CHOPIN FOUNDATION OF THE UNITED STATES, NORTHWEST COUNCIL

Welcome to Chopin Northwest

2025 Results

Congratulations to all the pianists who participated at the 2025 Chopin NW Festival, as well as their parents and teachers. Grand Prix Gold Winners in the solo divisions are Helen Belvin Scholarship Prize recipients.

6 YEAR OLD DIVISION: Adjudicator: Dr. Theresa Bogard
GOLD: Charlotte Wu (Teacher: Ni Liu)
SILVER: Rose Huang (Teacher: Ni Liu)
SILVER: Shuwei Zhang (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)
BRONZE: Aiden Yang (Teacher: SH Youn)

7 YEAR OLD DIVISION: Adjudicator: Dr. Ernest Barretta
GOLD: Erica Xu (Teacher: Yanan Li)
GOLD: Juno Wang (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
SILVER: Ava He (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
SILVER: Elena Nien (Teacher: Hanna Cyba)
SILVER: Jeffrey Lou (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
SILVER: Jinluo Pei (Teacher: Hong Liu)
SILVER: Kate Yuen (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
SILVER: Simone Chai (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: Sofia Yu (Teacher: Hanna Cyba)
BRONZE: Claire Yuen (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Ivy Yu (Teacher: Hong Liu)

8 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Theresa Bogard
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Athena Li (Teachers: Tracy Xu/Peter Mack)
GOLD: Daniel Wang (Teacher: Hanna Cyba)
GOLD: Ellie Zhang (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)
SILVER: Celine Cheng (Teacher: Maria Khavin)
SILVER: Chloe Zhang (Teacher: Grace Huang)
SILVER: Orson Lin (Teacher: Hanna Cyba)
SILVER: Selina Shen (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Ella Song (Teacher: Yanan Li)
BRONZE: Eric Liang (Teacher: Maria Khavin)
BRONZE: Jason Fang (Teacher: Sisi Ye)
BRONZE: Mia Xu (Teacher: Yanan Li)

9 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Elizabeth Schumann
GOLD: Annabelle Wang (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)
GOLD: Harper Li (Teacher: Ekaterina Melkamini)
SILVER: Daniel Zhao (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)
SILVER: Yunlei Wang (Teacher: Xing Jin)
BRONZE: Caroline Zhang (Teacher: Maria Maltseva)
BRONZE: Rebecca Li (Teacher: Grace Huang)

10 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Grace Liu
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Chloe Nari Wang (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Crystal Jiao (Teacher: Hanna Cyba)
GOLD: Felix Zhang (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)
SILVER: Aiden Dong (Teacher: Alexandra Tsirkel)
SILVER: Aimee He (Teacher: Alexandra Tsirkel)
SILVER: Brian Liang (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)
SILVER: Evan Wang (Teacher: Peter Mack)
SILVER: Kaidi Jin (Teacher: Hong Liu)
BRONZE: Kaichen Jin (Teacher: Hong Liu)
BRONZE: Kyle Tan (Teacher: Emily Cho)
BRONZE: Liam Sun (Teacher: Renata Shumskaya)
BRONZE: Raymond Zhou (Teacher: Tatiana Sharapova)
BRONZE: Stefan Zhou (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)
BRONZE: Steven Li (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)

11 YEAR OLD DIVISION: Adjudicator: Dr. Ernest Barretta
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Alexander Wang (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Alvin Lee (Teacher: SH Youn)
GOLD: Daniel Luan (Teacher: Peter Mack)
GOLD: Ru-Shan An (Teacher: Hanna Cyba)
SILVER: Ethan Xu (Teacher: Hanna Cyba)
SILVER: Nicole Wang (Teacher: Peter Mack)
SILVER: Rei Yamazono (Teacher: Nino Merabishvili)
SILVER: Siwon Park (Teacher: Nino Merabishvili)
SILVER: Yilan Jin (Teacher: Nancy Jang)
BRONZE: Alice Xiong (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)
BRONZE: Emily Lu (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Lawrence Kim (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)
BRONZE: Lilian Flowers (Teacher: SH Youn)

