The 2019 Chicago International Music Competition and Festival welcomed more than 120 finalists from 14 countries and featured a jury of renowned artists from Russia, Italy, the Republic of Georgia, Singapore, and the United States. After contestants passed semi-final auditions in key cities in China, Vietnam, Singapore, and through video submissions, they gathered in Chicago to take part in the final round held at the new music facilities of Wheaton College Conservatory. The competition crowned winners destined to be bright stars of the future and several who already have established international renown. And, the winners are:

Grand Prize Winners

1. Myunghan Kim, SOUTH KOREA

2. Alyssa Gabrilovich, USA

3. Casey Weixi Li, SINGAPORE

Piano Division

Young Musician I

1. Amelia Ly, USA

2. Nawarin Charanachitta, THAILAND

3. Haoyu Liu, CHINA

Young Musician II

1. Eddison Chen, USA

2. Jeremy Liu, USA

3. Svari Teya Tejacharoenanan, THAILAND

Young Musician III

1. Casey Weixi Li, SINGAPORE

2. Shiqin Hua, CHINA

3. Emmie Guo, USA

Young Artist I

1.Alyssa Gabrilovich, USA

2. Ilya Rice, USA

3. Vivian Weichang Li, SINGAPORE

Young Artist II

1. Warren Xu, USA

2. Alex Chen, USA

3. Nadya Indriantina, INDONESIA

Concert Artist Group (18 and Above)

1. Myunghan Kim, SOUTH KOREA

2. Yu Kureyama, JAPAN/USA

3. Kyungmin Yang, SOUTH KOREA

String Division

1st Prize, Nguyen Hoang Vinh Phu, VIETNAM (Mandolin)

Vocal Division

1st Prize, Nguyen Thi Phuong Uyen, VIETNAM

2nd Prize, Ong Jean Wei, SINGAPORE

3rd Prize, Xu Jiaye tied with Wang Yongyan, CHINA/CHINA

Special Prizes:

2019 CIMC SPECIAL PRIZES

*BEST PERFORMANCE OF AN ETUDE—Eddison Chen

*BEST PERFORMANCE OF A CLASSICAL SONATA—Myunghan Kim

*BEST PERFORMANCE OF A RUSSIAN COMPOSITION—Alyssa Gabrilovich

*BEST PERFORMANCE OF A BAROQUE COMPOSITION—Casey Weixi Li

*BEST PERFORMANCE OF ROMANTIC MUSIC—Timothy Krippner

*BEST PERFORMANCE OF A LISZT WORK—Timothy Krippner

*OUTSTANDING CHORAL ENSEMBLE—Vietnam Youth Choir

Leading teachers whose students won prizes were: Benjamin Loh, Igor Resnianski, Zena Ilyashov, Sueanne Metz, Jung Mee Spooner, Robert Roux, HieYon Choi, John McCarthy, Edward Auer, Anna Nogaj/Aneta Youngblood, Cheng Zhang, Dr. Pornphan Banternghansa, Jing Jing Yang