Welcome to the official page for the 4th Youth Piano Competition and Festival, sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Chapter at the University of Northern Colorado Greeley. We are so happy you are here, and we hope to see you at this year's Piano Competition and Festival!
***In accordance with UNC guidelines, this year's competition and festival will be held online.***
Important Dates
Sunday, February 7, 2021 - Due by 11:59 pm
- Competition Registration and Video Submission Form Due
- Competition Registration Fee Due
- Master Class Application Deadline
Saturday, February 20, 2021 - 11:00 am
- Zoom Master Classes and Winners Announced
- Virtual Recital Playlist Released
Requirements and Forms
Continue to scroll for all the information you will need.
What will this year look like?
The 4th Annual Youth Piano Competition and Festival will take place fully online in accordance with UNC health and safety guidelines. The festival will still include a competition, master classes, winner announcements, and participants' recital.
Competition
The 2021 piano competition will be conducted through prerecorded video submissions. Participants are required to complete the Competition Registration and Video Submission Form by Sunday, February 7, 2021. A registration fee of $15 must be payed by check (made out to UNC) postmarked by February 7, 2021 (see the 2021 Competition Rules and Regulations for more details). Competition participants will record their competition pieces in accordance with the Competition Video Submission Requirements, and all competition videos must be submitted via the Competition Registration and Video Submission Form by 11:59 pm on Sunday, February 7, 2021.
Adjudicators will review the video submissions for each participant after the deadline for submissions passes. Adjudicators' feedback will be recorded in a document and sent out to the teacher of each competitor via email between February 10th and February 20th. This feedback will not include information about the competition winners. Winners will be announced live via Zoom on February 20th. To learn more about our 2021 competition adjudicators, continue to the biography section below!
Master Classes
To participate in a master class, the teacher of the proposed student must complete the Master Class Application Form by February 7, 2021. Master class participants will be notified by February 10th. Master classes will be held live over Zoom, using a Webinar format, at 11:00 am, Saturday, February 20, 2021. The Zoom link will be distributed via email to the competition participants and teachers on February 13th. To learn more about our 2021 master class clinicians, continue to the biography section below!
Winners Announced
The competition winners for each age category will be announced live via Zoom immediately following the master classes on February 20, 2021. The master classes will begin at 11:00 am.
Winners' Prize Distribution
Winners will be mailed a gift card for the amount of prize money for their age category (specified in the 2021 Competition Rules and Regulations) after the competition winners have been announced on February 20th.
Participants' Recital
The participants' recital will be released as a YouTube playlist through the UNC-MTNA YouTube account, and will be shared via email on February 20, 2021.
Meet our 2021 Master Class Clinicians
Yuan Li
Yuan Li is a third-year doctoral student and pianist at the University of Northern Colorado, currently she is pursuing the Doctor of Arts in piano performance under the guidance of Dr. Lei Weng. Her secondary emphasis is piano pedagogy, under the guidance of Dr. Justin Krawitz. She is an active solo pianist and chamber musician, and a graduate assistant teaching class piano courses and private piano lessons for the college students at UNC. She enjoys exploring each student’s musical potential. She was the vice president of the MTNA-UNC Collegiate chapter from 2018-2020.
Helber Fernandes Ribeiro
Helber Fernandes Ribeiro, born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, started his musical studies when he was fifteen years old. Later he joined the Souza Lima Conservatory, where he studied piano with the piano teacher and pianist Miguel Laprano. In 2012, he started his bachelor’s degree in Music Performance – Piano at the University of Sao Paulo, where he studied with the pianist Dr. Eduardo Monteiro.
In 2017, after graduating from USP, Helber was admitted to the Master of Music in Piano - Performance program at the University of Wyoming, where he studied piano with Dr. Theresa Bogard. In 2018, Helber transferred his degree to Fort Hays State University, where received the Master of Professional Studies in Music Performance degree under the supervision of Dr. Irena Ravitskaya. In 2019 he was admitted to the Doctor of Arts Performance at the University of Northern Colorado, where he currently studies under Dr. Lei Weng. In all these American institutions, Helber was also Graduate Assistant, being highly active performing and teaching music.
Helber has been awarded in several piano competitions in different countries, including the Souza Lima Piano Competition, Conductor Spartacco Rossi National Competition, CSMTA Young Artist Competition, and KSMTA Young Artist Competition. In addition, he has participated in important music festivals such as Campos do Jordão International Music Festival, Santa Catarina International Music Festival, and many others, where he had the opportunity to perform to important pianists, such as Konstantin Scherbakov, Kristín Taylor, Amy Lin, Boaz Sharon, Cristina Ortiz, Tali Morgulis, Guigla Katsarava, Paul Rutman, Ricardo Castro, Alexandre Dossin, and Flavio Varani. In addition, Helber is also an active music researcher and has developed, for instance, a well-received project on Beethoven’s last piano sonata (Op. 111) as part of his work at the Sao Paulo Research Foundation.
