The State University of New York at Fredonia School of Music has announced the Finalists for the 7th Claudette Sorel Piano Competition.

The live Final Round concert will be held on Sunday at noon in the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall on the SUNY Fredonia campus.

The event is free and open to the public, and a reception will be held immediately following the award ceremony.

“We have intentionally designed our competition to be a uniquely positive and welcoming experience, creating a space for participants to present their creative passion and vision in a nurturing environment,” said competition director and School of Music Associate Professor of Piano Eliran Avni.

While many (if not most) other international competitions have rigid repertoire requirements, it was noted that the Sorel Piano Competition encourages applicants to think outside the box and choose a program that reflects a theme that is meaningful to them.

“This might be a favorite composer or time period, a favorite musical form, or a group of unknown treasures,” said Dr. Avni. “Whatever they choose, we ask that they provide a short, written statement about the overarching theme of the works.”

The Finalists hail from across the U.S., Canada, and China, and will travel to Fredonia to perform their chosen program for a live audience and panel of judges which includes Avni, Steven Bianchi, Dr. Alison d’Amato, Dr. Nick Weiser, Dr. Xiting Yang, and Jiyong Kim Mai.

The event will also be live streamed at fredonia.edu/music/live.

Those attending the Final Round will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite for the Audience Choice Award.

Overall cash awards total $8,000, increased from previous years from $4,750. The First Prize is $4,000 with an additional $4,000 of smaller awards available.

The competition is named for pianist and SUNY Distinguished Professor Claudette Sorel, once a faculty member in the School of Music, and is supported by a foundation she established.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer more prize money this year,” said Avni. “The Sorel Charitable Organization has been incredibly generous and supportive of what we are doing here at Fredonia, with the competition and with our training. We wouldn’t be able to do this without them.”

The Sorel Organization intends to create opportunities for women in composition, conducting, piano, voice and film scoring and to keep musical excellence alive while expanding the boundaries for women in music.

For more information about the event, visit online fredonia.edu/sorel-piano or email sorelinfo@fredonia.edu

The 14 finalists include:

¯Jeslyn Cai, 17, from Spokane, Wash., who studies with Dr. Peter Mack and Karlyn Brett.

¯ Munan Cheng, 15, of San Jose, Calif., who studies with Dr. Sharon Mann.

¯ David Choi, 15, of Los Angeles, who is studying with Ms. Hyejin Kim at Colburn Music Academy.

¯ Zhong An Feng, 16, of Hong Kong, who is currently studying at GMC Music Academy with Professor Rizzo Chung.

¯ Fanxing Gao, 17, of Guiping City, China, who is studying at Xunzhou High School in Guiping City.

¯ Luyao “Zachary” Guo, 16, of Darien, Conn., who is a young artist of the Artemisia Akademie at Yale School of Music.

¯ Megan Lo, 15, of Ontario, Canada, who studies piano with Lang Ning Liu at the Taylor Academy in Toronto.

¯ Zarin Mehta, 15, of Chicago, who is currently taught by Winston Choi and Jeff Panko in Chicago.

¯ Haruki Takeuchi, 16, of Knoxville, Tenn., who was selected as a 2021-2022 scholarship recipient of The Chopin Foundation of The U.S.

¯ Xiaozhou Xu, 17, of New York City, who attended Manhattan School of Music Pre-College for seven years and is in his fourth year at Juilliard Pre-College.

¯ Yuka Yang, 17, of Germantown, Tenn., who has been studying piano for 13 years under the direction of Dr. Artina McCain.

¯ Natalie Yu, 15, of Ontario, Canada, who is a student at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music, studying with Michael Berkovsky.

¯ Helaine Zhao, 16, of Irvine, Calif., who currently studies with Rufus Choi.

¯ Jingyuan Zheng, 15, of Ardmore, Pa., who is currently studying with Stella Xu.