University News

Former WIU Pianist Takes Third in National Piano Competition

September 11, 2013

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MACOMB, IL – Western Illinois University alumna Hwayoung Noh, formerly of Macomb, won third place nationally in the student division of The American Prize in Piano Performance competition.

Noh was chosen to compete after applying with a recording of her skills in Spring 2013. The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit competitions which provide evaluation, recognition and reward to America's finest performing artists, ensembles and composers, based on recorded performances. The American Prize has awarded more than $10,000 in cash prizes since 2010.

The judges called Noh "a very sensitive and clear-playing young musician."

Originally from South Korea, Noh is currently living in Texas and beginning her doctoral studies at Texas Tech University. She received her master's degree in music – piano performance from Western in the spring of 2013 and her bachelor's degree from Hanyang University in Seoul.

At Western, Noh studied with Professor Tammie Walker. Another of Walker's former students, Sora Park, who received her master's degree in music in 2011 and won the American Prize competition, both in 2011, and is currently working on her doctorate degree in piano performance at the University of Missouri – Kansas City on a full graduate assistantship.

There are currently six of Walker's former students studying in doctoral programs around the country on full assistantships.

For more information on the competition, visit theamericanprize.org.


Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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