12 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Theresa Bogard
GOLD: Arthur Zhang (Teacher: Nino Merabishvili)
GOLD: Cara Fan (Teacher: Nino Merabishvili)
GOLD: Lucas Popescu (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: Caiden Kim (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: Caleb Wie (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: Ivy Zheng (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Claire Kang (Teacher: SH Youn)
BRONZE: Grace Kaiboriboon (Teacher: Maria Maltseva)
BRONZE: Joyce Wang (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Kevin Ji (Teacher: Ke Lao)
BRONZE: Sydney Cui (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Yuyang Liu (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)

13 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Elizabeth Schumann
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Zhuoxi (Daniel) Liu (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
GOLD: Ethan Kyte (Teacher: Nino Merabishvili)
GOLD: Jane Kwon (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: Aaron Hsiao (Teacher: Nancy Jang)
SILVER: Brandon Li (Teacher: Ekaterina Melkamini)
SILVER: Charity Yang (Teacher: Tien Yin Chen)
SILVER: Junhao Fang (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: Katelyn Denq (Teacher: Renata Shumskaya)
SILVER: Paolo Moreni (Teacher: Joan Schoepflin)
BRONZE: Aaron Jin (Teacher: Randall Jackson)
BRONZE: Alexander Xie (Teacher: Oksana Ejokina)
BRONZE: David Zhang (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)

14 YEAR OLD DIVISION: Adjudicator: Dr. Ernest Barretta
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Connor Wang (Teacher: Tatiana Sharapova)
SILVER: Eli Antony (Teacher: Robin McCabe)
BRONZE: Audrey Cui (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Jonathan Yang (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)

15 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Grace Liu
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Alexander Vollmer (Teacher: SH Youn)
GOLD: Isabel Yang (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: Emily Qi (Teacher: Peter Mack)
SILVER: Hannah Kwon (Teacher: SH Youn)
BRONZE: Albert Zhang (Teacher: Adam Aleksander)
BRONZE: Keshav Mohan (Teacher: Chen Liang)
BRONZE: Princeton Kang (Teacher: Nancy Jang)

16 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Theresa Bogard
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Taiyo Oishi (Teacher: Oksana Ejokina)
GOLD: Angelina Mitrianu (Teacher: Ekaterina Melkamini)
SILVER: Allison Lin (Teacher: Yelena Balabanova)
SILVER: Haowen Zhang (Teacher: Grace Huang)
SILVER: Jian Zhou Chen (Teacher: Alexandra Tsirkel)

17-18 YEAR OLD DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Elizabeth Schumann
GOLD: Jerry Chang (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)
GOLD: Michelle Cao (Teacher: Sasha Starcevich)
SILVER: Haifeng Lin (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)
SILVER: William Wang (Teacher: Peter Mack)
BRONZE: Courtney Tam (Teacher: Yelena Balabanova)
BRONZE: Yuanrui Zhao (Teacher: Tatiana Lanford)

19 ADULT AMATEUR DIVISION Adjudicator: Dr. Theresa Bogard
SILVER: Godwin Hong (Teacher: SH Youn)

CONCERTO DIVISION
GRAND PRIX GOLD: Joyce Ye (Teacher: Yelena Balabanova)
GOLD (Alternate): Arabelle Grote (Teachers: Ni Liu/Peter Mack)
SILVER: Alexander Vollmer (Teacher: SH Youn)
SILVER: William Feng (Teacher: Christopher Bowlby)
BRONZE: Eugene Li (Teacher: John Lee)

2025 Chopin NW Concerto Division Grand Prix Winner, Joyce Ye will perform with Bellevue Symphony in October!

Joyce Ye, Piano

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.

2025 Adjudicators

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING, Department of Piano

DR. THERESA BOGARD

American pianist Theresa Bogard is a dynamic, versatile performer dedicated to expanding the canon of traditional piano repertoire. Her early career focused on performances of music by women composers, and she continues to include works by other lesser known composers in her varied programs. As a recipient of a coveted Fulbright grant, Bogard was able to explore her interest in historical performance practice and fortepiano studying at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague in the Netherlands. That same year she was a top-prize winner in the International Mozart Fortepiano Competition in Bruges, Belgium. A world traveler with a passion for other cultures, Bogard has performed on five continents in Belgium, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and throughout the United States. Her extensive discography includes a wide variety of recordings ranging from solo piano to chamber music collaborations, from music of living composers to her specialty in fortepiano and historical performance practice. She has served on the faculty of the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy and the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival in Germany and has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and at the Ravinia Steans Institute with cellist Misha Quint. Since her first concert tour in Brazil in 2007, she has become obsessed with the music of Brazilian composers. Returning to Brazil whenever possible, she has given masterclasses and performances at universities in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Goiania and Porto Alegre. In 2018, she toured five cities in Brazil with the Trio das Nações and will return to Brazil in 2022 for a recording of works for flute and piano by Brazilian composers.

