Adjudication Panel

Montréal-born pianist Lucille Chung burst onto the scene at age 10 with the Montréal Symphony and has since appeared with more than 75 major orchestras on five continents. A graduate of both the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School before the age of 20, among the youngest ever to earn those twin credentials, she is praised for "stylish and refined" playing (Gramophone). Her discography spans Bach to Ligeti, and she co-directs the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation with her husband, pianist Alessio Bax.

A Curtis Institute graduate ('77, viola), Donald Dal Maso spent nearly three decades in the New York City Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center. He directs the L'ARCHET Concert Group and champions young artists through community concerts across the Northeast. Away from the stage, he holds an M.S.W. from NYU and consults on arts-in-education initiatives.

Praised by The Day for her "great poise and masterful technique" and "an amazingly rich tone," cellist Yi Qun Xu is the cellist of the Cassatt String Quartet and the 2022 Presser Music Award recipient. She has performed at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Marlboro Music Festival, touring nationally with Musicians from Marlboro, and has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman and members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard, and Tokyo Quartets. She holds Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Juilliard School as a Kovner Fellow, and serves on the faculties of Juilliard Pre-College, the Perlman Music Program, and the Heifetz International Music Institute.

St. Louis-born clarinetist Steven D. Hartman has been Principal Clarinet of the New York City Ballet Orchestra since 1987. He also serves as Acting Principal of the NYC Opera Orchestra and Principal of the New York Scandia Symphony, with whom he recorded three concertos by B.H. Crusell. A Juilliard alumnus, Hartman has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and numerous Lincoln Center ensembles, and is a frequent chamber-music clinician.

Praised for his "beautiful and well-controlled voice" and "large and bronze-toned" baritone, Hyungjin Son has appeared with LA Opera, Detroit Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. As a concert soloist, he has performed Brahms's German Requiem and Mozart's Great Mass in C minor at Boston Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall. Mr. Son won the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (New England Region). He holds degrees from Seoul National University and New England Conservatory, completed the Boston University Opera Institute, and is a proud alumnus of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.