\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<\/p>\nTop honors were awarded in the Junior Instrumental, Junior Vocal, and Senior Instrumental divisions, recognizing excellence in technical precision, musical interpretation, and performance.<\/p>\n
In recognition of their achievement, all finalists received monetary awards totaling $21,000 across all divisions and placements to support their continued artistic development. Funds may be used for private instruction, summer programs, higher education, and the purchase or improvement of instruments.<\/p>\n
A panel of judges with international performance and academic experience adjudicated the competition.<\/p>\n
Judges included Antonio Artese, pianist and composer and former dean of the Global Academic Program at Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy; Brynn Albanese, violinist, former Tanglewood concertmaster, and Boston Symphony Orchestra member; Jamie Chamberlin, soprano who has performed with LA Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, and San Francisco Opera; and Robert Koenig, concert pianist with appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and international venues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe level of artistry continues to grow each year, both in depth and maturity,\u201d said Deborah Bertling, PASF Board president. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing musicians arrive not only with strong technical skills, but with a real sense of musical voice and expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, many of these students are part of a broader continuum, returning to the competition after previous recognition or studying with teachers who once stood in their place, which speaks to the strength and reach of this musical community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026 Music Competition winners are:<\/p>\n
Junior Instrumental Division<\/p>\n
First place: Pianist Chloe Emma Silva, a young artist with international performance experience, including appearances in Japan, and training through master classes with university-level faculty. She studies with Natasha Kislenko.<\/p>\n
Second place: Violinist Seungyoo Kim-Jung, a returning PASF award finalist and accomplished youth symphony concertmaster.<\/p>\n
Honorable Mentions: Pianist Leon Guo and violinist Skylar Abello.<\/p>\n
Junior Vocal Division<\/p>\n
First place: Soprano Nikki Seppala Kurnik, a versatile performer with national recognition in musical theater competitions. She has trained through programs such as Kristin Chenoweth\u2019s Broadway Bootcamp, and studies with Brett Mutinelli.<\/p>\n
Second place: Shared by sopranos Aria Bonski Evans and and Amelia Checketts. Evans has participated in intensive classical training programs including the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Checketts has performed in advanced vocal ensembles and summer conservatory programs.<\/p>\n
Senior Instrumental Division<\/p>\n
First place: Violist Lydia Plaut, a professionally trained musician with degrees in performance and pedagogy from leading conservatories and orchestral experience including major festival fellowships.<\/p>\n
Second place: Pianist Noelle Hadsall with pianist Annabelle Zhang receiving an Honorable Mention. Both Hadsall and Zhang are former first-place winners in the Junior Instrumental Division (2021, 2025, respectively), a distinction that advances recipients to compete at the senior level.<\/p>\n
Beyond the results, this year\u2019s competition highlights a continuity within the PASF community, organizers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral finalists returned after earning recognition in prior years, demonstrating continued artistic growth, while others are now studying with instructors who once competed on the same stage as PASF finalists and winners,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re now watching the vision of PASF come to life in ways we could only hope for years ago,\u201d Bertling said. \u201cFormer scholarship recipients have gone on to become accomplished professional performers, including Grammy Award winners, while others are returning as teachers and mentors to students following the same path.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing that kind of legacy carried across generations is extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information about the PASF, including how to contribute and support scholarship opportunities, visit pasfsb.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.noozhawk.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1st place winners are Chloe Emma Silva, left, Lydia Plaut, Nikki Seppala Kurnik. (Monie photograph) The Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation (PASF) has announced the winners of its 2026 Music Competition following the final concert. Ten finalists were selected through a multi-step audition process from more than 30 applicants across the region. Top honors were awarded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2400357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[22442],"class_list":["post-2400356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-arts-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/10-Young-Musicians-Win-2026-Music-Competition-Honors-Arts.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400358,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400356\/revisions\/2400358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}