Dr. Justin Krawitz
Justin Krawitz is an Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado . He currently serves as the interim Associate Dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts. Dr. Krawitz is a Vice President of the Colorado state Music Teachers Association. He values the professional development opportunities and the sense of community that MTNA provides to teachers at all stages of their careers. He is a regular presenter at MTNA state and national conferences and for State MTA Local Association.
Meet our 2021 Adjudicators
Michela Byrne
Michela Byrne, current Vice President of MTNA-UNC, is very excited to be involved with the 4th MTNA-UNC Youth Piano Competition and Festival. This year will be her third year as an adjudicator for the competition. Michela began playing piano in grade school with the South Suburban Music Teachers Association, studying with Pam Simpson. She attended and performed in several SSMTA events each year as well as playing in her high school bands. She is currently pursuing a Music Education degree from the University of Northern Colorado under Dr. Justin Krawitz. After completing her degree, she plans to teach music in a district in the Greeley area. Michela has been teaching privately for three years and has research interests in teaching music to students with special needs.
Genesis Green
Genesis Green is a Junior Music Education Major with an Emphasis in Piano at the University of Northern Colorado. She has been playing piano for just over 10 years and is currently studying under Dr. Edward Rothmel at UNC. Genesis has 4 years of teaching private piano lessons and has previously adjudicated for the 2020 UNC-MTNA Youth Piano Competition. Currently, Genesis is serving as the Secretary for the 2020-2021 UNC-MTNA board. She is from Cheyenne, WY.
Dee Dee Flanagan
Dee Dee Flanagan is a junior at the University of Northern Colorado, majoring in K-12 Instrumental Music Education. She is a pianist and a cellist. Dee Dee has studied piano with Dr. Justin Krawitz and Dr. Adam Zukiewicz during her time at UNC. She is a private piano lessons teacher of five years, working mostly with beginning and early intermediate students. Dee Dee served as an adjudicator for the 2020 UNC-MTNA Youth Piano Competition and Festival. Dee Dee is currently serving as the 2020-2021 UNC-MTNA Chapter President. She is from Thornton, Colorado.
Priscilla Sifuentes
Priscilla was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. She is a third-year Music Education student at UNC, and her primary instrument is the Classical Guitar. She is a Bright Futures Scholar, a World Language Crest Scholar, and a Kevin Easley Guitar Memorial Scholar.
Priscilla has been playing music for as long as she can remember and has been playing guitar since she was 11 years old. Priscilla's music teaching experience has been a great part of her life as a musician, and it is her dream career to teach music to her community and in private settings. Priscilla has taught contemporary music styles on keyboard, guitar, bass guitar, and some drum set for almost 5 years now.
This is the second piano competition that Priscilla has the opportunity to be part of! Currently, she is the Social Coordinator of the MTNA Chapter at UNC which means she runs our Social Media and Website.
Spencer Hanson
Spencer Hanson is a sophomore classical percussionist in Instrumental Music Education at UNC. He has been playing percussion for over 11 years, studying under Dr. Julie Strom and was the recipient of the John Philip Sousa Band Award in 2019. He has experience directing band and has taught private lessons on percussion, flute, and low brass. He is currently serving as the 2020-2021 At-Large Officer of MTNA. Spencer is from Westminster, Colorado.
Sooji Kim
Sooji Kim, a native of South Korea, started to play the piano at the age of seven. Prior to come to United States, she attended Qingdao University in China under the guidance of Xing Zhou, Bo-Chao Dong, and Hui Chen. While she was studying in China, she got the third place at the Shandong Province Piano Competition in collegiate group.
In United States, she has been a top-prize winner at numerous competitions including Missouri Teacher National Association state honors audition (MMTA) and Great Composers Competition international music competition for young instrumentalists in Best Brahms Performance Division. She was also a winner of Missouri State University Concerto Competition, where she performed with the MSU Orchestra.
She finished her master’s degree at the Missouri State University in piano performance with Dr. Hye-Jung Hong and as a graduate assistant. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in piano performance and collaborative piano as a full-tuition scholarship recipient at the University of Northern Colorado with Dr. Justin Krawitz and Dr. Willem van Schalkwyk. Kim teaches class piano and individual lesson as well as plays with the opera, choir, and vocal class as a graduate teaching assistant. She is a member of Music Teachers National Association (MTNA.) She actively teaches private students and also finds the beauty of music by collaborating with musicians.
Credits:
Created with images by Michał Parzuchowski - "boy during a warm-up before a piano concert" • Felicia Buitenwerf - "untitled image"