The Simon-Fiset Suite of Competitions
The Simon-Fiset Competitions were established to encourage young students to continue the serious study of music by acknowledging their exceptional ability, application, and meritorious accomplishment by awarding monetary prizes in the areas of composition, piano, and strings. The legacy of these outstanding opportunities represents one of SMTA’s premier offerings for young musicians in the Seattle area. We hope to see you and your students at next season’s Simon-Fiset!
Piano Division
Performance space at The Center for Chamber Music
The Simon-Fiset Piano Division is supported by a generous gift from Willard Schultz.
Chair: Dr. Leann Osterkamp He
Event Dates: February 7 - 8, 2026
Exact performance times will be sent out shortly.
Location: The Center for Chamber Music
Guidelines:
Please make sure to thoroughly read this year’s new guidelines, to make sure your family is aware of all new updates and policies. Thank you-
Click to download 2026 Guidelines
Registration:
January 5 - January 16 (10:00 pm PT no exceptions)*
*registration may close earlier if applicant capacity is reached prior to the end of the registration window
Contestants will be notified of their scheduled time at least two weeks prior to the event (if not earlier). Venue constraints and issues of equity/fairness prohibit any scheduling requests from contestants/teachers.
Registration is now closed, as of 1/14 at 9:00 pm PT, as we have reached full scheduling capacity. Thank you for your interest and we hope you will apply in coming years.
As the professional standard of this competition requires extensive effort and cost to ensure the utmost quality for students, all registration fees are final and nonrefundable.
SMTA is happy and proud to present the annual Simon-Fiset Piano Competition, which is scheduled for February 7-8, 2026. We are also thrilled that last year’s host, The Center for Chamber Music, will again welcome us to their beautiful, state-of-the-art center in downtown Seattle at Union Square.
Please reach out to Dr. Leann Osterkamp He, SMTA’s Administrative Coordinator and Simon-Fiset Piano Competition Chair at simonfisetpiano@gmail.com.
2026 Adjudicators
We are sad to announce that Dr. Ursula Oppens will be unable to adjudicate, due to an unexpected personal situation. However, we are thrilled that we are fortunate enough for Dr. Emiko Edwards to step in as a judge for our 2026 competition.
Dr. Michael Bukhman
Passionate about collaboration and chamber music, award-winning pianist Michael Bukhman is active internationally as a chamber musician, adjudicator, and pedagogue. In 2022 he participated in the inaugural concerts of the Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU, performing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and the world premiere of Ascendant Grooves for two pianos and Reveries for cello and piano by TCU composer Till MacIvor Meyn. Working with musicians from the Dallas and Fort Worth symphony orchestras, Bukhman has been featured in the Spectrum Chamber Music Series as well as the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth. Recent performances include premieres at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest 2022 in Reno, NV with the Painted Sky Ensemble. The group has premiered two additional trios in Fall 2022 by composers Teresa Martin and Chia-Yu Hsu in Estonia and Poland. In commemoration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020, Bukhman performed the Triple Concerto with the TCU Symphony Orchestra under maestro Germán Gutiérrez, with cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi and violinist Elisabeth Adkins. In Fall 2020, Bukhman was invited to the Oberlin Conservatory for a virtual Beethoven celebration in a solo sonata performance as part of a marathon Beethoven piano sonata project. His 2013 performance with violinist Itzhak Perlman in Sarasota, Florida, was lauded for its “brilliant playing” and having “pushed the audience to the edge of frenzy” (Herald-Tribune). In June of 2016 Bukhman performed a duo recital with Grammy award-winning violist Kim Kashkashian to great acclaim at the American Viola Society Festival in Oberlin, OH. He has also collaborated with Nobuko Imai, Donald Weilerstein, Roger Tapping, Julia Bullock, Dawn Upshaw, the Attacca Quartet, Rebecca Ringle, Peter Frankl, and many others. Recent international tours include violin-piano performances in four Chinese cities with masterclasses taught across China and Taiwan, and previous performances across Japan.
