Judging Panel

Executive Director

Dr. Sha Wang is a performing concert pianist, chamber musician, as well as a sought-after piano pedagogue. Dr. Wang has performed in concert series at Carnegie Hall, Peter Norton Symphony Space, and the Kosciuszko Foundation Auditorium in NYC; Dame Myra Hess Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center, Richard Nixon’s Library, Steinway Society of Southwestern PA, as well as other concert venues throughout the country. She has appeared on WQED FM Pittsburgh, WFMT 98.7 Chicago and other media outlets in Asia and Europe. She was also featured in a concert for the late U.S. President Gerald Ford. As a collaborative pianist, she has performed with artists such as pianist Lang Lang, and chamber musicians from major orchestras worldwide. 

She was the first prize winner at the 16th International Young Artist Piano Competition, Washington, D.C. and advanced into the Jose Iturbi International Music Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and the Honens International Piano Competition. She is also the winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Audition and the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition.

Dr. Wang is a frequent adjudicator for national and international music competitions, a clinician at State and National conferences and various masterclasses. Her students have won national and international music competitions as well as performing on the most prestigious stages worldwide. Dr. Wang is the executive director of the Pittsburgh International Performance Competition and Festival. Her current concertizing schedules include Carnegie Hall in New York and Mozarthaus & Museum in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Wang is a tenured professor and music department chair at Geneva College, PA.

Sha Wang is a Yamaha Artist.

Jury for Piano Solo

Dr. Melody Quah Described as a "poet with titanium fingers" by the Vancouver Sun, pianist Melody Quah has performed on the stages of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Japan, China, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, England, Poland, India, Lithuania and the USA. Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, she is a prizewinner of the 7th International Paderewski Competition held in Bydgoszcz, Poland. 

Melody has soloed with the Ku-Ring-Gai Symphony and Central Coast Symphony Orchestras in Australia, the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Poland, and the Richmond Philharmonic, Academy Philharmonic, Vancouver Philharmonic, West Coast Symphony and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras in Canada. In 2018, Melody performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jun Märkl. She has also performed at the Malaysian Philharmonic Hall for the Gala Opening of the 4th ASEAN International Chopin Competition.

Quah is also a proponent of broadening the piano repertoire with compositions by under-represented composers. In 2019 she commissioned Malaysian composers Adeline Wong and Tazul Tajuddin to write two solo piano works, which she premiered in the 2020-2021 season, and presented at the Music Teachers National Association Conference in 2021. Most recently, she commissioned a new piece by Canadian/Iranian composer, Parisa Sabet, to be premiered in 2023.

In collaboration with the Prokofiev Society of America and Yale School of Music, she performed as part of the complete Prokofiev Sonatas project at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, after which the New York Times reviewed, “she had admirable refinement and achieved power through crisp attack and clarity.” These concerts were also presented at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Central Conservatory of Music (Piano Academy at Gulangyu), China. As a chamber musician, Melody has performed at Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and has collaborated with artists such as cellist Michael Kannen and trumpeter Joe Burgstaller. 

Melody has given masterclasses and lectures to students and teachers at the Canadian Yamaha Summer Camps in Toronto and Vancouver. She has presented masterclasses at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, at UCSI and UiTM universities in Malaysia, at Medan Musik School in Indonesia, and for institutions such as Baylor University, University of Georgia, Elizabethtown College, Bucknell University, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  She is an active adjudicator and presenter for the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) and College Music Society (CMS).

Quah has a long history of community-engaged music-making. She regularly gives presentations at senior living communities and schools, performs benefit concerts internationally, and, between 2016–2020 served as Music Director of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore, MD. She also served as a Junior Board Member of the Shriver Hall Concert Series in Baltimore between 2015–2017. She is currently on the board of the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association.

Melody is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at Penn State University. Prior, she served as Visiting Instructor of Applied Piano at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She has been on the faculties of the Community College of Baltimore County and Levine Music in Washington D.C., and taught secondary piano lessons at Yale University. 

Melody earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University as well as graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School. She received her Bachelor of Music from the Vancouver Academy of Music and completed her high school education at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. Melody's principal teachers included Boris Slutsky, Peter Frankl, Matti Raekallio, Lee Kum Sing, and Snezana Panovska.

