Senior Division: Final Round Scholarship Competition Awards

Festivals vary from year to year, the full list of festivals that PYSO has a partnership with will be sent to the top 12 winners shortly after the final round. The PYSO Operations Manager will contact each contestant starting with the grand prize winner, offering 36 hours for the contestant to select a camp on the list (or a camp of their own choosing). After 36 hours, the Festival Partner List of remaining camps/scholarships will be sent to the second prize winner, and so on until everyone in the top 12 has selected a camp.

Students are responsible for camp admission and the audition process to the camp including all application fees. YMC results have no bearing on any camp’s specific admission process or acceptance into the camp.

If a scholarship is chosen from the Festival Partner List, the accepted finalist will receive a full scholarship to attend the festival or camp.

If the contestant does not wish to attend any of the festivals or camps still available at their time of choice, they may elect to take a monetary award towards another festival or camp of their choice. This award will be directed from PYSO to the festival or camp of the contestant’s choice.

This award will cover half of the total festival tuition, up to $2500 for any festival = chosen outside of the Festival Partner List (This also pertains to choosing a camp on the list that has already had the scholarship claimed by another scholarship winner). Contestants who choose this option must submit documentation of acceptance to their selected festival as well as information about payment deadlines, payment recipient and total cost for their chosen festival. If the contestant does not submit all required documentation to PYSO in a timely manner, PYSO reserves the right to withhold payment to the contestant’s selected festival.

No contestant may attend a partner festival or camp on scholarship more than two times. Contestants who have been offered a scholarship must accept or decline their scholarship within two days of notification of being offered a scholarship.

Festival & Camp Scholarships may only be used for the summer of 2025 and may not be transferred to a later date without the permission of the PYSO Artistic Director.

Festival & Camp Scholarships may not be used for anything other than the Festival or Camp that the student has chosen to attend. The award may not be exchanged for cash prize, nor may it be used for private lessons, college tuition, galas or any other activity not listed.

Congratulations to the winners of the 65th Annual Young Musicians Competition concluding on Sunday, January 5th, 2025.

All finalists win a scholarship to a camp or festival in the order of their final ranking. The Senior Division Jean and Robert Frankeberger Grand Prize Winner and Clotilde Otranto 2nd Prize Winner will perform with the Phoenix Symphony at a later date. Congratulations to our finalists and all participants. Special thanks to all our judges, volunteers, and staff.

Junior Division Winners

Katherine Peng (piano)
Graham Schaub (violin)
Zachariah Ham (cello)
Sequoia Foust (marimba)

Senior Division

Finalists (Alphabetical Order)

Nelson Brock (saxophone)
Sophia Chen (flute)
Lillie Harper (viola)
Abraham Kim (cello)
Charlie Pabst (cello)
Aimi Siejak (violin)
Yun-Tsai Yeh (violin)

The Jean and Robert Frankeberger Grand Prize Winner

Jane Henriksen (cello)

The Clotilde Otranto 2nd Prize Winner

Justin Kang (cello)

2005
Grand Prize Winner: Veronica Shi (piano)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Nicholas Villalobos (bass)

2006
Grand Prize Winner: Emily Nebel (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner, Rachel Trenbeath (flute)

2007
Grand Prize Winner: Mia Laity (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Angel Chen (violin)

2008
Grand Prize Winner: Angel Chen (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Samuel Park (violin)

2009
Grand Prize Winner: Rudy Chen (piano)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Mia Laity (violin)

2010
Grand Prize Winner: Anna Han (piano)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Peter Eom (cello)

2011
Grand Prize Winner: Jalusha Kapoor (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Jeanelle Brierley (violin)

2012
Grand Prize Winner: Anes Sung (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Austen Yueh (clarinet)

2013
Grand Prize Winner: Jennifer Chiang (flute)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Connie Zhu (violin)

2014
Grand Prize Winner: Tiffany Chang (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Linda Han (violin)

2015
Grand Prize Winner: Kathleen Wu (flute)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Brigit Fitzgerald (bassoon)

2016
Grand Prize Winner: Bobae Johnson (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Tamachi Goodson (cello)

2017
Grand Prize Winner: Belle Wang (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Bobae Johnson (violin)

2018
Grand Prize Winner: Claire Thai (harp)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Leo Kubota (cello)

2019
Grand Prize Winner: Jessica Zhang (piano)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Belle Wang (violin)

2020
Grand Prize Winner: Ethan Yang (violin)
Clotilde Otranto Prize Winner: Daniel Walker (flute)

2021
Grand Prize Winner: Seungchan Aiden Min (violin)
First Runner Up: Jonathan Okseniuk (violin)

2022
The Jean and Robert Frankeberger Grand Prize Winner: Jonathan Okseniuk (violin)
First Runner Up: Vincent Claes (cello)

2023
The Jean and Robert Frankeberger Grand Prize Winner: Abraham Kim (cello)
First Runner Up: Seungchan (Aiden) Min (violin)

2024
The Jean and Robert Frankeberger Grand Prize Winner: Justin Kang (cello)
The Clotilde Otranto 2nd Prize Winner: Joshua Lee (violin)

2025
The Jean and Robert Frankeberger Grand Prize Winner: Jane Henriksen (cello)
The Clotilde Otranto 2nd Prize Winner: Justin Kang (cello)