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2026 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artist Competition Winners

Presented by the Richardson Symphony Orchestra

Congratulations to our four finalists in the Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artist Competition! We were blown away by your incredible talent and dedication, and we are so thankful to our guest judges, collaborative pianists, First United Methodist Church Richardson, RSO board members and staff who made this competition possible.
1st Place: Eiline Tai, Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107 (Colburn School of Music)
2nd Place: Byeol Kim, Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D Major (Shepherd School of Music at Rice University)
3rd Place: Leah Amory, Nielsen: Violin Concerto, Op. 33 (Curtis Institute of Music)
Honorable mention: Dylan Kinneavy, Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191 (Yale School of Music)
 
This year’s esteemed judges:
Brinton Averil Smith, principal cellist of the Houston Symphony
Alexander Kerr, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
See Eiline Perform on March 7th
From left to right: Brinton Averil Smith, Alexander Kerr, Dylan Kinneavy, Leah Amory, Byeol Kim, Eiline Tai, Charles Eisemann, Maestro Clay Couturiaux

The 2026 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artist Competition is now closed to submissions. Check back in Summer 2026 to apply for next year’s competition!

Past Recipients

Winners of the 2025 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 13, 2024
Left to Right: Alan Chow (Eastman School of Music); Yoshikazu Nagai (San Francisco Conservatory of Music); 2nd Place, Leyla Zeynalova (Longy School of Music); 1st Place, Daria Podorozhnova (Manhattan School of Music); 3rd Place, Pyotr Akulov (Oberlin Conservatory of Music); Charles Eisemann;  Dr. Pamela Mia Paul (University of North Texas); Maestro Clay Couturiaux.

Daria performed with the RSO at our March 1, 2025 Concert.
Winners of the 2024 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 13, 2024
 
Left to right: Honorable Mention, Sophie Leung (Violin, Colburn Conservatory of Music); 1st place, Eliane Menzel (Violin, Julliard School of Music), 3rd place Fiona Shea (Violin, Colburn Conservatory of Music), 2nd Place, Nicholas Wong (Cello, Home Schooled), Judge David Geber, Judge Patinka Kopec, Maestro Clay Couturiaux, Charles Eisemann.
 
Eliane performed with the RSO at our March 2, 2024 Concert.
Winners of the 2023 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 14, 2023
 
Left to right: Maestro Clay Couturiaux; Honorable Mention, Vanessa Yu (University of Toronto); Charles Eisemann; Anne Eisemann; Judge, Alexandre Moutouzkine (Manhattan School of Music); 3rd place, Huiping Cai (Eastman School of Music); 1st place, Zhengyi Huang (University of Michigan); Brian Eisemann
 
Not pictured: 2nd place, Angela Lau (University of Cincinnati)
 
Zhengyi performed with the RSO at our March 4, 2023 Concert.
Winners of the 2022 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 29, 2022
 
Left to right: Judge, Ko Iwasaki (toho Conservatory in Tokyo); Maestro Clay Couturiaux; Judge, Chloe Kiffer (Manhattan School of Music); Charles Eisemann; Anne Eisemann; 1st place, Nicholas Hammel (University of Texas at Austin); 2nd place, Elaine He (Julliard); 3rd place, Christian Luevano (John H. Guyer High School)
 
Nicholas performed with the RSO at our March 5, 2022 concert.
Winners of the 2021 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 9, 2021
 
Left to right: Charles Eisemann; 1st place, Solomon Ge (student of Yoshikazu Nagai); 2nd place, Angie Zhang (University of Michigan); Anne Eisemann; 3rd place, Matthew Figel (Eastman School of Music) 
Not pictured: Honorable Mention, Jacob Nydegger (University of North Texas); Judge, Joyce Yang (Silver Medalist of the 12th Van Cliburn Competition); Judge, Jon Nakamatsu (Gold Medalist of the 10th Van Cliburn Competition) 
Solomon performed with the RSO at our March 6, 2021 Concert.
Winners of the 2020 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 11, 2020
 
Left to right: Judge, Bion Tsand (University of Texas at Austin); 1st place, Katherine Audas (Rice University, Shepherd School of Music); 3rd place, Maya Kilburn (high school); 2nd place, Magdiell Antequera (University of Cincinnati); Judge, Phil Lewis (University of North Texas College of Music and Chamber Music International Artistic Director); front row: Charles and Ann Eisemann
 
Katherine performed with the RSO at our March 7, 2020 Concert.

Winners of the 2019 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 29, 2022

Left to right: Judge Paul Schenly (Cleveland Institute of Music); Judge Jerome Lowenthal (The Juilliard School); 3rd place, Young Sun Choi (University of Indiana, Jacobs School of Music); 2nd place, Scott Sherman (Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music); Simon Karakulidi (Park University); RSO Music Director / Conductor Clay Couturiaux.  

Simon Karakulidi performed with the RSO at our March 2, 2019 concert.

Winners of the 2018 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 29, 2022

Front row: 2nd place, Nathan Le (Harvard University / New England Conservatory of Music); 3rd place, Isaiah Kim (Strath Haven High School); 1st place, Aaron Olguin (University of North Texas.) Back row: RSO Music Director / Conductor, Clay Couturiaux; Judge Anthony Elliott (University of Michigan); Judge William Fedkenheuer (Miro Quartet, University of Texas at Austin.)

Aaron Olguin performed with the RSO at our March 3, 2018 concert. 

Winners of the 2017 Ann & Charles Eisemann International Young Artists Competition held on January 29, 2022

Judge Alexandre Moutouzkine; Judge Nelita True; second place winner, Ximei Xiao (Professional Children’s School in New York); first place winner, Iskandar Mamadaliev (middle school student, studying with Stanislav Ioudenitch); third place winner, Mi Ou Lee (University of Kansas); Maestro Clay Couturiaux.

Iskandar performed with the RSO at the March 4, 2017 concert.

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