Internationally known as a pedagogue, she has been honored with numerous teaching awards. She attracts students from around the world as professor of piano at the University of Wyoming, where she also served as chair of the music department from 2010 to 2016. In 2008, she was chosen as the Wyoming Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation. Her students have distinguished themselves in numerous piano competitions and been accepted into the top graduate and undergraduate programs in the country including: The Julliard School, Eastman School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music and Peabody Conservatory of Music among others. She has also served as an adjudicator at numerous regional, national and international piano competitions. Dr. Bogard is a Steinway Artist.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Department of Music

DR. ELIZABETH SCHUMANN

Dr. Elizabeth Schumann has a diverse career portfolio of projects, recordings, and performances which have brought her all over the world as recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. The Washington Post noted her playing as “deft, relentless, and devastatingly good—the sort of performance you experience not so much with your ears as your solar plexus.”

The first place winner of both the Bösendorfer International Piano Competition and the Pacific International Piano Competition, Elizabeth has won over 25 prizes and awards in other major national and international competitions, including the Cleveland International Piano Competition and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Elizabeth was honored with the prestigious Gilmore Young Artists Award, and was highlighted in a PBS Television documentary on the Gilmore Festival.

She has performed in such venues as the Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Bösendorfer Saal, Toronto’s Koerner Hall, and Montreal’s Place des Arts. She was featured at the Cannes Film Festival, the Gilmore Festival, Australia’s Huntington Festival, the Ravinia “Rising Stars” Series, and National Public Radio's “Performance Today”, and her recitals have been broadcast live on public radio and television in cities around the world, including Washington D.C., New York, Sydney, Cleveland, Montréal, Dallas, and Chicago. Elizabeth also gave the world premiere performance of Carl Vine's Sonata No. 3, which the composer dedicated to her.

As a dedicated chamber musician and proponent of community engagement, Elizabeth is a core member of the Ives Collective, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, and Ensemble San Francisco, a piano quartet dedicated to inspiring a more inclusive world. Elizabeth also conceived and created Son et Lumiére: an ongoing performance series that transforms outdoor urban spaces with live music accompanied by large scale video projections to reach beyond the concert hall and bring music into accessible public spaces. The goal of the series is to allow audiences to meet music on their own terms and experience its power without barriers of price or pretense.

Elizabeth and her sister, Sonya Schumann, formed the Schumann Duo to engage diverse audiences with innovative combinations of piano music, theater, literature, art, and technology. The Schumann Duo’s tours of the US, Canada, and Australia were acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. In response to declining funding for arts education in the United States, Elizabeth devised and directed Piano Carnival, a Schumann Duo project to introduce free, high quality classical concert music to children in areas without arts education. Over 20,000 copies of Piano Carnival have been distributed for free, and multimedia lesson plans and the Piano Carnival iPad and iPhone applications are available free online.

Elizabeth has carried on the pedagogical tradition of her teacher, Sergei Babayan, as faculty at Summer and Winter Performing Arts with Juilliard, Itzhak Perlman’s Perlman Music Program, and the Crowden Chamber Music Workshop. She is the director of the Schumann Studio, a recording space in San Francisco designed to provide a personal individually tailored recording experience for classical musicians.

JUILLIARD SCHOOL, Pre-college Piano

DR. ERNEST BARRETTA

Ernest Barretta was born in McKeesport, Pa., and was a winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artists Competition and the Pittsburgh Musician's Club Competition. Among his prizes are the Rudolph Serkin Prize (Oberlin), Strine Award (University of Arts), and Zierler Award (Peabody). He has had extensive performance experience as a soloist and chamber musician in the U.S. and abroad. Among his recent appearances are performances with the National Gallery Orchestra, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony, and the St. Petersburg Symphony. He has recorded as solo artist and with chamber groups on the MRC and Musician's Showcase labels. He is also active as a composer and conductor in the Baltimore area. He joined the Juilliard Pre-College faculty in 2001 and was formerly a member of the faculty at Peabody Conservatory and Towson University (Maryland). He holds a BM from Oberlin Conservatory, a MM from University of Arts, and a DMA from Peabody Conservatory. He had early studies in piano, organ, and composition in the Pittsburgh area, and later studies with Sanford Margolis, Jonathan Shames, and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

