Prize winners

Category I (up to 13 years)

1st Prize

Sin A Ma
Born in 2003, Pyongyang (North Korea), Sin A Ma appeared on Television performing Chopin Waltzes already at the age of 6. Since 2010 she has received piano lessons at the Moscow Conservatory’s Central Music School in the class of Vladimir Piasecki. Over the last few years she has played at international festivals such as “Moscow meets friends”, “Stars on Baikal” in Irkutsk, “Piano Passion Astana” in Kasachstan as well as “Contemporary Piano Faces” in St. Petersburg. For their 2012/2013 season, she performed works of Haydn and Mozart alongside the State Chamber Orchestra "Moscow Virtuosi". In 2014 she won 1st prize at the International Rachmaninov Piano Competition for young pianists in Veliky Novgorod.

2nd Prize

Yumeka Nakagawa
Yumeka Nakagawa’s hometown is Düsseldorf, where she was born in 2001. Since October 2012 she has been a young student of the Robert Schumann Hochschule. Whilst initially receiving lessons from Prof. Yumiko Maruyama, she is currently a student of Prof. Barbara Szcepanska. Yumeka is already the prize winner of numerous piano competitions such as the International Steinway competition in Hamburg, the Westfälische van Bremen piano competition in Dortmund and the International Rachmaninov Piano Competition in Frankfurt. As a soloist, she has already performed a Mozart concerto with the Sinfonietta Köln under the direction of Cornelius Frowein as well as performing at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr.

3rd Prize

Xinyue Gao
This 12 year old pianist was born in Guangzhou in the Chinese province of Guangdong. She first visited the piano class of Prof. Jixi Jiang at the Xinghai Musical Conservatory in her home province, before becoming a student of Dr. Minshan Du in 2008. Recently she performed her first public piano concert as well as moving to middle school in the Xinghai Musical Conservatory. She has taken part quite successfully in many piano competitions throughout different Chinese provinces. For the 17. Hongkong Asian Piano Competition she received 1st prize as well as receiving a special prize for exceptional performance at the 1. Helen Cup Piano Competition in Schanghai.

Category II (14 - 17 years)

1st Prize

Yuanfan Yang
This 17 year old is currently attending the Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, Great Britain, in the class of Murray McLachlan. He has earned 1st prize at both the Manchester International Piano Concerto Competition in 2009 as well as the RNCM James Mottram International Piano Competition in 2010. He was also the BBC Young Musician for 2012. As a soloist he has appeared with many different orchestras such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata. Yuanfan Yang has also made a name for himself as a composer, winning composition competitions in Vienna, Manchester and London. For more information visit: www.yuanfanyang.com

3rd Prize

Alim Beisembayev
Already at the age of 5, Alim Beisembayev began receiving piano lessons. Born in 1998 in Kazakhstan, he moved in 2008 to the Moscow Conservatory’s Central Music School. He currently has piano lessons at the renowned Purcell School for Young Musicians in the class of Tessa Nicholson. In 2006 he received the Grand Prix at the Astana-Merey Competition in Kazakhstan, followed in 2008 by 1st prize at the Gilels-Kogan Music Festival. Two years later, Alim Beisembayev performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for CD with the “New Russia Symphony Orchestra” under the direction of Evgeny Bushkov. Solo performances have already lead the young Kazakhstani to many cities in Russia, Great Britain and Italy.

3rd Prize

Can Çakmur
Born 1997 in Ankara, the Turkish pianist Can Çakmur currently receives important impulses from Emre Sen in Turkey as well as from Prof. Diane Andersen in Belgium. Since 2012 he has studied at the Schola Cantorum in Paris under Prof. Marcello Crudeli, where he completed a “Diplome de Virtuosité” in 2014. He won 1st prize at the XXII. Rome International Piano Competition in 2012 and a year later won 2nd prize at the Mersin Kamuran Gundemir National Piano Competition in his home country. Since 2013 Can Çakmur has performed for the project “Young Musicians on World Stages” from the renowned piano duet of Güher und Süher Pekinel. Recently he was awarded the ”Donizetti Classical Music Award“.

Special Prizes


Sin A Ma, Kategorie I
Yuanfan Yang, Kategorie II
  • for the best interpretation of a work by Franz Liszt, donated by the LISZT FOUNDATION

Deren Wang
  • Theodor Hlouschek-Award of the LISZT FOUNDATION for the best interpretation of a work composed after 1940
Yumeka Nakagawa, Kategorie I
Deren Wang, Kategorie II
  • Special award for the best interpretation of a chamber music work, donated by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen
Deren Wang
  • Special award for the best interpretation of a baroque work, donated by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen
Yuanfan Yang
  • Special award for the best interpretation of a classical sonata, donated by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen
Geonhee Lee
  • Special award for the best interpretation of a etude, donated by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen
Can Çakmur
  • Special award for the best interpretation of a  work by Béla Bartók, donated by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen

Yuanfan Yang
  • Special award for the best improvisation or own composition, donated by the Gesellschaft der Freunde und Förderer der Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar
Yuanfan Yang
  • EMCY Price