Piano Competition

Aline Boyd is a Brazilian born Pianist from Rio de Janeiro. She pursued a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro under the mentorship of the pianist Patrícia Bretas. She obtained her Specialist Certificate in the field of Piano Pedagogy at Conservatorio Brasileiro de Música in Rio de Janeiro, under the mentoring of Dr. Ernesto Hartmann. Since then, Aline has had extensive experience performing, teaching, and speaking on behalf of Piano Pedagogy. In Brazil, Aline performed in auditions, events, and master classes for important Brazilian pianists, such as: Luiz Henrique Senise, Ronal Silveira, Tâmara Ujakova, Marcelo Thys, Alexandre Rachid, Maria Luiza Cocker-Nobre, João Vidal, Flávio Augusto, Marcelo Verzoni, Carla Reis, Inês Rufino, Miriam Grosman, Mauricy Martin. In 2010, Aline moved to São Paulo, where she started studying with the pianist Nilze Kruze (former student of Bruno Seidhofer, in Vienna). Aline worked as a Music Tutor for the Universidade Federal de São Carlos (2010-2014) and she was a piano instructor in the British School St. Francis (campus: Jardim Europa and Pinheiros, in São Paulo). Aline performed as a pianist in the exhibition of the 60 years of “Fritz Dobbert Pianos in Brazil” at the Museu Brasileiro de Escultura (MuBE) in São Paulo and gave an interview to the newspaper Folha de São Paulo (06/16/2010), where she had the opportunity to talk about Music and Technology.

In 2014, she got a scholarship to pursue her Master’s degree in Piano Performance under the mentoring of the pianist Dr.Sérgio Monteiro, First Prize in the Martha Argerich International Piano Competition, at Oklahoma City University. Aline obtained her master’s degree in Piano Performance with Honors (Magna cum Laude) for her academic performance at this institution. In the United States and Europe, Aline worked and had masterclasses with Maestro Greg Fischer, Dr. Whitesell, Mihee Song, Dr. Igor Lipinski (University of Oklahoma), Dr. Lisa Yui (Manhattan School of Music), Professor Sondra Tammam (Montclair State University), Irene Russo (Luca School of Music, Leuven, Belgium), Graham Fitch (London), Mikhail Vrokesensky (Moscow Conservatory), Artur Pizarro (Portugal). Aline worked as a pianist of Academy Sinfonia (Youth Orchestra) at OCU directed by Karén Khanagov.

She performed with Academy Sinfonia and she recorded 2 CDs with the orchestra featuring pieces by Bach, Tchaikovsky, Saint Säens, Mendelssohn, Mozart and others. Aline also has a duo (Alda Duo) with the Colombian musician Daniel Taborda, performing in an event called Art Moves. She also performed in events such as the Distinguished Alumni Dinner at Oklahoma City University, the Festival of Arts in Oklahoma City, the Luncheon at Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. She also was invited to perform the “Danzon No. 2” by Arturo Marquez with Oklahoma City University Wind Band.

Aline was a judge of the Gilliam Piano Competition in 2016 at Oklahoma City University. Aline worked as a Piano Instructor of the Preparatory Department at Oklahoma Baptist University, at the Performing Arts Academy (Oklahoma City University) and in the Church of the Servant.

Aline also worked as a piano accompanist at both universities, and she was the pianist at Bridge View United Methodist Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

In 2018, Aline was accepted to pursue a Master of Advanced Studies at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland) under the mentoring of the Ukrainian Pianist Anna Kravtchenko.

In April 2020 and January 2021, Aline was invited to join the jury panel of the “Lviv Kawai Quarantine” Competition in the Ukraine, where she had the opportunity to judge young European pianists along with a panel of judges from 28 different countries.

In May 2020, Aline gave an interview to the Brazilian Times newspaper, in which she shared a little of her musical trajectory.

Recently, Aline was one of the judges at the “Yula International Online Festival” in Kharkov, in the Ukraine.

Locally, Aline served as an adjudicator for the EVMTA Piano Competition in Gilbert, and she also serves on the board of AZ Piano Institute. Last year, Aline was selected to perform at the Cell Theater in New York City in a project called Marshall Opera.

She proudly serves as a Vice President of the World Piano Teachers Association in Brazil and she was a judge member of the Dean & Carolyn Elder Piano Competition at Grand Canyon University.