JOHN HOPKINS/PEABODY PREPATORY

DR. GRACE LIU

Grace Liu is a Taiwanese-American pianist who performs as a soloist and collaborative pianist in the U.S. and Taiwan, “impressing [audiences] with her finesse and sensitivity” (Orange County Register). She is the recipient of the Pauline Favin Memorial Award in Piano and the Clara Ascherfel Accompanying Award at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She was also a finalist and recitalist at the Wonderlic Piano Competition and Schlern International Music Competition. As concerto soloist, she has also featured with the UC Irvine Symphony as the winner of the concerto competition.

Liu has been invited to participate in numerous international music festivals, including the Banff Piano Masterclass (Canada), Bowdoin International Music Festival (ME), Beethoven Institute (NY), and Schlern International Music Festival (Italy). She has also participated in master classes taught by Leon Fleisher, Menahem Pressler, Boris Berman, John Perry, Stephen Hough, as well as the Jupiter and Takacs Quartets.

A dedicated teacher, Liu currently holds faculty positions at Peabody Preparatory, St. James School, and the Park School of Baltimore, and she maintains a private studio in Baltimore.

Liu earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Institute, where she also received her Master of Music degree in piano performance. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at University of California, Irvine. Her major teachers include Alexander Shtarkman, Lorna Griffitt, Rose Hsin-I Chen, and Daniel Hanley.

2025 Competition Rules 

PLEASE READ ALL THE RULES CAREFULLY. There are important changes for 2025 Chopin NW Festival Piano Competition.

  • REGISTRATION PERIOD:
    Registration has ended. No refunds given after registration is complete.
  • COMPETITION DATE:
    SATURDAY, FEB 8, 2025, 9 am to 6 pm (please keep entire day open. You cannot request a specific time zone or time slot)
  • COMPETITION LOCATION:
    OVERLAKE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
    9900 Willows Rd NE, Redmond, WA 98052
  • GOLD MEDALIST'S CONCERT DATE:
    SUNDAY, FEB. 9 at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm
  • GOLD MEDALIST'S CONCERT LOCATION:
    OVERLAKE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
    9900 Willows Rd NE, Redmond, WA 98052
  • CONCERTO DIVISION (VIDEO FILE SUBMISSION ONLY!)
    Video deadline: JAN 20, 2025. NO YOUTUBE LINKS. Dropbox folder link will be provided to concerto division entrants. MP4 or .MOV video format only.
  • MAXIMUM NUMBER OF APPLICANTS: 250
    Online registration ends when 250 applicants are accepted. No waitlist.
  • REPERTOIRE:
    Students may perform either solo or concerto or both. If performing both, they must be registered twice as SEPARATE registrations. 
  • MUSIC POLICY:
    Pianists must ONLY perform ORIGINAL works by Chopin. Abridged, modified, transposed, newly-discovered music, adapted or modernized versions will be quickly rejected and pianist will be disqualified. Books must have measure rows numbered and presented to the adjudicator just prior to performance. After performance, your music and adjudicator notes will be handed to you. In addition to books, downloaded public domain music of Chopin is permitted. However do not present loose sheets. Instead, place in presentation folder or 3 ring binder. 
  • SOLO DIVISION:
    All selections must be original published compositions of Frédéric Chopin. Abridged, transposed, newly-discovered music, simplified, modified or adapted versions of Chopin's music will be strictly rejected. Single or multiple works of Chopin may be performed, provided the total playing time does not exceed the time limit for the Entrant’s division. Room assistant will ring the bell and the pianist must stop playing when the entrant reaches maximum time allowed. There is no penalty. Entrants may not change or omit repertoire once it has been submitted via the application. All piece(s) must be performed MEMORIZED.
  • CONCERTO DIVISION: CONCERTO DIVISION IS VIDEO FORMAT ONLY!
    PLEASE NOTE: 2025 Concerto Division is open ONLY to residents of WA State.
    Pianist may choose either: FIRST MOVEMENT, SECOND MOVEMENT or LAST MOVEMENT OR a combination of second/third movements as a set. Concerto no. 1 in E minor, Concerto no. 2 in F minor and Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise are permitted only. IMPORTANT: Concerto must be recorded WITH second piano accompaniment and the accompanist face CANNOT be visible. Please do not speak or announce yourself at the beginning of the video. Title your video file with your name. All videos will be uploaded to an official Chopin Youtube Channel by our board and no name will be visible on YouTube. A playlist of all the concerto entrants will be distributed ONLY to other concerto entrants. If a student wins Gold Medal for their concerto movement(s) and perform with an orchestra, they are required to use a different movement in subsequent years. All recordings submitted must be recorded between the time period of November 1, 2024 until the deadline of January 20, 2025. Falsifying the declared recording date will disqualify the winner immediately. DROPBOX link will be emailed to concerto contestants after registration is completed. Pianist must upload their video file on or before January 20th, 2025, midnight. Dropbox link will be deactivated at 12:01 am on January 21st, 2025. No refunds will be issued to entrants failing to upload their video files. Recordings must consist of unedited, uninterrupted video footage of the participant from a single camera angle with coverage of the performer’s hands and face at all times. If more than one work or movement are being performed, all movements and/or pieces must be performed successively in one unedited take and included on one video link. Recordings must be made on acoustic pianos and must be performed MEMORIZED. One winner and one alternate will be chosen. Silver and Bronze medals may also be awarded. Winner must be available for all rehearsals with Bellevue Symphony.
  • AGE DIVISIONS (as of February 8, 2025)
    DIVISION A ages 8 and under. Playing time is up to 5 minutes. Application fee: $65
    DIVISION B ages 9-10. Playing time is up to 6 minutes. Application fee: $70
    DIVISION C ages 11-12. Playing time is up to 7 minutes. Application fee: $75
    DIVISION D ages 13-14. Playing time is up to 8 minutes. Application fee: $80
    DIVISION E ages 15-16. Playing time is up to 10 minutes. Application fee: $85
    DIVISION F ages 17-18. Playing time is up to 11 minutes. Application fee: $90
    DIVISION G ages 19 and up. Playing time is up to 12 minutes. Application fee: $95
    DIVISION H CONCERTO ages 18 and younger. Must be Washington State resident. VIDEO FORMAT ONLY: NO LIVE COMPETITION. Application fee: $95
  • PRIZES:
    SOLO DIVISION: Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals will be awarded. Gold medalists receive medals and certificates and will perform at the Gold Medalists' Concert on February 9, 2025. Gold Medalists who do not perform at the concert will become ineligible for the Helen Belvin Scholarship Prize.

