GENERAL RULES

INSTRUMENTS:

Piano, strings, woodwinds, brass, voice

CATEGORIES:

Solo works, Chamber works & Concertos

REPERTOIRE:

Musicians may play any published solo work(s) by any living or deceased composers of Russia and other Soviet era countries. Musicians must use standard published repertoire (This refers to music printed for distribution and sale and available through the general market in printed form with legal copyright printed on the music). Public domain sheet music may be used, provided that the music must be printed in a way that ensures all musical content fits within the dimensions of the page. The first measure of every line of music must be numbered and the printed music should be organized in a binder so that each piece is easily identifiable. If multiple works are included, they must be clearly separated with a table of contents or divider pages. All repeats and Da Capos may be omitted.

MEMORIZATION:

Memorization is REQUIRED for ALL divisions EXCEPT for strings, woodwinds, brass, voice, adult amateur and chamber divisions. Chamber includes piano duos, trios, quartets, quintets, etc.  A concerto may NOT be categorized as chamber work.

PRIZES & RECOGNITION:

Medals/Diploma may be given based on merit: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Up to 3 Gold medals and several Silver and Bronze Medals may be given to each age division. All musicians will receive Achievement Certificates, and valuable feedback from World-Class adjudicators from around the country. All top medalists will be featured on our Facebook page. Several outstanding musicians may be invited to perform in future RCMFS concerts.

FOR CONCERTO DIVISION: ONE winner from Concerto A and ONE winner from Concerto B will perform with a full orchestra in Tacoma on Sunday, May 24, 2026.

AGE DIVISIONS (as of December 1st, 2024)

Solo Piano (IN-PERSON COMPETITION. soloist performs memorized):
PIANO A – up to 6 years (up to 4 minutes) – Fee $60
PIANO B – 7-8 years (up to 5 minutes) – Fee $65
PIANO C – 9-10 years (up to 6 minutes) – Fee $70
PIANO D – 11-12 years (up to 7 minutes) – Fee $75
PIANO E– 13-14 years (up to 8 minutes) – Fee $80
PIANO F– 15-16 years (up to 9 minutes) – Fee $85
PIANO G – 17-18 years (up to 10 minutes) – Fee $90
PIANO H – 19 years and older (up to 11 minutes) – Fee $95

Solo Strings (IN-PERSON COMPETITION. Memorization optional. Soloist performs with accompanist):
STRINGS A –13 and under (up to 8 minutes) – Fee $85
STRINGS B – 14-18 years (up to 11 minutes) – Fee $90

Solo Winds/Brass/Voice/Miscellaneous (IN-PERSON COMPETITION. Memorization optional. Soloist performs with accompanist):
BRASS, WIND, VOICE, MISC A – 13 and under (up to 8 minutes) – Fee $85
BRASS, WIND, VOICE, MISC – 14 and older (up to 10 minutes) – Fee $90

Ensemble (IN-PERSON COMPETITION. Piano duo, piano trios, etc. Memorization optional):
ENSEMBLE A – Average age 13 and under (NO concertos, up to 10 minutes) – Fee $90 per group
ENSEMBLE B – Average age 14 and older (NO concertos, up to 15 minutes) – Fees   $95 per group

Concerto Competition (VIDEO FORMAT COMPETITION ONLY! Soloist performs memorized, with accompanist. ONE winner from Concerto A and ONE winner from Concerto B will perform with a full orchestra in Tacoma on Sunday, May 24, 2026. Video file must be received by December 1st, 2025):
CONCERTO, any instrument A – 13 years of age and under (one movement only) – Fee $90. VIDEO FORMAT ONLY. ACCOMPANIST’S FACE MUST NOT BE VISIBLE. Video upload information will be provided via email.
CONCERTO, any instrument B – 14-18 years (one movement only) – Fee $95. VIDEO FORMAT ONLY. ACCOMPANIST’S FACE MUST NOT BE VISIBLE. Video upload information will be provided via email.

 

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2025 Judges

NON-PIANO (Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, Voice) and Online Concerto Division:

Maestro Michael Miropolsky

Michael Miropolsky began his artistic career as principal violinist with the Moscow State Symphony, performed with the Radio and Television String Quartet in many countries around the world, and recorded internationally on the Melodiya label. He came to the United States in 1990 and was Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Opera until his retirement in 2022.

In 1999, Mr. Miropolsky founded the Seattle Violin Virtuosi and three years later, the Seattle Chamber Orchestra. He has released eight CDs with the aforementioned groups on the Ambassador label.

In 2002, he was chosen as the Music Director of the Cascade Symphony Orchestra. He released the orchestra’s first two CDs – Symphonic Treasures, followed by The Seven, with soprano Christina Kowalski. In 2009, Mr. Miropolsky was elected as the Music Director of the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra and has continued to serve as such since the orchestra became the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra. He led the Seattle International Film Festival Orchestra in the SIFF Gala of 2012, and from 2013 through 2015 he conducted the Thalia Symphony Orchestra.

In 2011, with Rick Steves and the Cascade Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Miropolsky created the innovative program, Europe, a Symphonic Journey, which was released on both CD and DVD and received a 60-minute presentation on public television across the USA. In addition, the Maestro and the members of the Cascade Symphony published the orchestra’s first cookbook, Measures and Pleasures.

In 2015, Mr. Miropolsky published his memoir, Theme and Variations: My Life’s Journey. In his book, which contains commentary by Rick Steves and Melinda Bargreen, Michael Miropolsky shares the story of his eventful 60 years’ journey through life.

This year, Michael Miropolsky celebrates his 24^th season leading the Cascade Symphony Orchestra.

