The Mastroianni Award
In memory of Amalfi Festival Co-Founder Thomas Mastroianni
Thomas Mastroianni: Beloved Founder of the Amalfi Piano Program
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The Mastroianni Award
Every year at the closing reception of the Amalfi Piano Program, one pianist from the final concert will be awarded the Mastroianni Founders Award, given each year to an outstanding pianist who has participated in the festival. This award includes:
Winners of the Mastroianni Award
KANG TAE KIM (2017)
Award performance given with the Arad State Philharmonic, Romania, May 2018
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
BIO
Among her honors are first prize at the 13th Osaka International Music Competition in Japan, the Chopin International Competition Chopin Plus in Budapest, Hungary, and the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition in New York in 2012.
Umi currently resides in Orange County, California where she attends high school. A devout student of the piano, Umi is studying with Professor John Perry and Mrs. Mina Hirobe-Perry in Los Angeles. Umi has been learning in many international music festivals such as the Perugia Music Fest, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, and John Perry Academy of Music Festival in California. Umi also participated at the Hamamatsu Piano Academy in 2013. Umi has learned at the masterclasses of internationally acclaimed pianists such as Leon Fleisher, Lang Lang, Aldo Ciccolini, Ilana Vered and Byron Janis.
ELLIOTT WUU (2016)
Award performance given with the Arad State Philharmonic, Romania, May 2017
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 by Camille Saint-Saëns
First Prize winner in the 2015 Hilton Head International Piano Competition for Young Artist and a Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, Elliot Wuu is a rising star in becoming an exceptional young artist. Since early years, Elliot has captured audience with colorful tones, sensitive musicality and emotional depth in his music. He is most recently named as 2018 Gilmore Young Artist, one of the most prestigious award bestowed every two years to two young pianists up to 22 years old.
In the recent years, Elliot has won numerous state, national and international competitions and performed across the globe. Elliot was named the winner of 2017 National YoungArts Competition. He was presented as a finalist, the highest honor of the YoungArts Competition, at the National YoungArts Week in Miami. He has been selected as a 2017 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts Semifinalist. In addition, Elliot has been named the 2016-2021 MTAC Young Artist Guild (YAG) member, the highest honor bestowed to California music students.
Born in September 1999 in Fremont, CA, Elliot began piano studies at the age of six. He is currently studying piano performance at the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Robert McDonald. Previously, Elliot was a San Francisco Conservatory of Music pre-college scholarship student, studying piano with Yoshikazu Nagai.
Elliot has appeared as featured soloist with Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Parnassus, and Arad State Philharmonic in Romania, among many others. In 2013, he was selected as one of the twelve young pianists from around the world to participate in the Inaugural Lang Lang Junior Music Camp in Munich, Germany, where he performed and worked with Lang Lang in concert and masterclass. Over the years, Elliot has also participated in many international music festivals, including Amalfi Music & Arts Festival, Oxford Philomusica Piano Festival, International Piano Festival "Lato z Chopinem” in Poland, and Beijing International Music Festival and Academy.
UMI GARRETT (2014)
Award performance given with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, February 2015
Chopin Concerto No. 1 in E minor
Hailed by The Huffington Post as “a budding musical genius,” American pianist Umi Garrett is gaining acclaim from all over the world for her exquisite musicality, emotional and mature sound, flawless technique and virtuosity, and gracious stage presence filled with poise and charm.
Umi began learning piano at the age of four. At the age of 8 she made her public broadcast appearance on NBC’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show and made her orchestral debut with the Desert Symphony in California, and by the age of 9 she performed with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops sponsored by NPR’s From the Top, as well as recorded recorded and released her first album, Just For You. Her performance of Chopin’sFantasy-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. 66 from this album appears on the soundtrack for the major motion picture, Jobs. Her second recording, Music in Life, was recorded in 2013, at the age of 12. At age 13, Umi was granted a title of the Young Steinway Artist, an honor only awarded to today’s most acclaimed young artists.
She made an appearance at the TEDx conference in California as both a performer and a speaker, as well as performing at La Ciudad de las Ideas, an international conference in Puebla, Mexico. In addition, Umi gave solo recitals in the 2013-2014 and the 2014-2015 seasons in total of nearly 60 cities throughout the United States, and was chosen as one of The 12 Most Talented Prodigies for 2013 by The Huffington Post.
All Festival pianos are supplied by Progetto Piano, Naples.