2015 IVC Winners

Dylan Wu, cello

Alyssa Kim, violin ($200 cash award)
Simon Cheng, violin ($200 cash award)
Dean Deng, piano ($200 cash award)
Jeemin Lee, piano ($200 cash award)
Kevin Melcer, piano ($200 cash award)

Kenta Nomura, violin
Daniel Seog, violin
Eilene Lee, violin
Ricardo Molla, trombone
Ian Woo, marimba
Caleb Woo, alto saxophone
Robert Kim, clarinet
Joshua Choi, clarinet
Yuting Zhou, piano
Samantha Kao, piano

Renee Choi, violin
William Yao, violin
Alexandra Hong, viola
Jasmine Pai, cello
Michael Won, cello
Esther Choi, piano
Carson Moon, piano
Raymund Lee, oboe

Katelyn Moon, violin
Ashley Kim, violin
Renee Choi, violin
Samantha Silverstein, violin
Allie Quan, violin
Eric Ness, piano
Mia Bramel, piano

Captivating his audiences with a “primer of technical feats” (New York Sun), and his warm, lush tone “that might be described as something akin to rich old wood” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), ¬ YVES DHARAMRAJ has earned a worldwide reputation as a dynamic cellist who blends an immaculate command of the instrument with deep musical understanding to express his fresh and elegant interpretations.

As soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and teaching artist, the Franco-American cellist enjoys a multi-faceted career that takes him to the major stages of the United States and abroad, including appearances at Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center (New York); the Kennedy Center (DC); Orchestra Hall, Ravinia Festival, and Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago); Disney Hall (LA); National Arts Center (Ottawa); Berliner Festspiele; Téatro Nacional (Dominican Republic); Panama Jazz Festival; and the Thailand National Cultural Center (Bangkok).

A top prize winner in the Ima Hogg, Irving M. Klein, Florida Orchestra, Juilliard, and ASTA competitions, Dharamraj has appeared with the orchestras of Houston, Green Bay, Edmonton, Florida, Dominican Republic, and Juilliard, with which he performed William Schuman’s A Song of Orpheus at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Juilliard School’s Centennial Celebration.
Dharamraj explores the rich chamber music repertoire as a founding member of the Moët Trio and has collaborated with artists including Sir Simon Rattle, Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, Christian Tetzlaff, Cho-Liang Lin, Gilbert Kalish, Ralph Kirshbaum, Mischa Dichter, Isabel Leonard, and members of the Emerson, Cleveland, Guarneri, and Orion Quartets.

As an artist also dedicated to the performance of contemporary music, Dharamraj is a founding member of the genre-defying Bohemian Trio and indulges in the avant-garde as the cellist of Ne(x)tworks. He followed his passion for teaching artistry, arts advocacy, and engaging new audiences as a fellow of the Academy, a musical initiative between Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, the Weill Music Institute, and the New York City Department of Education. He continues outreach activities as a member of Decoda, and co-founded New Docta International Music Festival in Cordoba, Argentina in 2013 to mentor and nurture Latin American talent.
Dharamraj was a pupil of Aldo Parisot at Yale University where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History (Medieval Mediterranean Studies), a Master of Music, and an Artist Diploma. He further studied in Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins’s studio at the Juilliard School where he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He has also worked with Paul Katz at the New England Conservatory. Dr. Dharamraj taught cello at Juilliard as assistant to Mr. Krosnick from 2006 to 2009.

He plays an 1842 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello. In his leisure time, he loves to learn about and taste the great wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux, and is a zealous supporter of the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Arsenal FC.

Award-winning Russian-American violinist Igor Pikayzen is quickly building a reputation as a one of the most promising young artists of his generation. Winner of the most recent edition of the Tadeusz Wronski International Violin Competition, Pikayzen enjoys a multifaceted career as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Praised on four continents by critics and audiences alike for his rare musical maturity and astounding technical ability, Igor Pikayzen “surely is at the forefront of a major musical career” (Moscow Times).

Since his concerto debut at the age of 8, with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.2 and the Ankara Philharmonic, Pikayzen has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras, spanning Europe, Asia, North and South America, including the Moscow Philharmonic, Moscow Radio Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Istanbul Philharmonic, State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Filharmonia di Bacau, Czestochowa Philharmonic, Stamford Symphony, Bialystok Philharmonic, Milano Chamber Orchestra, Tbilisi Opera Orchestra, Ridgefield Symphony, Kielce Philharmonic, Yokohama Sinfonietta and many others. He has appeared in the most illustrious concert halls, including Weill, Zankel and Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Ankara Symphony Hall, Taipei Concert Hall in Taiwan, Le Bourget in Montreal, Cadogan Hall in London, Minor Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Flagey in Brussels as well as Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center.

