Joyce Ye is a seventh-grade student at Explorer Middle School. She has been a student of Dr. Yelena Balabanova at the International Conservatory Studio since 2016. As of then, she has earned multiple accolades at events such as the Chopin Northwest Festival, WPTA Singapore International Piano Competition, SCMTA Sonatina Sonata Festival, International French Music Piano Competition, and the Simon Fiset Competition. She was awarded First Prize at the Charleston International Contemporary Music Competition, the Willard Schultz First Place Prize, and the Best of the Festival in Time Era at the EMTA Jazz, Rag, and Blues Festival. Joyce has also represented SCMTA as a performer at the Washington State Music Teachers Association State Conference. In 2023, Joyce was one of the winners of the SCMTA Concerto Competition and performed with the Mukilteo Community Orchestra. She also had the honor of performing with the Pacifica Chamber Orchestra in 2024. Most recently, she won the Grand Prix in the Chopin Concerto Competition and will be performing with the Bellevue Symphony in October. Over the past summer Joyce also attended Young Artist Piano Seminar at Cleveland Institute of Music and Seattle Piano Institute at University of Washington.
Beyond her musical achievements, Joyce currently serves as the Membership Chair for the International Beethoven Society of Young Musicians. She has also contributed to fundraising concerts supporting human rights and war victims in Ukraine. In her free time, Joyce enjoys reading and playing sports like tennis and volleyball.
2026 CHOPIN NW COMPETITION REGISTRATION BEGINS NOVEMBER 1, 2025.
PLEASE READ ALL THE RULES CAREFULLY. Some rules have changed from 2025.
The Northwest Council of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization will continue the tradition of encouraging talented young American pianists to study and perform classical music, especially highlighting the music of Chopin. We will primarily focus on the Seattle competition and furthering young local talent. The NW Chopin Foundation holds a yearly competition featuring the finest youth talent in Washington state. Each succeeding year, the Festival has grown to becoming one of the region's largest and well-known piano competitions. The very first meeting of The Northwest Chapter of the Chopin Foundation was held September 20, 2001 at the Women's University Club in Seattle, Washington. President Dr. Steven Lagerberg opened a meeting with eight other Chopin enthusiasts in attendance. Steven presented his vision for the Chopin Foundation which was, very simply, to showcase Chopin and his beautiful music.
CHOPIN FOUNDATION OF THE UNITED STATES, NORTHWEST COUNCIL
Dr. Hanna Cyba, President
Dr. Adam Aleksander, Immediate Past President
Dr. Yelena Balabanova, Vice-President
Dr. Steven Lagerberg, Founder
Judy Baker, Founder, Artistic Co-Director, Board Member
Cathy Carpenter, Secretary, Board Member
Dr. Mary Chandler, Treasurer, Co-Artistic Director
Allan Park, Past President, Board Member, Registrar
Yunbo Cassady, Board Member
Conney Vernall, Board Member
Dr. Nino Merabishvili, Board Member
Dr. Vladimir Balabanov, Board Member
Risa Jun, Board Member
Christopher Moorhead, Webmaster
Alison Bell, Past President
Helen Belvin, Honorary Past President
CHOPIN'S MAZURKAS
Frédéric Chopin enjoyed composing mazurkas throughout his life, writing his first at the age of fifteen and completing his last only days before his death in 1849. Dance miniatures, they comprise the largest collection of all of Chopin’s varied works, totaling at least fifty-nine, forty-one of them published during his lifetime. With them, Chopin created the most unequalled repertoire of a country’s authentic folk music ever attempted, an unforgettable set of small-scale pianistic masterpieces. An expatriate for half of his life, he kept the flame of Poland alive in himself by writing music that echoed his country’s nationalistic soul. Reflecting his own mixed feelings after leaving Poland for Paris, these mazurkas, from joyful to melancholic, exhibit a strikingly wide emotional spectrum.
Chopin’s mazurkas were his most privately cherished pieces, very personal and innovative musical utterances, essentially displaying a lyrical memoire of his life. A reserved man, he rarely performed them in public, preferring to play them only at private Parisian soirees for intimate gatherings surrounded by his adoring friends. His mazurkas are expressive jewels of inexhaustible melodic invention. Their varied harmonies, filled with flowing melodies and unusual tonalities, must have evoked in him tender memories of his Polish childhood. Nowadays, the mazurkas are among Chopin’s most beloved and frequently performed piano compositions.
Although it is possible to find similarities between his mazurkas and authentic Polish folk tunes, Chopin never explicitly quoted from any of them. Instead, he created a kaleidoscopic synthesis of the many elements of their unusual harmonic, rhythmic and expressive nuances. The composer drew his inspiration for his mazurkas from three Polish folk dances, the mazur, the kujawiak and the oberek, stylistic forms he knew well from his many childhood travels to the Polish countryside. All three of these forms are written in triple time and have a characteristic rhythm and temperament. Although Chopin’s mazurkas are written in a dance form, they are undanceable, being works to be appreciated esthetically for their unique style and individuality.
Non-Polish pianists have often avoided playing these mazurkas, their tricky rhythms, stretched chromaticism and irregular accents being difficult to grasp for those unfamiliar with Polish folk music. Similarly, they have rarely been performed at the annual Chopin Northwest Festivals. Now, in order to draw more attention to these unusual pieces, the 2026 Chopin Festival has established a separate prizewinning Mazurka Division. It is hoped that a growing familiarity with these diminutive compositions will encourage a better understanding of this singular musical genre and with it a greater admiration for Chopin’s extraordinary musical genius.
ARCHIVES:
The Origins of Chopin’s Melancholy
Sophisticated Restraint
The Scent of the Lily
The Piano Capitol of the World
Chopin in the Time of Cholera and COVID
Recognition
What Motivated Chopin
An Educated Guess
A Personal Challenge
Emotional Music
The Long Suffering
Of Hands and Heart
Why Do We Have a Chopin Festival
A Fateful Journey
Chopin's Pianos
What's Not to Like About Chopin's Music
To Compete or Not Compete
Dr. Steven Lagerberg is retired as a practicing physician from Kaiser Permanente and is the founder of the NW Council of the Chopin Foundation. Steven is the author of: Chopin's Heart: The Quest to Identify the Mysterious Illness of the World's Most Beloved Composer and Essays on Chopin.
Copyright 2020-21. Steven Lagerberg. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Support The Chopin Foundation of the United States
The Northwest Council of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization, will continue the tradition of encouraging talented young American pianists to study and perform classical music, especially highlighting the music of Chopin. Your donation is tax deductible and we would like to express our sincerest appreciation for your donation. Your generous donations, of any amount, are deeply appreciated and go a long way in supporting Chopin NW. Your generous donation to Chopin NW supports the arts, music, and local organizations that make a lasting impact on our community. We deeply appreciate your contribution. To receive a tax deduction notice and a heartfelt thank-you email, please contact Dr. Hanna Cyba, President of Chopin NW, at hannacyba@hotmail.com to notify us of your donation. Thank you
We gladly accept:
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Northwest Chopin Festival
4957 Lakemont Blvd. SE
Suite C-4, #259
Bellevue, WA 98006