Currently Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano and Chamber Music at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX, Bukhman established a local chapter for Music for Food—an international community outreach program, generating thousands of dollars to benefit the Tarrant Area Food Bank. Prior to his appointment to TCU, Bukhman served as Guest Artist-in-Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory (2017) and on the staff and pre-college faculty of the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA, to which he returned in summer 2022 as a collaborative piano faculty member at Morningside Music Bridge International Festival. Other music festival appearances include PianoTexas, the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, the Heifetz Institute, Yellow Barn Music Festival, The Perlman Music Program, and the Ojai Music Festival. Bukhman previously also taught at Bard and Vassar Colleges. While at Bard, Bukhman founded Play/Chat@Bard, a concert series showcasing young musicians in performance with informal conversation.
In summer 2022 Bukhman was appointed as Collaborative Arts Chair for the Texas Music Teachers Association (TMTA), a three-year term. He is also an active member of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society (IKCAS) and has successfully presented on several occasions at the Music Teachers National Association’s (MTNA) National Conference.
Bukhman attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a student of Robert Shannon, where he became the first in that institution’s history to graduate with Honors in Piano Performance. As part of his Honors project, Bukhman recorded the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich, performing ten of them on one recital. He holds MM and DMA degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert McDonald. An award-winning pianist, Bukhman’s accolades include: medalist in the 2009 Hilton Head International Piano Competition; top-ranked winner of the 2005 Jacob K. Javits Fellowship; first-prize winner at the 2006 Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings; and laureate of the 2006 Gina Bachauer Competition at the Juilliard School.
Dr. Emiko Edwards
Described as “dazzling” and “scintillating,” (Classical Source) and lauded for her “beautiful singing lines” and performances filled with “drama and energy” (Joan Tower), pianist Emiko Edwards is an explorer of the classical music stage, captivating audiences with adventurous programs that journey far off the beaten path. A champion of American classical music—a bold fusion of jazz, folk, and global influences, she has been presented by the American Music Project (Critic’s Choice 2024–2025, Chicago Classical Review), Lincoln Center (“With feeling and insight a pianist gets to the heart of Copland, New York Classical Review), and the National Museum of African American Music. Additional highlights include an Alaskan tour of Rhapsody in Blue with the Juneau Symphony, and the Philadelphia premier of the Joan Tower Piano Concerto (Homage to Beethoven) for which she was awarded The American Prize (2024.) In 2026 Edwards will release Rodeo, an all-Copland album that reframes his music through the lens of America’s cultural and physical landscapes: from rugged, rarely heard works to lyrical, jazz-inflected gems, inspired by her recent move to Sikeston, Missouri, home to one of the nation’s most storied rodeos.
As a soloist, Edwards has been featured in performances at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Milton Court Concert Hall, the Yamaha Salon, and on the BBC Total Immersion Series. Her collaborative highlights include the American premiere of “June” by Karen Lefrak at the David H. Koch Theater with members of the NYC ballet, as well as a recital for the Barbican Centre’s Sound Unbound Festival (London, UK). She has won numerous awards at the national and international level, including but not limited to The American Prize, 18th International Young Artist Piano Competition, Washington, D.C., The New York Piano Competition presented by the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, and the Princeton Festival Piano Competition, and holds a number of BBC credits to her name, her performances of Gorecki’s Piano Sonata and Four Preludes as well as Richard Rodney Bennett’s Noctuary: Variations on a Theme by Scott Joplin all recorded for and broadcast on BBC Radio3. In addition to airtime in the UK, footage of Edwards’s performances and interviews have been broadcast on television and radio throughout the United States. Edwards is featured in two documentaries, “On a Personal Note” and “‘Piano Forte:’ The Julia Crane International Piano Competition,” both which have aired nationally, and most recently was a featured pianist on 90.1 WRTI—Philadelphia’s premiere classical and jazz station.
Equally at home with both modern and standardized repertoire, Edwards enjoys presenting canonic repertoire through thematic and educational concerts. She has been invited to appear as a soloist with the Juneau Symphony, Guildhall Brass Ensemble, Cambridge Graduate Orchestra, Bravura Philharmonic, Temple University Symphony, Southeast Missouri Symphony, Manalapan Battleground Symphony, New Sussex Symphony, and Westfield Symphony Orchestras. She has also been the recipient of numerous grants and scholarships (Linklaters, James Gibb, Banff Centre, Orford Arts Centre, Nelly Ben-Or Trust, est. Sir Andrew Davis) for which she is eternally grateful, and in her formative years appeared in public masterclasses with world-renown artists and pedagogues such as Steven Kovacevich, Andre Michel Schub, Robert McDonald, Joseph Kalichstein, Jerome Lowenthal, Robert Levin, Jacquis Rouvier, John Perry, and Nelly Ben-Or MBE. Edwards is a graduate of The Juilliard School, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Temple University where she had the pleasure of studying with Julian Martin, Ronan O’Hora, Lambert Orkis, and Sara Davis Buechner.