In addition to a long-standing violin-piano duo with his mother, Chopin Competition prize-winner Tatyana Pikayzen, Pikayzen is a keen lover of chamber music and has been blessed with an array of wonderful chamber music partners and mentors. He has worked or collaborated with such artists as Seymour Lipkin, Joseph Kalichstein, Viktor Pikayzen, Tibor Varga, Sylvia Rosenberg, Ani Kavafian, Kevin Kenner, Boris Berman, Claude Frank, Peter Wiley, Boris Kuschnir, Zakhar Bron as well as the Tokyo and Kuss Quartets and the Russian Virtuosi of Europe. Pikayzen is a frequent guest at many chamber music series and festivals around the world, including New York’s Bargemusic, California’s Festival Mozaic, Night Serenades Festival in Georgia, Lima Chamber Festival in Peru and many others.

Besides his triumph at the Wroński Competition, Pikayzen has amassed a slew of honors, including 1st prizes at the Greenwich Symphony Competition, Ridgefield Symphony Competition, Bacardi Instrumental Competition, Manhattan School of Music Competition, as well as the Silver Medal at the 7th International Szeryng Violin Competition in Mexico and the 2nd prize at the Kloster-Schontal International Violin Competition in Germany. Throughout his studies, Pikayzen has been a recipient of the Dorothy Delay Scholarship and the Fritz Kreisler Scholarship from the Juilliard School, a Career Grant from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation as well as the Albert Greenfield Scholarship. He is the youngest-ever winner of the Horizon Award from the Westport Arts Center, following in the footsteps of past honorees, such as John Corigliano, Fritz Reiner and Paul Newman, and was awarded the Broadus Erle Prize in 2011, given to the most outstanding violinist at the Yale School of Music.

Pikayzen’s live performances and recordings have been broadcast on WQXR, Kultura (Russia) RTBF (Belgium) Canada (CBC) Radio Kultura (Poland) LR3 (Latvia) RadioSwiss Classic (Switzerland). His debut album was released on the ProArte label and includes works by Debussy, Ysaye, Saint-Saens and Wieniawski. 2015 will also see the completion of a new album of virtuoso solo violin works, as well as Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence” with the Russian Virtuosi of Europe, while the recording of the rarely-heard Marteau quintet comes out in the fall on the Ansonia label.

Born in Moscow, Igor Pikayzen started his studies at the age of 5 with his grandfather, the illustrious violinist Viktor Pikayzen. In 1999 he moved to the United States, to study at the Manhattan School of Music with Taiwanese violinist Keng-Yuen Tseng. In 2004, Igor Pikayzen became a student of Stefan Milenkovic and the following year was accepted to the Juilliard School on full scholarship, as a student of Dean Stephen Clapp. After having completed his Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music, as a student of Syoko Aki, Pikayzen is currently a DMA candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he is working with Rolf Schulte. In 2012 he has been named an Enhanced Chancellor Fellow at the University and joined the faculty of Brooklyn Conservatory in 2013.

Igor Pikayzen makes his home in New York City and plays on Carlo Antonio Testore (c.1720) and Wojciech Topa (2011) violins. He is represented by MitBravour Artists.

Hailed by critics as a vibrant and thoughtful musician, pianist Katsura Tanikawa has established a versatile professional career encompassing solo appearances with orchestras in Europe, Asia and the United States, chamber music performances, and solo recitals. Ms. Tanikawa has been featured with numerous orchestras, including the Frankfurt State Symphony, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, Russia, Tokyo New City Orchestra and Nippon Symphony in Japan, the Philharmonia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, the Sound Symphony Orchestra in New York, and New Millennium Festival Orchestra in Spain, among many others. She has given numerous recitals, including performances at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. D.C., Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Caramoor Performer’s Showcase Series in New York, Dame Myra Hess concert series in Chicago, the Chinese Consulate in Washington D.C., Centro Cultura Antiguo Instituto in Gijon, Spain, Villa Bertramka in Prague, Czech Republic, and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan as well as Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

.Ms. Tanikawa is also an avid chamber musician, and her collaborations with other musicians have taken her to many cities in the US and in Europe. Ms. Tanikawa has performed with the members of the Vienna Philharmonic wind ensemble, and she has also been invited to participate in the Dvorak Festival in Japan, performing chamber works with the members of the Czech Philharmonic.

