Finalists for 2008 Competition

Finalists (in alphabetical order)

Polina Bespalko (Russia)
Polina holds a Masters degree from the Tschaikovsky Conseravatory in Moscow, and an Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati: Conservatory of Music. Ms. Bespalko is currently working on her DMA from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Her and husband, Gary, have a 5 year old daughter, Nadya.

Jan Bratoz (Slovenia)
Winner of the 2006 USC Piano Concert Competition, Mr. Bratoz has been playing the piano since he was eight, only becoming serious about it after high school. Jan received both his Bacholor and Master Degrees from the University of Mazarteum in Salzburg. He is working on his DMA from the University of Southern California.

Cathal Breslin (Northern Ireland)
Cathal, a native of Ireland, is a Doctoral student at the University of Michigan. He was the 4th place finalist in the 2007 Iowa Piano Competition and is a Fulbright Scholar. He has performed around the globe including London, Birmingham, Madrid and Tokyo to name but a few and has been broadcast on BBC Radio on numerous occasions.

Rujie Sandra Gu (China)
Rujie began "tinkering" on a toy piano at the age of 2. Since then she has gone on to receive her bachelors in piano performance and economics from Oberlin. She received her Masters of Music from Northwestern University in 2006 and is pursuing her doctorate from there as well.

Miao Hou (China)
By the age of 17, Miao Hou had performed all over China. In 2000, she moved to the United States to attend the Curtis Institute of Music where she received her bachelors degree. She is now attending Juilliard in pursuit of her Masters.

Serhii Morozov (Russia)
Serhii lives in College Park, MD and was the first prize winner of the Baltimore Music Club Piano Competition in 2005. Serhii has his DMA in Piano Performance from the University of Maryland and his Masters Degree from Moscow State Conservatory, Russia. Mr. Morozov has ten first prize placements in international competition and was a finalist in the 2007 Iowa Piano Competition. Serhii has been an active recitalist around the globe.

Esther Park (Korea)
Starting on the piano at age 4, one of Esther Park’s greatest accomplishments is finishing her masters at Juilliard. She is now enrolled at Hochschule fur Musik und Theatre, Hannover Germany.

Irena Portenko (Ukraine)
Irena received her bachelors of Music from the Kiev National Academy of Music and her Masters and Doctorate from the University of Michigan. She has been a member of the Music Teachers National Association since 2002.

Julia Siciliano (United States)
Julia received her bachelor of music degree at the Eastman School of Music where she studied with previous Iowa Piano Competition judge, Nelita True. She is currently pursuing her master of music degree in piano performance at the University of Michigan where her teacher is previous Iowa Piano Competition judge, Logan Skelton.

Amy (Hsueh-Lin) Toscano (Taiwan)
Amy received her Masters of Music and Artist Diploma from Texas Christian University. In 2005 she went on a summer recital tour in Taiwan where she performed to many enthusiastic sold-out crowds.

Ya-Hsin Wu (Taiwan)
Ya-Hsin received her Master of Music from Peabody and her Doctorate from the University of Maryland. In 2005 she was a semi-finalist in the Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition.

Chun-Chieh Yen (China)
Chun-Chieh received his diplomas in Music Education and Performance from the Hochschule fur Musick und theatre in Hannover, Germany. He is currently working on his Soloist & Artist Diplomas at the Colburn Conservatory of Music

The Iowa Piano Competition is an intensive three-day competition hosted by the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra in Sioux City, Iowa.  For more information visit the Symphony website or call 712.277.2111.