Low Strings Division
Thank you to all who participated in the 2025 Low Strings Competition. Results are posted here.
Chair: Haeyoon Krentz
Event Date: March 9, 2026
Registration: February 2, 2026 - February 19, 2026
Location: Maple Leaf Lutheran Church: 10005 32nd Ave NE Seattle WA
2026 Adjudicator: Miranda Wilson
2025 Rules & Registrations - 2026 Rules and Regulations Coming Soon
Please watch future Staccato Notes and the website for details and information on the dates, rules, and fees or contact Haeyoon Krentz at haeyoonsk12@gmail.com.
The Simon-Fiset Low Strings Competition is open to students ages 5-18 who have not graduated from high school.
2026 Adjudicator
Miranda Wilson
Cellist Miranda Wilson has a multifaceted career as performer, teacher, and author, bringing the cello to audience across six continents while serving as Professor of Cello at the University of Idaho. Growing up in Wellington, New Zealand, she made her solo debut aged 16, performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Orchestra Wellington. She went on to co-found the Tasman String Quartet, which earned international competition prizes and residencies that deepened her lifelong love of chamber music.
Miranda Wilson’s recording projects focus on lesser-known cello compositions, including the album Wondrous Love, which pairs Ernest Bloch with the living composer Daniel Bukvich, and the recently-released Les Délices de la Solitude, a collection of sonatas by the French Baroque composer Michel Corrette.
As an author, Miranda Wilson is a regular contributor to Strings magazine and has written four books that address different aspects of cello playing, teaching, and repertoire: Cello Practice, Cello Performance (2015), The Well-Tempered Cello: Life with Bach’s Cello Suites (2022), Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, & Double Bass (2023, co-authored with Dijana Ihas and Gaelen McCormick), and Notes for Cellists: A Guide to the Repertoire (2024).
Educated at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, Goldsmiths College (University of London), the University of Texas, and the University of Colorado, and mentored by teachers including Natalia Pavlutskaya, Alexander Ivashkin, Phyllis Young, Judith Glyde, and András Fejér, Miranda Wilson brings their wealth of knowledge to her own cello teaching. Her University of Idaho cello students include competition winners, concerto soloists, singer-songwriters, string quartet enthusiasts, and future music educators.
High Strings Division
Thank you to all who participated in the 2025 competition. Results are here.
Chair: Jan Coleman
Event Date: Monday, March 16, 2026
Registration Dates: SMTA members: early-bird: February 20, 2026 ; non-SMTA members: February 22, 2026. Registration will close when the schedule reaches capacity. Based on prior years, registration can fill up within a couple of days, if not sooner. It is highly encouraged for interested teachers to become SMTA members to insure their student is able to register.
Location: TBD
2026 Adjudicator: Elisa Barston
For questions please contact Jan Coleman, the competition chair or email smtaoffice@gmail.com.
Composition Division
Thank you to all who competed in the 2025 competition. Results can be found here.
Chair: Peter Mack, NCTM
Registration Period: March 1, 2026 - April 1, 2026
Winners Announced: on or before May 1, 2026
Location: Online submissions
Rules/Guidelines:
Click here to view the 2026 Rules & Guidelines
Simon-Fiset Composition accepts submissions from students in grades 1-12 grouped into four divisions. New composers are encouraged to enter! All submissions require a complete PDF score of the composition and recordings are strongly encouraged (live instruments or digital). Students may submit more than one composition but must submit a separate application and fee with each submission. See the rules & guidelines linked above for more information.
All entrants receive age-appropriate positive and constructive written feedback from the adjudicator. Submissions receiving first through third places will receive a cash award. All students placing honorable mention or above will receive a certificate.
Contact the SMTA office for more information.