Natalie Sun
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Natalie Sun (7) is a 2nd grader currently attending school in Salt Lake City, Utah. Natalie started piano at age 4, her mother was her first teacher, and now she is the student of Dr. Ning Lu, who is the Piano Department head at the University of Utah. Natalie has been a prize winner at numerous piano competitions, including first prize at the 2023 Salt Lake piano competition, age 7-10 romantic, first prize at the 2023 Ogden Piano Festival Concerto Competition Elementary group, first prize in Concerto competition (age 7-14) at the 2023 Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Festival, and first prize in young elementary concerto competition at the 2023 summer arts piano competition at the University of Utah. Natalie loves animals, and she wants to be a veterinarian and a concert pianist in the future.
Kourtney Jia
Piano Concerto No. 1, Ludwig van Beethoven
Kourtney Jia (12) is a student pianist who is currently studying with Professor Jie Lu. Kourtney loves music and her recent accomplishments include winning second place in the Elementary Concerto Division of the 2023 University of Utah SummerArts Piano Competition and second place in the Concerto Division of the 2023 Salt Lake Piano Competition. She also won third place in the Elementary Senior Division of the 2022 Weber State University Piano Festival. In addition, Kourtney is in the orchestra at her High School as a first violin and goes to a senior center to share music, joy and love.
Olivia Jiang
Piano Concerto No. 20, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Olivia Jiang is a rising freshman in Salt Lake City. She started playing piano at age five and studies with Dr. Ning Lu. She has performed as a soloist with a live orchestra multiple times and has volunteered as a performer at senior centers for over five years. She most recently won 3rd place in the 2023 Helen Taylor Johannsen International Piano Competition, 2nd place in the 2023 UMTA State Piano Concerto competition, 1st place in the 2022 American Mountain West International Piano Competition, and 2nd place in the 2022 UMTA/MTNA Piano Performance Competition. Aside from music, Olivia also enjoys math, tennis, art, and chess.
Emily Runov
Saint Saens Piano Concerto No. 2, First movement,
Camille Saint-Saëns
Emily Runov is a pianist, born to Russian immigrant parents, who currently studies with Sean Steiner. She has received second place in the senior division at the Weber State University Piano Festival 2023, and more recently has had the honor of winning first place in the Ogden Piano Festival Concerto Competition. Emily would love to continue pursuing music in college, as well as potentially going into the medical field. When Emily isn’t practicing, she loves to ski, read, and spend time with family and friends. She hopes to use music to glorify God and to bring people together.
Maxwell Ji
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Maxwell Ji, age 8, is a 3rd grader in Farmington, Utah. He has been playing piano since age five and studying with Drs. Ning Lu and Jie Lu. He loves piano and enjoys practicing it every day. Maxwell won the first prizes for several piano competitions including the University of Utah SummerArts Piano Solo Competition (2021, 2022, 2023) and Concerto Competition (2022), UMTA Piano Concerto Competition (2021, 2022), Ogden Piano Festival Concerto Competition (2022), Salt Lake Piano Competition (2023), and the Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Festival Solo Competition (2023). In 2022, he performed with American West Symphony and with American Fork Symphony for the Salute to Youth Concert. Besides piano, Maxwell loves swimming, chess, and playing Lego with his brothers.
Christina Sung
Piano Concerto in A Minor, First Movement, Edward Grieg
Christina Sung, age 13, has been studying piano for 4½ years and is a student of Professor Jihea Hong-Park at BYU. Most recently, she won the first prize at the International Keyboard Odyssiad® Piano Competition, the Medici International Music Competition, and the Paderewski International Piano Competition. Christina claimed the Ebony Prize at the 2023 MTNA National Finals after triumphing at the Southwest Division and the State level. She consistently secures first place in many prestigious piano competitions. Christina performed as a soloist with the Utah Symphony, American West Symphony, Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, and the Utah Philharmonic Orchestra after winning the competitions.