Sean Yeh

Semifinal Round I

Sean began taking violin lessons when he was four and piano at the age of six. A graduate of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy program for gifted pre-coUege musicians, he studies privately with Music Institute of Chicago artist faculty member Matthew Hagle and additionally with Alan Chow from Northwestern University. His previous teachers were Emilio del Rosario and Donna Kuhel at Music Institute of Chicago. Sean has won many honors as a solo pianist. He was a national finalist in the 2006 Music Teachers National Association Baldwin Junior Piano Competition and in the 2008 Music Teachers National Association Yamaha Senior  Piano Competition, and won third prize in the 2008 PianoArts National Piano Competition. In 2009, Sean won first prizes in the Steinway Young Artists Piano Competition, the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation Award in Piano Scholarship Competition, and the Arthur Fraser International Concerto Competition at the Southeastern Piano Festival. Winning the Steinway Society’s “Chicagoland’s Most Promising Student Pianist” competition at the age of 8, Sean’s performance was featured on a WNIB radio broadcast. In 2005, he was invited to perform at the 10th World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Anaheim, California. Sean has performed with concert pianist Alpin Hong at the Music Institute of Chicago’s 75th Anniversary Gala honoring violinist Midori and with concert pianist Christopher O’Riley at the Lied Center of the University of Kansas. His solo performance appearances include the Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center, Young Steinway Concert Series, Jay Pritzker Pavilion at the Millennium Park, Chicago WFMT radio, and NPR’s “From the Top” radio show. He has worked in master classes with, among others, John Perry, Pawel Skrzypek, and Lee Kum-Sing. Sean made his orchestra debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals in 2008, and later that year, performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is scheduled to perform with the South Carolina Philharmonic in their 2009/2010 concert season. An avid chamber musician he has won awards in several competitions, including the bronze medal (as a violist) in the 2005 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Honorable Mention in the 2006 Rembrandt Chamber Music Competition, and first prize in the 2009 Chicago Chamber Music Competition. Sean’s ensembles have been featured on the NPR’s “From the Top” and WFMT radio broadcasts, and have appeared in several concerts and venues including Young Steinway Concert Series, Music in the Loft and NEIU’s Mostly Music Concert Series, MIC’s Gala honoring legendary pianist Leon Fleisher, and Silk Road Ensemble’s workshop with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Sean is a graduate of Libertyville High School and will be studying with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky at the Juilliard School this fall.