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Piano Division:

Dr. Yoon-Wha (Yuna) Roh

Yoon-Wha Roh has been acclaimed as “a pianist who lets her piano work do the talking, transporting her audience not only to a clearly defined place but also into a colorful adventure” (Hyde Park Herald). Recognized for her compelling and sophisticated performances, Roh has appeared as a celebrated soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, New Jersey Garden State Orchestra, Korean National Symphony Orchestra, Seoul National Symphony Orchestra, Sungnam Philharmonic Orchestra, Jeonju Philharmonic Orchestra, and New York Classical Symphony Orchestra. Her live performances have been broadcast on WFMT and KPBX radio stations, and Pyeonghwa Broadcasting Station, while interviews with her have been featured in Korean music magazines Eumak Journal and The Piano. Roh has received top prizes and awards from prestigious competitions such as the London International Music Competition, Carles and Sofia Piano Competition, Clara Schumann International Competition, Manhattan International Music Competition, National Artists Competition, the American Prize, International Moscow Music Competition, PianoTexas Concerto Competition, and Hakata Fukuoka International Piano Competition, among others.

She has performed at distinguished venues including Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Seoul Arts Center, Aspen Harris Concert Hall, New York Steinway Hall, Jordan Hall, and Barnes Hall at Cornell University. Her festival appearances include Prague Music Performance, Aspen Music Festival, PianoTexas International Academy & Festival, Schlern International Music Festival, Banff Centre, New Paltz International Summer Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the International Keyboard Institute & Festival. Her international engagements have brought her to stages in the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and South Korea.

An active chamber musician, Roh has been a member of several ensembles, including Anonim Trio, Palouse Trio, Selway Trio, Cipriani Trio, and Baltimore Trio. She is also a sought-after clinician and competition judge, having served on the juries of the Manhattan International Music Concours, East Coast International Competition, and New York International Music Concours, among others. Her contributions to the arts have been recognized with honors such as the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, New York State Assembly Certificate of Merit, New Jersey Senator Award, and a Certificate of Achievement from the Mayor of Bergen County, New Jersey. Roh holds a Doctor of Music in Piano Performance and Literature, with minors in music theory and arts administration, from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

She also earned a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory and a Performance Diploma from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Piano at Washington State University. Her previous teaching appointments include the University of Idaho, Towson University, Phillips Academy Andover, and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Continuing Education.

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Piano Division:

Dr. Craig Sheppard

Craig Sheppard is Professor of Piano and Head of Keyboard at the School of Music of the University of Washington in Seattle.  He is also Professor of the Advanced Innovation Center at the China Conservatory in Beijing, and his former students hold positions in conservatories and universities throughout the world.

A veteran of over fifty years on the international stage, in the past few seasons he has performed both Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues and Bach’s The Art of Fugue in venues throughout the United States, as well as London, Manchester (UK), Jerusalem, Shanghai and Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, in addition to giving masterclasses at all of the above.

As recording artist, his LPs and CDs have appeared on the Sony, Chandos, Philips, EMI and AT-Berlin labels.  He has published 26 CDs with Romeo Records (NY) since 2005, including the complete Beethoven sonatas (Beethoven: A Journey), the Six Bach Partitas, the Inventions and Sinfornias, both books of The Well Tempered Clavier, the last three Schubert sonatas, Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage I and II, Debussy’s 24 Preludes and 12 Études (including both books of Images and Estampes), the 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich, Late Piano Works, Opus 116-19,  of Johannes Brahms, and Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue).

Within the past two decades, he has traveled many times to the Far East for performances and masterclasses, including Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.  He has performed at the Nehru Memorial Library in New Delhi, held a residency at the Melba Conservatory in Melbourne, Australia, and performed three times in New Zealand, including the first ever public performances of both books of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier. Most recently, he performed the Complete Chopin Nocturnes at the Museu do Oriente in Lisbon.

Born in Philadelphia in November, 1947, Craig Sheppard graduated from both the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School, studying with Eleanor Sokoloff and Sasha Gorodnitzki respectively.  He also worked with Rudolf Serkin and Pablo Casals at the Marlboro Festival, and later with Ilona Kabos, Peter Feuchtwanger and Sir Clifford Curzon in London.  During his early years, in addition to a successful début at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, he won top prizes in the Busoni, Ciani, and Rubinstein competitions.  However, it was his Silver Medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1972 that brought him to international attention.  Moving to London in 1973 and living there for the next twenty years, Sheppard taught at Lancaster University, the Yehudi Menuhin School, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  He also performed on multiple occasions with all the major British orchestras and with many on the European continent, under such conductors as Sir George Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, Kurt Sanderling, James Levine, Michael Tilson Thomas, Aaron Copland, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir John Pritchard, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Zinman, and Leonard Slatkin. In the United States, he has performed with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Rochester and Seattle, and many others.

Craig Sheppard’s solo repertoire is eclectic, comprising nearly fifty solo recital programs and more than sixty concerti covering a wide spectrum within the Western canon.  He also has a great love of chamber music and has collaborated with many great instrumentalists and singers, including Wynton Marsalis, José Carreras, Victoria de los Angeles, Irina Arkhipova, Ida Handel, Sylvia Rosenberg, Mayumi Fujikawa, the Cleveland, Emerson and Miró string quartets, and many musicians of the younger generation, including James Ehnes, Stefan Jackiw, Richard O’Neill, Edward Arron and Johannes Moser.

Sheppard is invited frequently to serve on the juries of distinguished international competitions, including most recently the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv in May of 2021 and the National Society of Arts and Letters in Chicago in 2022.  He also returns regularly to the Jerusalem Music Center to perform and teach, as well as the Chetham’s Summer School in Manchester, UK.  With colleague Dr. Robin McCabe, Sheppard is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Seattle Piano Institute, a boot camp for aspiring young pianists  held every July at the University of Washington, this summer celebrating its 14th anniversary.