Thank you to everyone who helped make the 2026 KSO’s Arthur D. Montzka’s Young Artists Concerto Competition possible. We appreciate the 28 amazing musicians, age 11 to 18 years old, who performed in this year’s competition.
Congratulations to our 2026 winner, Neena Agrawal, viola, age 16, from Chicago. Neena performed the first movement of the Viola Concerto by William Walton, which she will perform with the KSO at the Arthur D. Montzka Young Artists Concert on February 21, 2026. Agrawal is a scholarship fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, a precollege program for advanced string and piano students. She studies viola with Teng Li and Sang Mee Lee, and intermittently with Peter Slowik. She is also a fellow of the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, a scholarship and mentorship organization for classical musicians from underrepresented backgrounds.
Agrawal made her solo debut in 2025 with the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest after winning their concerto competition. She also was awarded an honorable mention in the O’Malley (formerly Walgreens) National Concerto Competition in 2025. As a member of the Porphyrion Quartet, she won the Bronze medal in the 2025 St. Paul String Quartet Competition. She was also a finalist in the 2024 American Viola Society Competition.
Recent solo performances include a recital for the Young Steinway Concert series, Opening Night Live at Center Stage Strings, and appearances at MIC’s Gala, Martin Luther King Day Celebration, Reena Esmail Showcase Concert, Florence Price Celebration, and the Thirsty Ears Classical Music Festival. As a chamber musician, she has performed on the Koret Young Performers Series, alongside the Orion Ensemble, and at the Fulcrum Point New Music Festival. Her quartet was recently featured on WFMT’s “Introductions.”
During the summer, Agrawal has attended Music@Menlo, Center Stage Strings, Ascent Chamber Music Festival, Oberlin Viola Workshop, and the Chicago Chamber Music Festival.
Agrawal has participated in masterclasses and lessons with Antoine Tamestit, Atar Arad, Tatjana Masurenko, Matthew Lipman, Masumi Per Rostad, Caroline Coade, Paul Laraia, Rictor Norin, and Eric Nowlin.
Agrawal served as principal viola of the 2024 National Pathways Festival Orchestra, culminating in a performance with the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero, and was selected to participate twice in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Youth in Music Orchestra. Agrawal currently performs as principal viola with the Academy Chamber Orchestra and Northside College Prep’s Chamber Strings. She previously performed with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras as concertmaster and principal.
In her free time, Agrawal enjoys baking and drawing.
Congratulations to our runner-up, Alison Chung, violin, age 17, from Northbrook, who performed the first movement of the Violin Concerto by William Walton. Alison Chung will also perform with the KSO on Saturday, February 21, 2026.
Alison Chung, a senior at Glenbrook North High School, is an accomplished violinist who has been dedicated to her craft since the age of six. She began her formative training under Betty Haag-Kuhnke and Yonghee Hong-Park at the Betty Haag Academy, where she was named a Paul Galvin Foundation talent scholar. She continues to refine her artistry under the guidance of violinist Desirée Ruhstrat of Northwestern University.
Chung made her solo debut at age 14 with the Northeastern Illinois University Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the Chicago Chamber Music Festival Concerto Competition. In 2024, she won the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and subsequently performed as a featured soloist with the orchestra. Her broad range of accolades includes first prize at the International Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition, the Sejong Music Competition, and the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, as well as honors from the O’Malley Foundation National Concerto Competition (formerly Walgreens) and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra Competition. She has performed on prestigious stages worldwide, including the Chicago Symphony Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Portugal.
A versatile and collaborative musician, Alison Chung is deeply involved in international chamber music. In August 2024, she was invited to the Cordes en Gascogne festival in France, where she performed in intimate village settings to foster a pure musical connection with local communities.
Chung also earned the Bronze Medal at the 2025 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with Quartetto Speranza. Currently, she performs with the Spizella Quartet and serves as Co-Concertmaster of the Merit School of Music Philharmonic, while also holding the leadership roles of Concertmaster and President of the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra.
Beyond the concert hall, Chung is passionate about bringing the joy of music to her community. As a co-founder of the Glenbrook Chamber Music Society (GCMS), she organizes performances at local libraries and senior centers, driven by a desire to foster human connection through art. This commitment to cultural exchange also led her to serve as an ambassador for the Cuban-American Youth Orchestra (CAYO) in Havana in 2025. In her personal time, she is an avid reader and painter, and she especially treasures performing violin duets with her younger brother.
Congratulations to our three honorable mention recipients, in alphabetical order:
Matthew Kim, violin, age 17, from Chicago, who performed Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, mvt. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Matthew is a Negaunee Foundation Academy Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy, a nationally recognized conservatory for advanced pre-college musicians. Matthew currently studies violin performance with Sang Mee Lee at MIC. He is a recipient of the 2024-2025 MIC Merit Scholarship and the 2019 Chicago Chamber Music Festival Merit Scholarship.
