MTNA Competitions


CHAIRPERSON: AMY I-YUN TU (mtnacompetitions@njmta.com)

The MTNA National Student Competitions are the most successful and prestigious student competitions in the country. Each year, thousands of students compete for top prizes and national recognition.

The MTNA Competitions include Composition Competitions, Performance Competitions (which include Brass, Piano, String, Voice, and Woodwind), and Chamber Music Competitions. 

For information on specific categories, please contact the appropriate competition coordinator:

MTNA Senior State Competition Coordinator: 

WEI-YUH CHRISTINA XIE   2020nj.mtna@gmail.com

MTNA Junior & Young Artist Competition Coordinator:

AMY TU mtnacompetitions@njmta.com

MTNA Composition Competition Coordinator: 

JULIA KOVALEV   mtnacomposition@njmta.com



RESULTS

The Music Teachers National Association is pleased to announce the results of the 2026 Student Performance Competition for New Jersey.

2026 Senior Piano Winners with judges: Emily Barr, Woobin Park, Xun Pan and MTNA Competition Chair and Coordinator.  

2026 Senior Woodwind Winners with judges: Andrea Fisher, Alice Jones, Tim Hanley and MTNA Competition Chair and Coordinator. 


PERFORMANCE

2026 MTNA STUDENT COMPETITIONS RESULTS (Printable)

JUNIOR LEVEL

Piano Solo

Winner: Elena Wang                                          Teacher: Carmel Lowenthal
Alternate: Bryan Wu                                          Teacher: Vitalii Khairutdinov/Veda Zuponcic
Honorable Mention: Sylvie Chiu                      Teacher: Qi Zhang
                                    Grace Hwang              Teacher: Stella Xu/Veda Zuponcic

String

Winner: Catherine You, cello                             Teacher: Hyojin Lee
Alternate: Daniel Yoo, cello                               Teacher: Madeleine Golz
Honorable Mention: Joanna An, cello             Teacher: Hyojin Lee
                                   Owen Ren, cello              Teacher: Hyojin Lee

Woodwind

Winner: Claire Li, flute                                       Teacher: Amy I-Yun Tu
Alternate: Katelyn Park, clarinet                        Teacher: Bryan Rudderow
Honorable Mention: Victoria Yong, flute         Teacher: Eunsook Choi                               



SENIOR LEVEL

Piano Solo

Winner : Edward Ojard                                        Teacher: Yu Xi Wang/ Veda Zuponcic
Alternate: Angela Zhang                                       Teacher: Chiu-Tze Lin
Honorable Mention: Bowen Liang                       Teacher: Stella Xu
                                    Patrick Song                       Teacher: Rita Shklar
                                   Conan Yang                        Teacher: Yu Xi Wang/Veda Zuponcic
Kyle Zhu                      Teacher: Julia Lam

String

Winner: Alice Hu, violin                                        Teacher: Brittany Sklar                                                
Alternate: Elie Kuan, cello                                      Teacher: Hyojin Lee
Honorable Mention: Allison Chen, cello            Teacher: Hyojin Lee
                                    Andrew Li, cello                  Teacher: Hyojin Lee

Woodwind

Winner: Ian Lee, saxophone                              Teacher: Wonki Lee
Alternate: Katherine Lee, flute                              Teacher: Amy Tu

Piano Duet:

Winner: Amy Chu & Natalie Qian                           Teacher: Chiu-Tze Lin
Alternate: Gloria Sun & Ivy Liu          Teacher: Chiu-Tze Lin/Hsin I Chou





COMPOSITION


Elementary:
Representative: Madhav Thirucherai, Student of Samuel Yulsman

Junior:
Winner: Ella Zhang, Student of Nancy Modell
Honorable mention: Lucia Hu, Student of Liang Liang
Honorable mention: Bofan Shang, Student of Kaori Tanioka

Senior:
Winner: Claire Yu, Student of Hong-Da Chin
Honorable mention: Jeffrey Li, Student of Jonathan Spitz
Honorable mention: Olex Donghao Li, Student of Yiming Wu
Honorable mention: Tianyue Yan, Student of Yiming Wu



This year, the New Jersey judges were:
Aiyana Braun
Ryan Brechmacher
Craig Levesque

Winning and representative compositions automatically advance to the division competition. The results of that competition will be announced in mid-December.

Congratulations to all of the participants in the competition! We hope that the comments you receive from the judges will be helpful to you and your teacher. Your efforts are to be commended and we hope that you will continue to learn and grow as a composer. Good luck with your musical studies!

Julia Kovalev, New Jersey Composition Coordinator



By participating in any NJMTA event, parents give permission to the New Jersey Music Teachers Association (NJMTA) to use photographs or videos of your child taken by NJMTA representative, with appropriate captions, in NJMTA publications, on the NJMTA website, social media and/or in the local newspapers. If you do not wish NJMTA to use your child’s photos/videos in any way, kindly notify the chairperson of the event in which your child is participating.






STATE AUDITION (PERFORMANCE) DATE: Sunday, October 25, 2026

LOCATION: Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey

Online Registration Entry Deadline: Wednesday, September 9, 2026 3:00 P.M. Eastern Time

Winners/Representative will advance to the Eastern Division Online-Only Video Competitions

*There is a $30 state fee for all Performance Competitions registrants, charged by NJMTA, which is used to cover the cost of venue rental and other operational expenses. Your registration is considered incomplete until the State Fee is received.  





See the winners from past MTNA Competitions 

2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017

Please visit the MTNA website for up-to-date information on all MTNA competitions:

https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/engage/competitions/Composition_Guidelines.aspx
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/engage/competitions/performance_guidelines.aspx