2025 Winter Adjudicators

Dr. Arnesen is the Director of Piano Studies at Southern Virginia University. He holds degrees from Brigham Young University and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He is a committed pedagogue who regularly presents and serves as a clinician at national conferences on piano pedagogy.

Hailed as a pianist of “dazzling virtuosity”, “enthralling sound”, and “wisdom beyond his years” by the Hyde Park Herald, Philippine-born Stephen Joven-Lee is an award winner of almost two-dozen competitions which have led him to perform in many renowned stages including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Severance Reinberger Hall.

Praised for her “exquisite sensitivity” and a “style filled with class and elegance” by La Voz de Asturias (Asturias, Spain), American pianist Amy E. Gustafson is a Yamaha Artist and has performed across the United States, Eastern and Western Europe and in Asia. She is the director of The Palmetto International Piano Festival in South Carolina and the Gijón International Piano Festival in Gijón, Spain.

Kyunghoon Kim is Visiting Lecturer in Music in Chamber and Collaborative music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. A native of South Korea, Kim made his debut at the age of 12 with the Solideo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been featured as a piano soloist with numerous orchestras in South Korea, Vietnam, and the United States, including two appearances with the IU Symphony Orchestra as a concerto competition winner.

Lyndon currently serves as Staff Pianist at Rutgers University and is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts at the Yale School of Music. He was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2023 Chicago International Music Competition and has performed extensively throughout the USA and Europe.

Kayoko is a founding member of the Bay Area Piano Competition. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Kunitachi Conservatory of Music, one of Japan’s premier institutions of musical study. In addition, she earned a Certificate in Jazz Piano from the Berklee College of Music.