    HELEN BELVIN PRIZE: Helen Belvin cash prizes will be awarded to EIGHT of the most exceptional and most memorable performers. Each adjudicator chooses TWO recipients.
    Medals will be available for pickup by the teachers at Classic Pianos, Bellevue. We will announce when the medals are ready on our facebook page and website (usually 3 weeks after the end of our competition).
  • CONCERTO DIVISION PRIZE:
    Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals will be awarded. The Gold Medalist will perform one movement with Bellevue Symphony on October, 2025. Exact date TBA.

About Us

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 Foundation of the United States

National Directors

Garrick Ohlsson, Honorary Chairman
Blanka A. Rosenstiel, Founder and President
Olga Melin, Vice President
Dr. Michael Caldwell
Anthony DiResta
Brenda Bruce Fountain
Edith Hall Friedheim
Amanda Gill
Malgorzata Markowska
Vivianne Swietelsky
Executive Director
Barbara E. Muze, Executive Director

Artistic Advisory Committee
Adam Aleksander
Agustin Anievas
Kevin Kenner
Margarita Shevchenko
Mikołaj Górecki
Advisory Board
Joel Harrison, American Pianists Association
Gary Ingle, Music Teachers National Association
Ron Losby, Steinway & Sons

Regional Councils
Dr. Mack McCray, San Francisco Council
Dr. Adam Aleksander, NW Council
Robert Joskowiak - Virginia Council

Advisory Council
National & International

Agustin Anievas
Martha Argerich
Emanuel Ax
Jeffrey N. Babcock
John Bayless
Luiz Fernando Benedini
John Corigliano
Christopher T. Dunworth
Charles Dutoit
Nelson Freire
Bruno Leonardo Gelber
Gary Graffman
Horacio Gutierrez 
Marta Istomin
Byron Janis
James Judd
Cyprien Katsaris
Zoltan Koscis
Jacob Lateiner
Garrick Ohlsson
Paloma O'Shea
Daniel Pollack
Maurizio Pollini
Abbey Simon
Michael Tilson Thomas
Charles Wadsworth
Susan Wadsworth
Krystian Zimerman

Regional Councils
San Francisco, California, Barboursville, Virginia

San Francisco, California
The San Francisco Council was organized in 1987. In 1995 the Council introduced the Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, which provides for young piano students an encouragement for following their artistic careers. To join Chopin Membership in the San Francisco area and to learn more about the Council’s activities please go to their web site www.chopinSF.org.