His accolades include 2nd Prize in the Enkor 12th Edition International Music Competition, an honorable mention in the 2025 DePaul National Concerto Competition, a finalist in the 2025 West Suburban Concerto Competition, First Prizes in the Annual State Olympic Music Competition hosted by the Illinois Music Association in 2021, 2022, and 2024, Second Prize in the Junior Division of the 2022 Society of American Musicians Violin Competition, and Third Prizes in the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competitions in 2022 and 2018.
Kim has an extensive orchestral experience as a violinist in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2023, where he served as concertmaster in both the Debut and Concert Orchestras. He has also been an active chamber musician for many years, performing as a violinist and violist in string quartets, string trios, and piano quartets. He has participated in master classes with Midori, Martin Beaver, Simon James, Desiree Ruhstrat, Fabiola Kim, Danbi Um, and Ching-Yi Lin.
Kim served as a concertmaster of the Whitney Young Magnet High School Chamber Orchestra and was selected for the 2025 and 2026 District 1 ILMEA Regional Orchestra and Illinois All-State Honors Orchestra.
For the past three summers, he attended Center Stage Strings, and he attended the Sounding Point Academy in the summer of 2025. During these times, he studied with Fabiola Kim, Danielle Belen, Simon James, Ryan Meehan, and Elbert Tsai. Matthew shares his love of music by performing in various community settings. His past community engagements include the Thirsty Ear Festival, the Young Steinway Concert Series at the Skokie Library, The Merion holiday concert, various public school performances, and church masses.
In his free time, Kim enjoys playing basketball and hanging out with friends.
Edie Park, piano, age 16, from Chicago, who performed Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54, mvt. 1 by Robert Schumann. Edie is a Merit Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy where she studies piano with Marta Aznavoorian and Winston Choi.
Park made her orchestral debut with the Northeastern Illinois University Orchestra after winning the 2024 Chicago Chamber Music Festival Concerto Competition, followed by a performance with the Fox Valley Orchestra in 2025. She has been invited to perform at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, and the Royal Albert Hall in London. Her live performance was featured on “Introductions” on 98.7 WFMT and scheduled to perform in the 2026 Young Steinway Concert Series. Some of her recognitions include the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition, VSA International Young Musicians Program, Sejong Music Competition, Ruth Monte Bach Competition, O’Malley Foundation National Concerto Competition, FVO Youth Concerto Competition, and the ISMTA and MTNA Piano Competitions.
Park has participated in select masterclasses with distinguished pianists including Stanislav Ioudenitch, Jerome Lowenthal, John Perry, Alan Chow, Alvin Chow, Jean-Louis Haguenauer, James Giles, Norman Krieger, Steven Osborne, Wu Han, Sylvia Wang and Asaf Zohar. A passionate chamber musician, she has been part of ensembles since 2017.
Deeply committed to community music outreach, Park serves as the Executive Director of Musicians for Hope (MFH), a non-profit dedicated to support music education in underfunded schools in Chicago.
Outside of piano, Park is News Editor for The Forum, the Latin School of Chicago’s newspaper, and enjoys doing history research, volunteering at the Chicago History Museum, and photography.
Julia Perekhozhuk, violin, age 16, from Westchester, who performed Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61, mvt. 3 by Camille Saint-Saens. Perekhozhuk is a violin student of Sang Mee Lee and Almita Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago. She has won prizes and recognitions in numerous competitions, including the DePaul Concerto Festival, Sejong, Granquist, 2025 CSA Sinfonia Concerto Competition, Society of American Musicians, Ukrainian Music Festival (Toronto, Canada), and the USA Ukrainian Diaspora talent competition. She has also been featured on WFMT Radio’s Introductions and has given numerous performances at Ukrainian festivals and cultural events. In 2023, she performed at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the American Protégé Music competition.
With collaborative pianist Myroslav Mykhailenko, Perekhozhuk has played numerous solo recitals including at the Redcliffe Senior Centre, the Grace United Methodist Church of Naperville, the Prince of Peace United Methodist Church in Elk Grove Village, the Skokie Library Young Steinway Series, and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago. She has been fortunate to have masterclasses with esteemed musicians Robert Chen, Sixto Franko, Nurit Pacht, Jennifer Koh, Mimi Zweig and Minju Kim. In 2023 and 2024 during Center Stage Strings, she had the privilege to have private lessons with an internationally recognized pedagogue and San Francisco Conservatory professor Simon James.
Perekhozhuk has won the Frank Little Merit Scholarship Awards (2020-2025) and the Academy Merit Scholarship Award (2022,2023) at MIC. Other than playing solo, the orchestra is also her passion. She has been a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO) for 8 years and she served as a concertmaster at their tour to Spain last summer, as well as having played at Lollapalooza 2025.
Perekhozhuk is a junior at Benet Academy in Lisle, IL. In her free time, she likes to draw, write, and sing.
Thank you to this year’s judges: Stephen Balderston, Maria Kurochkina, and Rika Seko.