Dr. Radmila Stojanovic-Kiriluk is a Serbian – American pianist from Arizona. She is an active performer, teacher, and lecturer and has performed solo as well as with a variety of chamber groups, orchestras, soloists, and choirs. Her recordings have been played on radio and television. Radmila published the first CD recording of complete piano works by the Serbian composer Marko Tajcevic through the English label, Toccata Classics. She edited two volumes of Tajcevic’s piano works for the German publishing company Schott and her work is also published by the FJH company.

Radmila studied with piano teachers of diverse music backgrounds. She completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Belgrade, Serbia, and later graduated with a DMA in Piano Performance at the Arizona State University in Tempe, under the guidance of an esteemed pianist and teacher, Dr. Caio Pagano.  Radmila currently teaches as a piano professor at Mesa Community College and regularly adjudicates piano competitions, exams, and festivals. She is currently serving as the president of the EVMTA association and as a board member for the Arizona Music Teacher Association. She resides with her husband and two children in Mesa, Arizona.

Pianist Jessica J. Yam, DMA is active as soloist, chamber artist, pedagogue, and director of various artistic programs. Together with pianist Elias-Axel Pettersson, she formed duo Æterna Sirius in 2017; the pair has given masterclasses and toured across North America. Jessica has collaborated with numerous other instrumentalists, singers, and conductors, and has performed as guest artist with orchestras like New England Philharmonic, Baltimore, Young People’s Symphony, among others. She has won several accolades including the Chopin Foundation of the United States Scholarship as one of two national recipients of her year. Since elected Artistic Director of the nonprofit Arizona Piano Institute, she expanded its premier annual Summer Festival with internationally-acclaimed artists to include a Concerto Competition and other season programs. She has furthered her artistic outreach and collaboration with many prominent arts organizations in the community including MusicaNova Orchestra, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Phoenix Youth Symphony, and the like. She also joined the faculty at Adamant Music School in Vermont in 2019, teaching gifted students alongside faculty-artists of global renown at their summer festival. Jessica has taught at various institutions including Arizona State University, Southwestern College, throughout the Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona, as well as many other schools. She has created curricula and taught various courses in piano, pedagogy, repertoire, song literature, and vocal diction, and guest presents seminars on myriad topics involving theory and analysis, performance practice and technique, and pedagogical practice.

Dr. Yam received training at New England Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Arizona State University under Faina Kofman, Douglas Humpherys, Yoshikazu Nagai, and Robert Hamilton. She has taught for over 20 years and maintains a private piano studio in Tempe, AZ.

Praised for “genuinely memorable performance” by BBC Music Magazine, pianist Miki Aoki is widely recognized for her diverse abilities as a pianist and collaborative artist.

Ms. Aoki records exclusively for German Label Hänssler Profil. Her debut album, comprised of the piano works of Zoltan Kodaly, was released in the fall of 2011 and won critical acclaim. Her second CD, ‘The Belyayev Project’, features fascinating compositions varying from solo piano works by Liadow, Glazunov and Blumenfeld to the expressive and rhapsodic piano Trio by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was released in 2013. The Fanfare Magazine praised ‘The Belyayev Project’ as a “graceful, expressive and transparent performance”, and The Ensemble Magazine (Germany) wrote, “…pianist Miki Aoki interprets magically.” Her third CD, ‘Mélancolie’, was released in May 2016 and was awarded a special prize by the Japanese music magazine “Record Geijutsu”. Her newest recording, ‘Tokyo Story’, was released in 2018. This recording is a world-premiere, featuring music from the films of Yasujiro Ozu in their original piano manuscript versions and has enjoyed an especially enthusiastic reception from the Japanese media.

A frequent guest artist in prestigious concert series and festivals around the world, Ms. Aoki has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall, St. Martin-in-the Fields, St. John’s Smith Square, the Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room at South Bank Centre, the Barbican centre, Blackheath Halls (UK), Laeizhalle Hamburg, Gasteig München, Philharmonie Essen, Beethovenssal Hannover (Germany), Philia Hall, Munetsugu Hall (Japan), Wiener-Saal (Austria), St-Petersburg Philharmonic Hall (Russia) as well as in festivals such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, Salzburger Festspiele, Rheingau Festival (Germany), Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland), International Chamber Music Festival Silver Lyre (Russia), Beaulieu-sur-la Mer (France), Valdres Festival (Norway), Copenhagen Summer Music Festival (Denmark), Steirisches Kammermusik Festival(Austria), Tertis International Viola Competition and Festival (Isle of Man), Tembi Festival (Indonesia), Phnom Penh International Music festival (Cambodia) and the International Classical Music Festival (Myanmar).