Barboursville, Virginia
The Virginia Council, located in Barboursville, has been officially incorporated as of September 2015. This chapter has been associated with of the Chopin Foundation and has held events for the past 12 Seasons. Please visit www.chopininbarboursville.org to learn more about the Council’s activities in Virginia.

Vignettes
by Steven Lagerberg

The Origins of Chopin’s Melancholy

In the vibrant tapestry of musical history few figures have left such an indelible impression as the renowned composer and pianist, Frédéric Chopin. Employing a remarkable amalgamation of his Polish heritage combined with an artistically creative brilliance, it appears that he fashioned many of his compositions out of intricately entwined memories from his remarkable childhood. Like a painter shaping an assortment of colorful images from a broad palette, Chopin used his piano to skillfully transform his recollections into often-melancholic melodies that continue to captivate audiences to this day. Although just how he accomplished that remains largely shrouded by the enigma of musical genius, are there clues from his life that can shed light on the sources of his inspiration?

Some of those indicators might be traced to his letters to his friends. For example, “Oh, how miserable it is to have no one to share sorrows and joys, and, when your heart is really heavy, to have no soul to whom you can pour out your woes.” Or this, “It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to…I tell the piano the things I used to tell you.” These are the laments of a lonely man, an individual deprived of close companionship. Chopin’s music was recurrently imbued with this sense of sadness, a longing for a bygone era along with the reflections of his own bittersweet memories. A sad and lonely person often will turn to nostalgia in an attempt to recreate the past, but was Chopin really this lonely and if so, why?

Of all of Chopin’s music his Nocturnes express the greatest manifestations of melancholy and nostalgia. He wrote his first one – Opus 72, No. 1 in E minor - shortly after the tragic death of his artistically talented sister, Emilia. She had died suddenly and unexpectedly in their family’s home from a massive pulmonary hemorrhage at the age of fifteen. Then only seventeen, Chopin was devastated; he and Emilia had always been very close. This first nocturne is sadness incarnate.

Chopin’s next foray into writing in this genre came in 1830, mere months following his reluctant departure from his beloved Poland for a highly uncertain future in Paris. Soon after arriving in the City of Light the twenty-year old Chopin became extremely homesick and lonely, terribly missing his friends and family, yet he swiftly rendered these feelings into what would become one of his most popular masterpieces, the Nocturne in E flat major, Opus 9, No. 2.

After his engagement to Maria Wodzinska was over-ruled by her aristocratic parents in 1836, Chopin once again entered a deep funk, wrapping a bundle of her letters together and calling them “My sorrow” (“Moja bieda.”) Out of this misery he created the Nocturnes of Opus 27, containing some of the most melancholically beautiful works he would ever compose. He had translated his feelings of loss and loneliness into marvelous works of art. He would never forget the terrible tragedy of the Russian occupation of Poland nor would he ever separate his personal sorrows from the fate of his beloved homeland. For the rest of his life Chopin would continue to steep his works in his deep emotional well of sorrow.

Chopin’s nostalgia, this melancholic sentimentality for the past, was prompted by his feelings of loneliness, disconnectedness or meaninglessness. Perhaps by revisiting his past he gained much-needed context, perspective and direction. Might it be possible to think that Chopin’s obsessive dwelling on the past, while directing him to create the musical masterpieces the world still enjoys, actually allowed him to find solace and come to terms with his sorrows by becoming psychologically cathartic, even therapeutic?


Steven Lagerberg November, 2024 Paris

ARCHIVES:
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. 

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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

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4957 Lakemont Blvd. SE
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Northwest Chopin Festival
4957 Lakemont Blvd. SE
Suite C-4, #259
Bellevue, WA 98006

Email:
Dr. Hanna Cyba, President

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