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Students, Faculty + Alumni

Michael Noble wins Carmel Music Society Piano Competition

Michael Noble won the Grand Prize at the 2013 Carmel Music Society Piano Competition in Carmel, Calif. Jeong-ah Ryu ’10MM won Third Prize. The Grand Prize includes the opportunity to perform a concert in the 2014 Carmel Music Society subscription series. The competition was open to pianists between the ages of 18 and 30 who live, study, or were born in California, Oregon, and Washington.

A review of the competition called attention to Noble's "exciting, but refined performances" and noted, "our attention was always being directed to the music he was playing and not his technical prowess. His Scriabin was elegant, his Beethoven Op. 90 was stylish and powerful, and his selections from Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze captured so well Schumann’s mercurial and fantastic moods."

Michael Noble gave his first recital when he was six and has gone on to perform concerts across Europe, Asia, and North America. In addition to winning the Carmel Music Society Competition, he is also the first prize winner in the Crescendo Music Awards (Tulsa, OK) in 2009, and a two-time laureate of the Chopin International Competition of the 1,000 Islands. He made his debut with the Tulsa Symphony in 2011.

Upon his graduation from the Idyllwild Arts Academy (Idyllwild, CA), Michael was awarded the highest honor for a musician: the Outstanding Musician Award of 2005-2006. In 2008, he attended the Paris Conservatoire to work with Nicholas Angelich.

Michael obtained his B.M. degree in piano performance and B.A. in English cum laude from the Eastman School of Music and University of Rochester, respectively, where he was a student of Nelita True. He earned his M.M. degree in May from the Yale School of Music, working with Peter Frankl. Currently he is pursuing his M.M.A. at Yale working with Peter Frankl and Deputy Dean Melvin Chen.

Born in Seoul in 1985, Jeong-ah Ryu began to play the piano at the age of six. In 2000, she moved to London to study with Christopher Elton at the Purcell School and Junior Royal Academy of Music. In June 2008, she received a bachelor’s degree from the Royal Academy of Music. She then studied with Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music, where she received a Master of Music degree in 2010. Afterwards, she received an Artist Diploma degree under the instruction of Ory Shihor at the Colburn School of Music in 2012. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music degree at Northwestern University. Additionally, Ms. Ryu has worked with  artists such as Alexander Satz, Arman Babayan, Marta Gulyas, Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, Mannheim Pressler, Byron Janis, Emanuel Ax, and Murray Perahia.

Ms. Ryu has won numerous prizes, including first prize at the Trianon Music Group Competition and awards in the Bromsgrove Young International Competition, British Contemporary Piano Competition, Beethoven Competition, L.A. International Liszt Competition, Carmel Music Society Competition, and the Concours National de Piano dember 13 Lagny-sur-Marne in Paris. She has been awarded the Frederick Jackson Award, Liversidge Award, Nora Naismith Scholarship, and the Francis Eale prize. Also, she is a recipient of the Hattori Foundation and the Martyn Music Scholarship fund. As a member of the Charis Trio, she won first prize at the Coleman Competition.

Ms. Ryu has performed extensively throughout the UK as a soloist in various venues, as well as in countries including South Korea, Canada, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Lithuania (where her performance was broadcast on national radio). She has attended the Biennial International Symposium and Festival in Cambridge, Masterworks Festival, Pianofest and Encuentro de Musica y Academia de Santander where she has worked with such remarkable musicians as Gary Hoffman, Silvia Marcovici, Abene Quartet, and the composer John Corigliano.

As a teaching artist in the Music in Schools Initiative at the Yale School of Music, Ms. Ryu taught piano lessons to young students at John C. Daniels School of International Communication. She also worked as a part-time piano instructor at the Yale School of Music, and as a fellowship instructor at the Colburn School of Performing Arts.