Mr. Edward Kuhn is Associate Professor of Music at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, where he teaches Applied Piano, Keyboard Strategies, and Piano Pedagogy. Mr. Kuhn is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music, NCTM, from the Music Teachers National Association and is the MTNA Foundation chair for Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association. Mr. Kuhn is the sponsor /advisor for the Seton Hill University PMTA Student Chapter which is very active and visible in the Music Program and at the PMTA state conferences. In addition to his university course load, Edward Kuhn also teaches piano students in the Community Arts Program of Seton Hill University and is a frequent soloist and collaborative pianist for recitals and festivals. Mr. Kuhn earned a BA from Carlow College and a MFA from Carnegie-Mellon University with a Certificate in Piano Pedagogy. Mr. Kuhn studied piano with Mildred Alvine Gardner and Nelson B. Whitaker, and piano pedagogy with Hannah Wu Li. In June 2014, Mr. Kuhn was presented The Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association’s Teacher of the Year Award.

Jury for Piano Duet

Hua & Wei Piano Duo

Instrumental

Mr. Robert Kabara At the very beginning of his artistic path Robert Kabara met two of the greatest Polish violin players: professor Eugenia Umińska and her successor professor Kaja Danczowska. A virtuoso artist, he holds a number of awards from prestigious international violin competitions: the Henryk Wieniawski In Poznań (1986), the Zino Francescatti In Marseilles and the Australia Bicentennial In Adelaide.

His repertoire embraces the entire range of classics and avant-garde.  He has performed W. A. Mozart’s conducted by Maxim Vengerov, Krzysztof Penderecki’s 1st and 2ndViolin Concertos under the baton of the composer himself. He is equally as happy to turn toward American music, performing Leonard Bernstein’s and George Gershwin’s works.

Robert Kabara extended his instrumental range to include the viola, debuting as a soloist with Schubert’s Arpeggione and, on the main concert platform, in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra with Maxim Vengerov, taking the violin part. Lastly he has been performing Krzysztof Pederecki’s Viola Concerto, conducted by the Maestro himself, at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper and at the Moscow Conservatoire.

Over and above all this, his artistic biography includes some more dimensions of musical experience. He was a leader of Krystian Zimerman’s Polish Festival Orchestra. Lastly, Robert Kabara has been starting his own conducting activities with prominent Maestro Jerzy Maksymiuk as a mentor. With the beginning of this year he has debuted as a conductor with two performances: Sergei Prokofiev’s 1st Symphony „Classical” and 1st Violin Concerto (Alena Baeva starring), and Bela Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

Robert Kabara stands at the very origin of the Sinfonietta Cracovia. In the earliest days, as leader and mentor of the orchestra, he shaped a first-class orchestra from a student ensemble and he has remained its artistic director to this day. As initiator and animator of musical events, he is the man behind the project: La Musica da Camera (rare instruments and rare pieces of chamber music), Grand Virtuoso (famous soloists as stars) and Pure Form (acoustic and audiophile symphonic series).

Robert Kabara is also the author of a vast discography comprising studio, TV and radio recordings. His recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for Dux was distinguished by the Fryderyk '98 award and his Penderecki album, featuring his performance of the composer’s 1st Violin Concerto, received the Diapason d’Or award.

In addition to leading a rich musical life, Robert Kabara makes time available to teach at the Music Academy of Cracow, where he completed his professorial dissertation last year. 

Ms. Amy I-Yun Tu enjoys an active schedule as a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician while on faculty at Rutgers Community Arts since 2014. Her principal teachers include Dr. Bradley Garner, Bart Feller, and Lois Herbine. In solo and ensemble settings, Ms. Tu has performed at concert venues in the United States, Italy, Austria, Great Britain, Japan, and Taiwan and has recorded for Mark Records. In recent years, she collaborated with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, World Civic Orchestra, Eastern Wind Symphony, NOVUS NY, and Hub City Opera and Dance Company. She has been invited to present and perform at the Midwest Clinic (2015), International Trumpet Guild (ITC) conference (2017), National Flute Association Conventions in Orlando (2018), and Salt Lake City (2019).

As a sought-after pedagogue, Ms. Tu maintains a growing studio and mentors many prize-winning talents. She is an avid educator who strives to bring out the passion and potential of each student. Ms. Tu fosters a strong sense of community within her studio by administering monthly studio classes and creating engaging projects that enable students to build leadership skills and enhance their musical growth. Under Ms. Tu’s tutelage, students have successfully auditioned for major conservatories and regularly received top rankings in regional, state, and national honors ensembles. Her students have been featured as soloists with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, Bravura Youth Orchestra, Sinfonietta Nova, and NJSO Youth Orchestras. She currently serves as competition coordinator for the NFA High School Soloist Competition and adjudicates for the New York Flute Club and the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia. Amy Tu is a Verne Q. Powell Flutes Artist.