In 2012 Ms. Tanikawa released her third album titled Portrait from Vienna, a chamber music album of Schumann Piano Quintet and Schubert “Trout” quintets with the Baumgarten Ensemble. The album was released under Preiser Records (Austria.) Ms. Tanikawa’s discography include solo piano album of all Liszt’s music titled Katsura Tanikawa plays Franz Liszt (2008) and Beethoven Complete Works for Cello and Piano (2005) with renowned Viennese cellist and former cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic, Adalbert Skocic. The Beethoven Sonata album was designated as “Year’s Top Recommended Chamber Music CD” by Record Geijitsu Music 2005 publication in Japan

Ms. Tanikawa received her Bachelor of Music in piano at The Juilliard School in New York City under the instruction of Yoheved Kaplinsky. She pursued her academic interests at Columbia University culminating with a B.A. in Art History. She received a Masters of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, studying under Boris Berman.

As an avid performer of the music of J. S. Bach and Leoš Janáček, Misuzu Tanaka has established herself as an artist of remarkable individuality with a rare combination of poetic sensitivity and breathtaking virtuosity. Recently hailed by critics as a pianist “…who dispatched everything with both dizzying speed and sensitivity”, she is the winner of many prestigious competitions including First Prize at the Poland Music Festival Competition and Second prize at the Joan and Daniel Rutenberg Chamber Music Competition.

Ms. Tanaka presented highly acclaimed recitals at the Gewandhaus (Leipzig, Germany), Villa Bertramka (Prague, Czech Republic) and Mest’anská Beseda (Pilsen, Czech Republic). She was invited as a special guest artist to perform for former U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Recently, as a soloist and pianist of the Shtrykov-Tanaka Duo, she has appeared on concert series such as the Frederick Collection Historical Piano Concerts (Ashburnham, MA), Kamerman Piano Series at Pensacola State College (Pensacola, FL), Mildred McDaniel Concert Series (Newport News, VA) and Summer Stars Classical Series (Ocean Grove, NJ)
An advocate of modern music, she collaborated with many prominent living composers and gave the World Premieres of works by Paul Moravec (Pulitzer Prize Winner), Alberto E. Colla, and Ivan Božičević. As an avid chamber musician, Ms. Tanaka has also collaborated with prominent artists including James Dunham (Cleveland Quartet) and members of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Tanaka studied at the Juilliard School with Martin Canin and chamber music with Jacob Lateiner while studying with Miroslav Brejcha and famed Czech pianist, Ivan Moravec in the Czech Republic. She holds a Masters in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Michigan where she was a full scholarship recipient studying with Dr. Logan Skelton and chamber music with Christopher Harding.

Already an acclaimed artist in his native Belarus, clarinetist Maksim Shtrykov is quickly gaining renown as an artist of profound musical sensibility and a performer of remarkable charisma. Recently hailed for “…clarity that’s viscerally breathtaking…” and “effortless…quicksilver legato…” Maksim continues to win over audiences with his profound musical sensibility and flawless technique. As the recipient of The Artist International New York Debut Award, Mr. Shtrykov presented his solo debut recital at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in April 2007.

Mr. Shtrykov is a first prize winner of the Belarus National Woodwind Competition and a prizewinner of Dymtro Bida International Woodwind Competition in Ukraine. Mr. Shtrykov is also a two-time recipient of the Presidents’ Foundation Award “Young Talents of Belarus.” He has performed recitals and chamber music concerts in such major halls as Polish Baltic Philharmonic, The Belarusian State Philharmonic, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Miller Theatre at the Columbia University, Baruch Performing Arts Center.
Since his orchestra debut recital at age 14, Mr. Shtrykov has appeared as a regular guest soloist with the Belarusian State Symphonic Orchestra and the Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra. His orchestral engagements include principal clarinet in Academy Youth Symphonic Orchestra “Young Belarus” and participation in Festival “Junger Kunstler Bayreuth” as a member of The International Youth Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Halffter. In 2006-07 season Mr. Shtrykov played in the Centennial series performances conducted by James Conlon at Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center and in the performances conducted by Gerard Schwarz and James DePreist at Avery Fisher Hall as a member of The Juilliard Orchestra.
Maksim Shtrykov actively performs both as a recitalist and with various chamber music ensembles. As a founding member of the Chamber Trio “Reflection”, Mr. Shtrykov is a winner of the International Johannes Brahms Chamber Music Competition in Poland, where he was awarded First Prize and the Special Award for the best performance of J. Brahms work, and a prizewinner of the International “Gaetano Zinetti” Chamber Music Competition, in Sanguinetto-Verona, Italy. A passionate advocate of clarinet music, Mr. Shtrykov regularly tours throughout the United States with acclaimed pianist, Misuzu Tanaka, as members of the Shtrykov-Tanaka Duo.

Maksim Shtrykov holds a degree of Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he had been a scholarship student in the studio of Charles Neidich.