liu started studying violin eight years ago, and is a freshman honors student at Amity High School. Her violin teacher is Fiona Murray of the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven.

The finalists were chosen after participating in a preliminary competition held in March. The presiding judges were Hartford Symphony Orchestra Music Director Edward Cumming, Manchester Civic Orchestra Music Director Lou Buckley, Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra Music Director John Eells, and Bloomfield Public Schools Arts Coordinator Joe Olzacki.

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra's Young Artists Competition, now in its 34th season, is a statewide competition for students in grades 9 through 12 who reside, are enrolled as full-time students, or study their principal instrument with their teacher in Connecticut. The goal of the competition is to encourage talented young instrumentalists in the pursuit of their musical studies. The First Prize in the Young Artists Competition is dedicated to the memory of Jean Sterling McRae, a longtime member of the Hartford Symphony Volunteer Association and Women's Auxiliary and founder of the competition. -- www.hartfordsymphony.org