Forging a reputation for his “passion, imagination, and utter commitment”, pianist Alexei Aceto made his professional debut in 2017 as featured recitalist for Classical Pianists of the Future’s 10th anniversary season. He has since enjoyed a continued relationship with PBS affiliate WSKG’s “Classical Expressions” TV/Radio program, and in 2022 gained nationwide recognition when his performances aired on NPR’s Performance Today with host Fred Child. Mentored by Charis Dimaras at Ithaca College, where he won the 2019 and 2020 IC Concerto Competition, in May 2024 Alexei completed his Master’s degree at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he held the position of Associate Instructor in Piano while studying with Arnaldo Cohen. A recipient of the 2023 Steinway Series Brancaleoni Guest Artist Award, in February 2024 Alexei appeared as Steinway Series Guest Artist at University of South Florida. Alexei was a finalist at Chautauqua's 2021 Piano Competition.

Yiwen (Even) Cao was born in Shanghai, China, and started learning the piano at the age of three. Her recent accomplishments include 1st Prize in German Bonn “Grand Prize Virtuoso”International Music Competition in 2020. In 2024, she made her orchestral debut with the Eastman Philharmonia in Kodak Hall. Currently she is a sophomore at Eastman School of Music studying with Professor Alan Chow.                                                                                    

Karmen Grubisic was born in Reno, Nevada, and started piano lessons at age four in Boulder, Colorado. Currently, she is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at the Glenn Gould School under the instruction of James Anagnoson and Li Wang. She has been participating in piano summer schools and festivals in the US and Europe from an early age, and is an avid chamber and organ player.

April Lee is a pianist from Los Angeles and a recent graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Alvin Chow. This fall, she will be starting her MM at the New England Conservatory of Music in the studios of HaeSun Paik and Alessio Bax. She has performed as a soloist with the Virtuosi Brunenses Orchestra, the Beach Cities Symphony, and Mount Saint Mary’s University Orchestra. Over previous summers, April has attended various programs on fellowship, including Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, Gijón International Piano Festival, Vivace International Music Festival, and MusicFest Perugia. She has worked with Oxana Yablonskaya, Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky, Jerome Lowenthal, Alexander Kobrin and more in masterclass and lesson settings. April has also won top prizes in the West Virginia International Piano Competition, MTAC Division Concerto Competition, Redlands Young Artists Concerto Competition, CAPMT State Honors and Concerto Competitions, and Southwestern Youth Music Festival.

Ellen Li is a rising junior at Stanford University, where she studies piano with Kumaran Arul. She is majoring in piano performance and music history/ethnomusicology, with a research focus in 20th century Russian repertoire. In 2022, she won the Evergreen Philharmonic Concerto Competition and performed Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. Other awards include first prize in the 2021 Eastside Scholarship Competition, where she also won the Mary McShane Memorial Award and the Ida Zelikovsky Green Award. She won the second prize in the 2020 Steinway Regional Piano Competition and first prize in the 2019 Pacific Northwest Piano Competition. She has had the privilege of playing in masterclasses for artists such as Victor Rosenbaum, Craig Sheppard, Vlada Vassilieva and Anatoly Zatin. Outside of music, she enjoys reading history and science fiction, doing jigsaw puzzles, and ice dancing.

Born in 2000 in Cerignola (FG), Italy, Letizia Palmieri began her piano studies at the age of 5. She graduated Cum Laude and honorable mention from the Conservatorio “Nino Rota” in Monopoli, studying with M° Paola Bruni and M° Roberto de Leonardis. She graduated with a Graduate Performance Diploma and a Professional Studies Certificate in Piano Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, studying under Michael Lewin, with whom she is continuing her studies. She is the recipient of numerous prizes in national and international competitions, and has been performing solo recitals in Europe and the USA. She had her orchestral debut in Italy at the age of 13 with the orchestra “Suoni del Sud” in Vieste, and she performed under the baton of M° Giancarlo Andretta at Teatro Radar in Monopoli with the Orchestra Sinfonica of Conservatory “Nino Rota”. TV appearances have included ORF TV AUSTRIA, TGR RAI 3, TG1 RAI FAI Day 2018.

Born in New York City, Yali Levy Schwartz, 20, studies at the New England Conservatory with HaeSun Paik. She began her piano studies with Genya Paley at the Special Music School. Yali has won numerous awards in competitions including first prize at the Kaufman Center International Youth Piano Competition, as well as various concerto competitions.

Dongwon Shin is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree with Alan Chow at Eastman School of Music. He has won top prizes in numerous competitions, including the Millersville International Piano Competition, Orbetello International Piano Competition, Southern Illinois Young Artist Competition, WPTA Spain International Piano Competition, and Tokyo Asia Chopin International Piano Competition.

A native of South Korea, HaEun Yang is currently pursuing her DMA in Piano Performance and Literature with Professor Alan Chow at the Eastman School of Music. She has previously studied with Hye-Jung Hong and Nancy Weems.

Sean Yang began studying piano with Yukiko Whitehead at the age of 4. Since then, he has explored the purpose of music in medicine; he pursued this interest through his double major in Piano and Neuroscience while studying with Amy Dorfman at Vanderbilt University. He currently pursues his Master’s degrees in piano and chamber music with Logan Skelton and Amy I-Lin Cheng while studying the ergonomics of piano performance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research is published in the British Journal of Anesthesia, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and International Journal of Critical Care. In 2023-24, he was a top prizewinner at the Frances Walton, MTNA Young Artist, and Memphis International Piano Competitions. His upcoming performances include a September outreach tour in the Northwest United States. Sean made his orchestral solo debut in 2016 and has since performed with the Nashville Symphony and Vanderbilt University Orchestras.